ronald schmid wrote:
> Tristao CZ-454-FS Tower ( Need Engineer Stamp) I managed to get a set
> of drawings for this tower. However, The stamp that was on it was so
> old it didn't have a date. The building department said they were
> illegal without a date. I was told to re draw the drawings and bring
> them back. I asked about the stamp and they said they do the stamp.
> OK I did the drawings bigger and changed the footing drawing to the
> same specs as a more resent 54 foot tower. The Tri-ex LM 354.
> http://www.tashtowers.com/pdf/LM354-01.pdf Much better footing.
> Instead of a 3'X3' I made it 3'6"X3'6". The building department said
> looks good but I needed a engineering stamp on them. I took them to
> an engineer and they said it would be $500.00 for them to stamp them.
> I don't think he had a clue about towers. OK that's the short
> version.
>
In some ways, it doesn't matter if he had a clue about towers or not.
You're paying him to review the drawings and calculations, find the
latest standards that are applicable in your jurisdiction, and assess
whether the tower meets those standards (if your drawings are so old,
likely the calculations were not done with the latest requirements in
mind). This is all pretty much standard civil engineering stuff.
You might someone who is more familiar with towers who can find the
supporting information more quickly (e.g. does the engineer have a copy
of TIA-222, plus the two addendums?)
> How can I get the engineering stamp done? Is this going to be like
> this throughout this process? Does anyone out here have the
> credentials to do this for me? I'm in Sacramento, CA.
It's not simply a matter of showing the Engineer the drawing, and having
him/her wet stamp it. They have to actually do a fair amount of work.
Is this a used tower? The Engineer may want you do to some testing or
inspections on the tower. After all, the Engineer's license and
livelihood are on the line when he signs off. If it collapses and kills
the kid next door, they're going to be looking pretty hard at everything
in the process.
Yes, it will be like this through the whole process. There are
regulatory and planning hurdles all through the process, and in this era
of cash strapped public agencies, nobody is doing anything for free:
worse, permit fees are going up. There's a fair amount of activity
behind the scenes with building permits and inspections.
There is an online database of all Professional Engineers (PEs) in Calfornia
http://www.pels.ca.gov/consumers/lic_lookup.shtml
However, that's not a particularly good way to find a PE (unless you
find one who lives down the street from you, and you happen to be friends).
You might find one through the ARRL Volunteer Consulting Engineer
program. Call up some local radio clubs and see if they know of anyone
who does ham towers for a good price (by the way, several hundred
dollars is a good price... don't expect this to be a $50 job)
I assume you called US Tower (who bought Tristao) and they didn't have a
service for getting a California PE to seal and sign the drawings.
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