> The base of the tower is a pier-pin base on concrete with the tower
bolted to the base plate. Some time over the past decades, dirt fell
down a slope and covered the base plate and the bottom bit of tower
(less on one leg than the other two). Near the surface I can just see
that the galvanizing has worn through, but below that there is
progressively more and more rust. The tower still feels solid, and I've
been working on removing the rust to see how much material loss there is
and it doesn't look *that* bad... but how do I know how much is too
much? Can I measure the diameter of the leg after removing the rust and
compare to the non-rusted portions of the tower?
There's an instrument that can measure the depth of the rust but it's
probably not too practical. Have you tapped the legs with a hammer? The
sound should give you some info.
> As far as removing the rust, I got some of the thin areas cleared with
a
chelating rust remover gel, and the rust on the base plate cleared with
a stripper wheel on an angle grinder, but I'm thinking a small
sandblaster might be the best for the legs themselves?
There's a compound available from hardware stores that you cover the
rust with and that'll encapsulate the rust. I'd follow your plan for
removing the rust. After it's off, then you can coat it with something. W3LPL
recommends painting everything that comes in contact with soil with a home
repair type tar; e.g. roofing tar. That'll take care of it for the foreseeable
future.
If you're concerned about the bottom of the tower leg strength, just
reinforce them with angle iron or aluminum and hose clamps or similar
splinting arrangement. This might be more psychological but like
belt-and-suspenders - it couldn't hurt.
Cheers & GL,
Steve K7LXC
TOWER TECH
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