[TowerTalk] Looking for Ideas for Preserving Tower Legs

[Bill Hider (N3RR)]

Go to my website
www.erols.com/n3rr
and click on the link on the home page:
TOWER/GUY ANCHOR RUST DELAY/REPAIR SUBSYSTEM

73,

Bill, N3RR


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-towertalk@contesting.com
[mailto:owner-towertalk@contesting.com]On Behalf Of W9zr@aol.com
Sent: Monday, December 03, 2001 3:33 PM
To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: [TowerTalk] Looking for Ideas for Preserving Tower Legs



I am running into a problem with my tower legs starting to rust and I am
looking for some ideas.

Background:

When I installed an 80 foot Rohn 45 tower 8 years ago I anticipated moving
within 4 or 5 years.  I installed it in 1 yard of concrete and left the top
of the concrete 6 inches below grade and filled in dirt on top of the
concrete.  I did this so that when I moved I did not have to deal with the
buyers probable complaint of a concrete pad in the backyard.  In the past I
would just cut off the legs and backfill dirt and nobody knew it was there.
I realized then that if I did not move in 5 years I would have to do
something to prevent the tower legs from rusting as they would be in contact
with the moist soil.  BTW I did use sand and pea gravel at the bottom of the
legs for proper intrenal drainage.

8 years have passed and it looks like I am not moving anytime soon.  So much
for the best laid plans.  As a result I removed some dirt and closely
inspected the tower legs and, while the galvanizing is gone, they appear to
be solid but certainly have a fair amount of surface rust as you would
expect.

My initial thought was to sand and paint the legs and then pour a concrete
cap to a level approx 6 inch above grade.

Another thought was to sand and paint the legs and then coat them with 2
part
epoxy.  After that I could wrap a layer of rubber self vulcanizing tape and
then vinyl tape similiar to we  do for leak proof coax connections.  With
this setup could I just backfill the dirt and forget about the concrete?

This is new territory for me but I bet someone out there in towertalk land
has had this problem and come up with a good solution.  I am all ears!!

73

Randy


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List Sponsored by AN Wireless:  AN Wireless handles Rohn tower systems,
Trylon Titan towers, coax, hardline and more. Also check out our self
supporting towers up to 100 feet for under $1500!!  http://www.anwireless.com

-----
FAQ on WWW:               http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/towertalk
Submissions:              towertalk@contesting.com
Administrative requests:  towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems:                 owner-towertalk@contesting.com