[TowerTalk] Pad and Pier Foundations

[Jim Lux]

At 12:25 PM 7/11/2005, Kelly Johnson wrote:
>OK, I can buy that.  So, if they are spec'ing square holes for
>commercial users then those commercial users must have a reasonable
>way of creating the required holes.  It seems unlikely to me that they
>go down to Home Depot and hire a couple guys from the street to dig
>the hole by hand :-)  Anyone know what the commercial guys do?
The spec is more of a guideline for the Engineer, rather than a set of 
prints to build from. The commercial guys, since they can pay for an 
engineer, can use any shape hole that's convenient to dig. Backhoes dig 
cubes,  drills/augers drill round ones.  Around here, deep narrow round 
holes seem popular, albeit expensive. For cheap jobs, Square holes w/ 
backhoe are used.  Nobody digs a 6x6x6 ft hole by hand on a commercial job. 
Too easy to get a backhoe or bobcat and OSHA shoring requirements for 
anything over waist deep are pretty onerous.

Cemetaries use backhoes.