[TowerTalk] new AN-Wireless tower, floundaion question

[JC Smith]

Bill,

Labor isn't too much of an issue, we are doing it ourselves.  I definitely
want the 5x5 vs. 9x9 pad in the yard when we are done.  I prefer a single
pour too, but how did they keep the concrete from "squishing" out the bottom
and up the outside of the forms?

Thanks,
JC



-----Original Message-----
From: William Q Meeker [mailto:wqmeeker at iastate.edu]
Sent: Friday, June 30, 2006 8:42 AM
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Cc: jc-smith at comcast.net
Subject: [TowerTalk] new AN-Wireless tower, floundaion question


>


JC:

I put up and HD-70 with a pad and pillar foundation last year. I had
the foundation done by the same firm that did the concrete for our
new house. They dug the 9x9x5 hole then built the rebar cage to
specs, and then built forms for the pillar. The next day, it was all
done in one pour (the concrete people asked if it could be done in
two pours, but I recall phoning Dan Simmonds and he recommended it be
done in one). Pictures are at

http://www.anwireless.com/ia1.html

The first person I talked to suggested that the difference in cost
between the pad and pillar and the 9x9x5 block would be small with
the tradeoff between building the forms versus the extra concrete.
The foreman for the crew who actually did the work told me, however,
that the pad and pilliar option was more expensive because labor cost
more than concrete for that project. But my wife liked the smaller
footprint of the  pad and pillar.

Good luck!

73,

Bill
K0KT


>Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 06:42:39 -0700
>From: "JC Smith" <jc-smith at comcast.net>
>Subject: [TowerTalk] new AN-Wireless tower, floundaion question
>To: <towertalk at contesting.com>
>Message-ID: <00f601c69c4b$0e875bf0$6400a8c0 at hpzd7000>
>Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="us-ascii"
>
>Hello All,
>
>As mentioned previously I am stick-building (like a giant erector set) a
new
>AN-Wireless HD-80.  I will be posting photos at:
>http://s14.photobucket.com/albums/a317/k0hps/Tower%20Project/
>if anyone cares to watch it go up and the antenna stack go on it.  We just
>started digging the foundation yesterday.  It's a pad and pier foundation
>(like an inverted tee) with a 9'x9'x1.5' pad and a 5'x5'x3.5' pier.
>
>Has anyone on here ever dug one of these by digging the 5'x5' hole first
and
>then undercutting the bottom to create the pad?  If so, I'd sure appreciate
>hearing how you did the digging for the undercut.  We got the 5'x5' hole no
>problem but our experiments (so far) with the undercutting haven't been
very
>successful.  We are in clay soil, fortunately with no rocks.  If things
>don't go better today we will probably dig out the entire 9'x9' hole, pour
>the pad, form the pier and backfill around it.
>
>Suggestions appreciated.
>
>73 - JC, K0HPS
>


William Q. Meeker
Department of Statistics
304C Snedecor Hall
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa 50011
Phone: 515-294-5336
Fax: 515-294-4040
Home Fax: 515-232-1323
www.public.iastate.edu/~wqmeeker