[TowerTalk] base below ground level/drainage

[K7LXC at aol.com]

In a message dated 7/14/2007 7:14:10 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
towertalk-request at contesting.com writes:

>  I was trying to sell my father's 50' Glen Martin (18" side)  tower and 
Hazer when my wife (to my pleasure and surprise) decided she would  be OK if 
there were guy wires in our backyard if that got me on the air (gotta  love her).  
My father, N0JT, has sadly reached the point at nearly 84  where declining 
health makes getting on the air a taxing event that yields  less enjoyment than 
effort.  I don't have a tower and he is giving this  to me.

>  However...her one request is that the top of the  concrete be at least a 
few inches below ground so if/when we move, we can  cover the spot and seed 
it...no harm, no foul.

>  I am  concerned about water accumulation/corrosion/structural weakness to 
the  concrete, and wonder if that is as much an issue as I think it is.  If  
so, my thought is to have the back how dig a trench away from the tower which  
I would partially fill with large gravel, like a lateral for a septic  system. 
 I would then place a PVC pipe at the side of the concrete pour  with a drain 
opening on it, and slightly contour the top of the concrete  toward that 
drain opening. 

>  Hopefully water would flow  toward the drain, down the pipe/through its L 
and drain out along the  gravel.

>  Is this reasonable? Necessary? Not enough?  Or  am I missing something?


Hiya, Art --
 
    Having some wet dirt around your tower legs  isn't necessarily fatal. Is 
it a hot-dipped galvanized steel tower in good  shape? If so, it'll take a 
modicum of abuse and might fail in 10-15  years. 
 
    Apparently you're in MO and I'm not sure how  wet and acidic your soil 
is. 
 
    There are a couple of options. Move before it  becomes a problem. Pour a 
regular pad a couple of inches AGL (above ground  level) and then spent a 
couple of bucks to rent an electric jackhammer to get  it down aways. Put some 
grout or other material just up the leg to above  ground level. Or use the tried 
and true W3LPL method of painting on a bunch of  roofing tar to the parts 
that'll be touching the dirt. Pretty simple and  effective. 

>  P.S. Most tower mfrs. spec-out with 3000 PSI concrete; is  it generally 
worth paying the extra for 5000 PSI?
 



For a typical installation - no. I order  5000 psi concrete all the time and 
the reason is that I'm installing a tower  and I want to do it all in one 
trip. 5kpsi will cure to 2500-3000 in a couple  of days instead of 28 days so you 
can pour on Monday and erect the tower on  Wednesday.  

Cheers,
Steve      K7LXC
TOWER TECH -
Professional tower services for hams
Cell: 206-890-4188

 



************************************** Get a sneak peak of the all-new AOL at 
http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour