[TowerTalk] Fwd: Re: Tower regulations for home brew towers in the US?

[Gene Smar]

Markku:

When I constructed my tower (Trylon Titan T-500-64) in 2001, I was required by local regulations to secure a construction permit from my county headquarters. It cost me about $100 USD. The permit documentation that I submitted for review included the government's application form that I completed, plus a drawing of my property and where the tower would be located. It also included manufacturer's drawings but no engineer's certification. 

The conditions of the permit required that I have the foundation hole plus reinforcing steel and the bottom section inspected by a county inspector prior to pouring concrete. My installation passed that first inspection. I then poured the concrete and began building the rest of the tower sections on top of the bottom section. When the entire project was completed a few weeks later, I was required to have a final inspection. My tower passed that inspection, too. 


If I were to install a second tower today (not possible due to limited space in my back yard), I would have to secure another permit. However, this time the application would have to include a licensed engineer's stamped certification of the adequacy of the design. The design requirements are much more stringent today than in 2001. Also, I would also have to ensure that, if the tower were to fall over at the base (Trylon Titans typically fail in the middle somewhere), the tower would fall entirely onto my property. No such requirement existed in 2001. Other government jurisdictions in my area require public hearings for tower permits.

Some jurisdictions in the US do not require such painstaking permit work beforehand but most require some type of government review. As for home-built towers, I do not know with certainty, but I imagine that very few government entities in the US would permit a home-brewed tower without first seeing detailed engineering specifications and modeling. To save money, most of us US Hams purchase a manufactured tower that has design drawings already available.


73 de
Gene Smar AD3F

On 02/21/14, Markku Oksanen<markku.a.oksanen at kolumbus.fi> wrote:

All
Just because I am curious:
Here at OH-land even large towers can be home brew just like my 160 and 145 foot rotating towers.These have been made by a private small company that made perhaps 200 towers through the years.Building permit and zoning never questioned the "engineering" of the towers as the responsibility in the end rests with the owner.In addition, home owner insurance happily includes towers and covers damage without question.
How is the situation in the US? Looks like most towers are commercial (Rohn, couple others) and it seems that a "professional engineer" (correct??) needs to look at the mechanics of the whole thing in order to get a permit to put up a tower.
So, how, if at all, is it possible to build your own large towers? Does anybody do this? 
The towers I have are 1.5 feet a side with 2 inch tubes, inverted U (0.7 inch) "cross bars". Only guyed at two levels and full of aluminium, 8000 lb steel guy wires and ball bearing guy rings. And they have survived some crazy storm too in the past 15 years.
MarkkuOH2RA/OG2A/WW1C 
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