[TowerTalk] Tower Foundation Inspections

[Gene K5GS]

Having just been through the tower permitting process in Pima County, 
Arizona I would offer the following: UST HDX-572:

If you need a building permit AND the project needs to be inspected by a 
licensed Professional Engineer and/or by the county, do not deviate from 
the manufacturer's foundation specifications without a PE signing off on 
the changes, you'll probably fail the inspection if the foundation 
doesn't match the specs.

I found Pima County very easy to work with, the entire county process 
was done on-line, the county's final inspection was done by Skype video 
conference. The required inspections were performed by an on-site 
licensed PE, the county provided a list of authorized engineers, his fee 
was minimal:

Inspections:
- Embedded Bolts set in the hole according to documented specs
- The PE measured all vertical and horizontal rebar placement, the 
distance to the sides of the undisturbed earth, the distance between the 
top of the form and the top of the rebar cage. He also measured the 
distance between the bottom of the rebar cage and bottom of the hole.

We made one mistake that he called out and asked to be corrected and 
photographed.  The 3 courses of horizontal rebar at the top of the cage 
must be each separated by ~1.5 inches to allow for concrete to fully 
encase each horizontal piece, I had them bunched together.

I took the rebar inventory from the UST document to a local rebar firm, 
they did the cutting and bending. 377 pounds of material, they placed 
the finished product on my pick-up truck bed, $240.00.

We built the cage above ground and used a backhoe to place it in the 
hole, per the specification - no welding allowed.

I would like to say I knew how to do all of this, but I didn't. Had help 
from a local who has previously installed commercial towers, and his 
employee.

Cheers,
Gene K5GS