Page 6
After
a couple of cold and generally inclement days earlier in the week, we
had really nice weather for the day of the pour. Our lot is a bit
steep, so the concrete company tends to send their more experienced
(and courageous) drivers when I order. This is the first driver
and he had no problem getting up the hill or setting up near the hole.
Here
is the start of the pour. I had them take it kind of slow so we
could use a vibrator on the mix as the hole filled up. The tower
base remained rock solid the entire time.
The drawings for the foundation called out 15 cubic yards for the hole, but the rocks caused it to be oversized and I estimated it would take about 18 or 19 yards instead. I had a patio pad that needed to be installed eventually, so I took the opportunity to hire a separate crew for that as well and ordered 24 yards of concrete in total. Here the second of the three trucks is just getting started. The patio crew had some idle time while they waited for that pad to set up (we poured it first), so they helped me with the tower foundation as well.
The hole is about half full here. Note the six coils of bare copper wire lying around the hole, each of which is about 35 feet long. Two of them will be Cadwelded to each tower leg, and all six will be laid out radially with a few ground rods each for lightning mitigation (I'm not sure anything will actually "protect" against a lightning strike).
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The drawings for the foundation called out 15 cubic yards for the hole, but the rocks caused it to be oversized and I estimated it would take about 18 or 19 yards instead. I had a patio pad that needed to be installed eventually, so I took the opportunity to hire a separate crew for that as well and ordered 24 yards of concrete in total. Here the second of the three trucks is just getting started. The patio crew had some idle time while they waited for that pad to set up (we poured it first), so they helped me with the tower foundation as well.
The hole is about half full here. Note the six coils of bare copper wire lying around the hole, each of which is about 35 feet long. Two of them will be Cadwelded to each tower leg, and all six will be laid out radially with a few ground rods each for lightning mitigation (I'm not sure anything will actually "protect" against a lightning strike).
AB7E Home
Tower and Antenna Project Home
Previous Page Next Page