Lately, it seems I’ve been faced with jobs and client situations I can only call embarrassing. Like having to use a tree for a guy anchor for a small tower, for instance. Certainly not the sort of thing one can take a picture of and put in one’s 2nd edition tower book, ya know?
Today Joe and I were faced with a takedown which sort of qualified. A tower that’s been standing for nearly 30 years, a simple Rohn 25G, three sections, used to hold up an 80M sloper. In excellent condition, shielded by the overhanging roof. But put up just slightly differently than Rohn specifies. There was a house bracket at 25 feet, done through the studs and complete with a solid backer board inside. But the tower itself had no base. It was merely resting atop the sidewalk. Client assured me had drilled through the sidewalk and stuck rebar inside the tower legs for support. Obviously climbing the tower was out of the question, as once the bracket was removed, the tower could fall. So it was ladder time. Then we had to cut away the paint on the windows to get them open, as I planned to tilt the entire assembled tower down, with a rope through the window, which Joe would hold, as I gently pulled the tower over, using the two front-most rebars as a hinge. Cutting through the back rebar proved it was NOT rebar, but the tower came over gently and easily, and we were able to lower it to ground smoothly, exactly as pre-visualized. Turns out, the leg supports were simple stubs of EMT conduit, which bent more easily than any rebar would have. The sections came apart quite easily, and we were gone in less than an hour. But both Joe and I are eager to get back to something approaching “real” situations!
Things assembled “by the book,” as it were, that we can climb normally, that we can honestly describe working on to our friends, that maybe we can take pictures of, for that 2nd edition, ya know?
stay tuned…
