The 'Alleged' Footing

It was 'go time', so we started digging, that is my buddy Bubba and his shovel....

Alias Bubba

Code calls for 42" depth and the manufacturer's specs call for 48".  I probably could have gone with 42" and a smaller footing overall (Hi-VAWT's wind turbine design is rated to 134 mph destructive wind speed), however, overbuilding the footing would erase any doubts about my generator's ability to survive Minnesota's 90 mph requirement. 

 So 48"x48"x48" it was.... ....or there abouts....

As you can see above and below, several cases of beer and a couple days of hard labor can achieve quite a bit.  The top 8"-10" was topsoil, the rest was gut wrenching, shovel rattling clay, hardpacked and grouchy.  After we had the hole dug, we filled the bottom 3"-4" with river rock and sank the rebar set-up in at least 1'.  The hole was now ready to be filled.....
    

Dennis, Bubba and I (let's say thier names are aliases to protect the innocent from further criminal prosecution) began mixing the cement, 1 bag at a time, in my wheelbarrow.  2 pallets of 80lb cement can be quite a chore to carry around the yard, mix up and pour using this method, but we perservered...

Alias Dennis

When we neared half of the hole filled, it was time to install the anchor bolt assembly.  Each 1 1/8" anchor bolt is 2' long with a 6" bend.  We welded them on a 1' bolt pattern with the assemble finishing at 3/8" off diagonally and dead on side to side.  The threads were taped to protect them from the cement....

We tied the anchor bolt assembly off to the protruding rebar and leveled off the top of the bolts....



When the cement was up to the base of the threads, we trowelled it up nice and put a strap corner to corner to pull the assembly square....

It was just a matter of time until the cement hardened into concrete, so there was only one thing to do as 'go time' ended....enjoy some Buddy Time for the hard workers of the Buddy Club....




Founding Members of the "Buddy Club"

 

GreenMan