How to build a flagpole that will stay straight no matter
Jul 23, 2019 13:39:44 GMT -6
randy likes this
Post by greybeard on Jul 23, 2019 13:39:44 GMT -6
Come hell, wind or high water...
I got input from a flag pole company when I put my flag pole up. It's been there about 9 years now, thru 2 hurricanes and a heck of a flood.
1.I dug the hole about 5 ft deep with some hand posthole diggers..
2. inserted a piece of 6" diameter steel pipe in the hole..dropped a piece of broken brick in the bottom of the 6" for the flagpole to rest on. .
3.Put my flagpole in the center of that pipe, plumb and straight,
4. then filled the area between the flagpole and the 6" pipe with clean playground sand.
5. Wet the sand down with a bucket of water and tamped the sand down firm, leaving a 2' space at the top.
6. Took a whole tube of good silicone caulk and filled the 6" the rest of the way with that and let it set up.
The sand and the silicone prevents the flagpole from wobbling back and forth in the wind and getting loose in the ground or ever leaning. (Drawing is obviously not to scale.)
I left the 6" a little above ground level but most people keep them down low so their mower doesn't hit it.
For my pole..
I had a 20' joint of 1 1/2" ID pipe here already and with it's wall thickness, it just fit inside a 2" ID pipe, so I slipped the 1 1/2" eight feet inside a piece of 2"id x 16ft long, and welded the two up top and bottom. Made the overall length of the flagpole 25' tall but gave the bottom of the mast extra strength, as the tendency to bend is always where it comes out of the ground. For the very top, I had an old 2" chrome trailer hitch ball and I just welded it on top to plug the top off to keep rain water out and give it a little ornamental value.
I got input from a flag pole company when I put my flag pole up. It's been there about 9 years now, thru 2 hurricanes and a heck of a flood.
1.I dug the hole about 5 ft deep with some hand posthole diggers..
2. inserted a piece of 6" diameter steel pipe in the hole..dropped a piece of broken brick in the bottom of the 6" for the flagpole to rest on. .
3.Put my flagpole in the center of that pipe, plumb and straight,
4. then filled the area between the flagpole and the 6" pipe with clean playground sand.
5. Wet the sand down with a bucket of water and tamped the sand down firm, leaving a 2' space at the top.
6. Took a whole tube of good silicone caulk and filled the 6" the rest of the way with that and let it set up.
The sand and the silicone prevents the flagpole from wobbling back and forth in the wind and getting loose in the ground or ever leaning. (Drawing is obviously not to scale.)
I left the 6" a little above ground level but most people keep them down low so their mower doesn't hit it.
For my pole..
I had a 20' joint of 1 1/2" ID pipe here already and with it's wall thickness, it just fit inside a 2" ID pipe, so I slipped the 1 1/2" eight feet inside a piece of 2"id x 16ft long, and welded the two up top and bottom. Made the overall length of the flagpole 25' tall but gave the bottom of the mast extra strength, as the tendency to bend is always where it comes out of the ground. For the very top, I had an old 2" chrome trailer hitch ball and I just welded it on top to plug the top off to keep rain water out and give it a little ornamental value.
