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Prior to groundbreaking you must first verify that the site is free of any
underground utility lines.
Using a spade or shovel,
begin by digging your hole.
Keep in mind that the width of the whole should be no more than twelve to fourteen inches wide.
The tarp is nice to have to put dirt on while digging.
This makes cleanup much easier, and at the end of the installation, there's less
evidence of disturbance at the site.
When the hole's complete, it should be at least forty two inches deep, although
exceeding this depth by a couple of inches is acceptable.
A greased security sleeve is used around the upper 3 feet of the steel rod to
protect against ground movement
associated with phenomenon such as freezing and thawing
at the ground surface.
While the holes being prepared for installation,
preparation security sleeve should also be taking place.
First, glue the endcaps onto the security sleeve using multi-purpose PVC cement.
Once the endcaps are secured,
the security sleeve is filled with a complete cartridge of food-grade grease,
injected using a standard grease gun.
Here we used Bel-Rray No-Tox Clear Grease because it is specially formulated
to be non-toxic and environmentally safe.
Keeping the sleeve vertical with the ground and using the rod-support plywood
as a base,
pump the tube of grease in - occasionally tapping it against the plywood,
using the force of gravity to evenly disperse the grease through-out the
security sleeve.
Once these initial site monument preparations have been made
is time to join the first sections of steel rod together in preparation for
driving them into the ground.
There are two important steps taken when threading together the sections of
steel rod.
First, all the permanent threading components of the monument steel rod will be coated
with Loctite Red 271.
Then, once the two pieces are joined together,
vice grips must be used to ensure the strength of the bond between them.
Each section of rod comes with a threaded insert.
apply Loctite to half of this insert, and screw the half with Loctite back
into the rod.
The other half of the insert will be coated with Loctite when the next rod is
ready to be installed.
The new rod is screwed on and tightened with vice grips.
There two steps involved in driving the rods.
First, they are manually driven into the ground using a sledgehammer.
Then a jackhammer is used to complete the work.
A drive point is attached to the first section of the rod using
Loctite Red 271.
Once the drive point is connected,
This section of rod is carefully aligned in the center of the hole,
and then the supporting plywood is lowered over the top.
This support will help maintain the driving angle, keeping the rod vertical.
A hardened steel drive pin is then threaded onto the top of the rod
section above the plywood support.
This pin will help guard the rod section from any potential damage that could be
incurred while it is being driven into the ground.
A manual drive adapter is placed over the top of the drive pin
and is used to hold the rod in place during hammering.
When manual driving is no longer productive,
a gas-powered jackhammer is used.
We used to fifty five-pound Cobra Combi jackhammer, which delivers twenty six
hundred beats per minute to drive the rights to depth.
We recommend utilizing the proprietary backpack or two wheel trolley to transport
the jack ever to the site.
A power driving adapter is locked into the chuck of the jack hammer before use.
The hardened steel drive pin is still used to protect the rods during this part of
the process.
Unless you have someone who can dead-lift the jack hammer over their head, you'll
need two people to lift it into position on top of each section of rod.
We use the wooden box the Cobra Combi came in as a platform.
No, this doesn't mean that we refuse to work anymore.
One of the main reasons to install a monument of this type is so that an
accurate measurement of elevation can be made.
To ensure that the monument is not moving due to surficial soil or
geologic forces like freezing and thawing or shrinking and swelling,
you'll want to drive the rod many tens of feet deep into the ground.
For our project in northeastern national parks,
we have typically driven rods to 80 feet or to substantial resistance.
Substantial resistance is reached when it takes one minute to drive the rod
one foot deeper into the ground when using a fifty five-pound jack hammer.
At this site, we were able to drive the rod eighty feet into the ground.
If refusal is reached due to contact with rock,
the steel rod can be cut to the appropriately using a reciprocating saw
and the edges smoothed using a power grinder for datum point.
The top of the rat must be approximately five inches below the surface of the
hole to allow for the attachment of the datum point.
The datum point's threaded insert is attached using an epoxy, which is mixed with an epoxy,
which is mixed with an epoxy hardener just prior to application.
This mixture is also applied to the other half of the datum's insert
before being screwed into the end of our final rod and fastened with vice grips.
Now it's time to install the security sleeve.
If you are working in particularly sandy soil, you may need to dig out some of the
dirt that sloughed down into the hole.
You should use a metal file to smooth the edges of the rod, if necessary.
After filing, the greased sleeve should slide down with relative ease down
with relative ease down over the rod.
Once in place you'll probably need to wipe away any excess grease.
To finalize our monument, we now need to install the two-foot long PVC collar
around the security sleeve,making sure the PVC and access cover
are near level to the surface of the ground
First we backfill the hole with clean play sand -- both inside, and around, the PVC
collar.
This helps keep the collar centered and also helps keep the datum point directly
under the access cover lid.
Fill the remainder of the space along the outside of the PVC collar with wet
concrete to permanently hold it in place
Clean any dirt off the remaining portion
of the PVC
Using a UV-resistant industrial strength adhesive such as UV6800
made by Eclectic Products, Inc.,
aplenty adhesive to the outer edge of the access cover's base, and insert it into the
PVC section.
For this monument, we glued the aluminum access cover after pouring the concrete.
However, if you want to ensure the access cover is set in the concrete,
it is probably better to glue that on to PVC before pouring the concrete into the hole.
Make sure the concrete is well set around the edges of the PVC.
If you installed the access cover with the lid on, like we did,
you should check to make sure that no concrete or glue is preventing the lid
from opening.
Once the monument installation has been completed,
make sure to remove your refuse, clean up your work site, and bring all remaining
materials back with you.