Crane & Tower Foundations

Isolated Concrete Footings

anchor bolt foundation
A 30′ jib crane being installed on one of our concrete anchor bolt foundations. Tolerance was 0.060″ on a 54″ bolt circle.

CementWright offers foundations for freestanding structures such as:

  • jib & gantry cranes
  • telecom & power transmission towers
  • grain legs
  • light standards
  • & other similar structures

These are often accomplished with an isolated concrete footing, and will typically include some form of heavy anchor bolt cast into reinforced concrete. Double nuts are used to set the height and level the structure, and then the gap between the equipment and the concrete is grouted with a structural, non shrink grout.

Placing the anchor bolts

Accurate anchor bolt placement is obviously necessary. Many structures will not permit straightening or bending of the j-bolts, so they need to be located precisely in all axes. This is usually accomplished with sets of close tolerance templates and specialised measurement equipment, such as a total station. The templates typically set the accuracy of the bolts relative to each other on each pile and the total station sets the locations of each bolt grouping, such as on a gantry crane foundation. Telecom towers and some other tight structures are better done by controlling both sets of dimensions with templates. (Picture of templates). CementWright can design and build our own custom templates to ensure bolt accuracy.

Tower Foundation Pour
Pouring a concrete block foundation with template set anchor bolts.

Types of tower foundations

Form factors of this type of foundation vary. Structures like light standards or solar panel banks might be installed on a pile or pile cap. Process structures, telecom towers & similar structures with high wind or vertical load might use a subgrade spread footing with one or more reinforced columns reaching the surface. Jib crane foundations can use a block footing designed to also resist the slewing moment from the boom rotating. Design can vary with the ground conditions, and sometimes it is more economical to use a driven or screw pile for the structure. Depending on the governing soil structure, these footings are usually cast against undisturbed ground, or sometimes on compacted gravel. It is crucial that the subgrade is consistently treated, or differential settling may occur. We often perform our own groundwork for this reason. 

Solid Concrete Block Foundations

The cost of rework or failures resulting from improperly executed foundations can swiftly derail an otherwise excellent project. Low priced bids can be very attractive until change orders and repair work starts to occur. CementWright can offer competent pricing for your next tower or crane foundation. You may find that the accuracy and reliability we offer brings a better value. Contact us using the contact form on the sidebar, or give us a call.