Wood Tower

[vantim]

I'm looking at doing a small tower as part of my camp this year, attached to the conduit+tarp "living room." Basically want to use 12 or 16 ft 6x6 upright posts to make a 10x10 viewing platform - think freestanding play fort. I've built similar structures, but nothing that has been subjected to playa conditions. A couple questions I'm hoping someone can answer:

1) Assuming it's properly braced, could a tower this size (not much taller than wide) be freestanding or would I need to add guy lines?
2) What would be best for the footing, where the posts meet the ground? I have thought about digging but would rather not do damage to the playa.

Thanks in advance!

[unjonharley]

There is a no digging rule in place.. Wind of 70 mph have been clocked on the playa.. Tie it down.. Drive rebar on all sides of the foot posts.. Attach to the rebar..

[some seeing eye]

That is not a large structure. The design specs for the building code in the area is 140mph. You have lifting, shearing and twisting forces. The more shade structures attached the greater the forces.

I wouldn't discount digging, but you have to pack the mud back in around the posts, then get them out at the end of the event and then repack the soil filling the holes to perfect playa density and level. DPW does it all the time.

[The Rod]

It will have to be guyed. Would not recommend rebar, that shit is all but obsolete in the world of playa anchors. Lag bolts win.

Make feet for the posts. If you can weld, making them our of metal would be slick, otherwise a 24x24 inch or so square of inch thick plywood with a securely fastened 6x6 post anchor. Drive lag bolts through the feet into the playa.

[unjonharley]

It will have to be guyed. Would not recommend rebar, that shit is all but obsolete in the world of playa anchors. Lag bolts win.

Make feet for the posts. Can you weld? If you can, make them out of metal. Inch thick plywood would work as well. Drive lag bolts through the feet into the playa.

If you drive lag bolt to close together they will turn the playa to dust.. It would cost a fortune for lag bolt long enough to hold a tower..

[The Rod]

The ones we used on our 16 foot tower cost the same as the rest of 'em. Just over a buck a piece if I remember correctly.

14 inches long, drove straight into the playa until the head disappeared beneath the dust. They didn't budge, neither did our tower.

[vantim]

The ones we used on our 16 foot tower cost the same as the rest of 'em. Just over a buck a piece if I remember correctly.

14 inches long, drove straight into the playa until the head disappeared beneath the dust. They didn't budge, neither did our tower.

Would love to see the tower you built. If I bolted down post bases used lag bolts, would that be enough or would guy lines still be a good idea? Post bases like this: http://www.lowes.com/pd_53421-166-BD_0_ ... Id=3367940

I actually just read the very long thread about lag bolts a couple days ago, and absolutely converted to the lag bolt club.

[torrey.smith]

For staking I'm looking at American Earth Anchors. These are essentially giant wood screws for screwing into the ground. Similar to lag bolts, but with bigger threads.

I think you might be interested in the PE10, PE18 or PE26 Penetrators. They actually show the PE26 in action for a "temporary fabric structure in the Nevada desert"

For my zip-line cables I've reached the limit of what I can do with the 36" steel bars from the hardware store (I currently use a "stake garden" of 4x36" stakes for each of the 4 guy lines). I think the PE46 is where I'm headed!

Your wooden tower may not require this level, but I wanted to share a useful link.

[some seeing eye]

Thanks for the earth screw supplier - many uses! If you do bury your posts, you might give some thought as to how you level them. Usual method would be to saw them level. Or drill holes to tie the upper structure. Drilling holes on site requires a lot of care to capture the drill out shavings. The pads Mr Roc proposes solve that, but you need to protect against the entire structure scissoring with diagonal bracing/guys.

[The Rod]

Earth anchors. Amazing. Pretty sure that pic in the brochure is from TTITD...

Even with anchored feet you will need guylines. We ended up just using plywood feet this year but I'll probably fabricate some metal ones similar to the link vantim provided. The feet are more for keeping posts from sinking into the playa as opposed to keeping the structure attached to the playa, they guy lines do the second part.

Our tower: Made out of metal, not wood, but the anchoring and guying principles are the same. The floor was 15 feet off the ground, we added guard rails (not pictured). The scaffolding on the right is just your basic construction scaffolding, we had a ladder secured from the top of the scaffold to the upper deck on the tower.

You can see how a structure can be guyed on the inside. It makes the space inside not as useable but it as worth the trade off to not have straps all over our courtyard area. Once we had some different colored lighting at night the straps actually looked pretty neat. Unintentional art.