Ever stopped at a red light and noticed something odd about the poles holding up the traffic lights? Look closer next time—many of them appear to hover just above the concrete, anchored by visible …
Yup, I’ve installed countless poles with these, and prefer them for all ease of leveling and keeping water from building up in the base. Trying to set a flange base pole is a royal PITA, usually involves a fair bit of grinding. A good manufacturer also provides a lightweight skirt base to hide the gap and hardware.
We call those bars J bolts, they’re basically a threaded rod with the bottom kicked 90°. When you set up the form for the concrete, you have a prefab template from the manufacturer that you secure the bolts to, and it has a way to pour concrete through or around it. When you pull the forms, you set and level your base nuts and washers, and the pole slides right into place, then adjust as needed, and secure with the top nuts and washers. Now if you make your own template and screw it up, or the bolts become misaligned, well, don’t do that. Always keep leveling the bolts in intervals as the concrete cures.
Yup, I’ve installed countless poles with these, and prefer them for all ease of leveling and keeping water from building up in the base. Trying to set a flange base pole is a royal PITA, usually involves a fair bit of grinding. A good manufacturer also provides a lightweight skirt base to hide the gap and hardware.
We call those bars J bolts, they’re basically a threaded rod with the bottom kicked 90°. When you set up the form for the concrete, you have a prefab template from the manufacturer that you secure the bolts to, and it has a way to pour concrete through or around it. When you pull the forms, you set and level your base nuts and washers, and the pole slides right into place, then adjust as needed, and secure with the top nuts and washers. Now if you make your own template and screw it up, or the bolts become misaligned, well, don’t do that. Always keep leveling the bolts in intervals as the concrete cures.
Neat!!! Thank you for sharing!