Educate me- flagpoles

[Bill]

Hello TBH and God bless Texas again!

We’re retired in Montana, and want to put in a flag pole. Anybody have lessons learned?

The roof line of the house is about 20’ above grade. I’m thinking a 25’ pole?

We’re rocky and windy (high this year was 45 mph on the weather station). I can get a local fencing guy to drill a 14”’hole 3’ deep, 5’ with an extension.

We’re deciding the location. The first would be off the front above the rock wall. We’d see it coming and going and out the front doors from living room.



The other is behind the house, where it’s still visible from the other side if the house. With a light on it, it will be visible at night across the valley.








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[Drycreek3189]

I don’t know the particulars on what size flag vs flag pole strength vs wind velocity but that looks like a good place for it.

I’d hate to have to look at that view every day……..

[CamoQuest]

I think it would be cool to see it at night from across the valley. I’d want it where I could see it from inside the house. Ours is near our driveway, and I can only see it when I’m outside, or from one window.

[lanceodom]

I would go the next step taller than you think. The flagpole guys should provide specs on install but what you describe should be good.

[jlinville]

I got my flagpole from Uncommon USA. It's the 20' original series and has been in some pretty high winds. Easiest thing is I can have it down and the whole thing in the house within seconds. If yours will be in high winds often, I would suggest the HD version.

[CWendling]

We also have the uncommon usa brand HD i think 24' bronze. Its set as per the instructions and i think that was about 600ish lbs of concrete to fill (30x24 hole if i recall. Nice thing is that uses a PVC sleeve, so for the cost of concrete and another piece of PVC i can take the pole with me when i move. Like he said, it comes down in seconds if a storm is approaching. I think its rated for 60+ winds if i recall. I know when the tornado came through a few years ago, was a couple miles away, but we were gone and neighbors said my pole was bent about 30* during the storm. Still just fine

[Jonathan]

I bought my 25' Titan from The Flagpole Store, it looks just like the one jlinville pictured above and says its rated to 70mph. It has made it through some pretty strong MT winds so far.

[dustoffer]

Plan on replacing the flag frequently with those winds---I have yet to find a company that makes a flag that is both fade-resistant and shred resistant.

[Bill]

Thanks for the ideas. I’m checking different web sites now. I’m thinking I should be planning to pay $750-$1000 for a 25-30 footer that will survive our wind.

I spoke to a friend who said ‘go big or don’t bother’. He bought 2 smaller ones for less and a wet, oversized flag were destroyed in a wind storm.


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[Bill]

I’m ready to order, the online seller, the flagpole store has been great with answering questions. They sell 2 US made brands, one made in Wisconsin the other in Texas. I’m going with the Texas-made Concord America in Grapevine.

With the ‘go big or go home’ philosophy, we’re getting a 25’ pole, with a 5” (vs 4”) max diameter and the thicker 0.156 wall. It will fly a 6x10’ flag and is rated above 100 mph winds.

The foundation will be a project to dig a 3’ diameter hole tapering to 2’, 3’ deep. I’m going to rent a jackhammer to get thru the rocky ground here. Get the local mason here with his mixer I calc about 16 cubic feet of concrete. He makes it out of Portland cement, line, and the sand from a local garnet mine. The grains are really rough compared to normal sand, he believes it has better strength than redi mixed concrete.

Pictures to follow.


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[Wampuscat]

I bought one of the telescopic flagpoles and was "disappointed" when we had a storm and couldn't get it to lower. I gave up and yanked it out of the PVC pipe and spear chucked it. When it was new, it worked fine for me, but everyone else had a helluva time getting it to lower.

As a replacement, I bought a 3" 25' tall single piece spun aluminum flagpole from Kronberg's Flagpoles in Houston. Its rated for 5' x 8' flags but I fly a 3' x 6' here in Liverpool where we have a near constant 15mph southerly wind. To light it I simply buried a long extension cord from the house to an LED accent light.

[Bill]

Good information. Thank you.

Extension cords are not rated for direct burial- be careful.


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[Pokey]

Uncommon USA

[Bill]

Uncommon USA

Thanks. My concern is the metal thickness and the wind here. The Uncommon flagpoles are 16 gauge (0.064”) and the one I’m looking at is 0.156”. It would be less of a project to install.


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[MacDaddy67]

Too bad you dont have much of a view