A potential sources of information:-

http://www.fiberglass-fl.../snow-and-wind-rules.pdf

http://www.modernsteel.c...7/30767_flagpole_web.pdf

Hi thanks for the replies. Do you have any information for the UK though, that's US info.
Also, we have no idea of who installed, the flagpoles have been in place before we took on the property and that documentation is unfortunately no where to be found.
many thanks,
B

Hi,
If I may briefly hijack this, many years ago, when I was a very young "Deeps" I found myself spending some time at a loose end in one of Her Majesties stone frigates down Pompey way and was volunteered to escort an inspector who was looking at various bits and bobs round the site. Anyway, I wasn't quick enough to stop him pulling a large 10" screwdriver out of his tool box, driving it into the flag pole to its handle and then levering out a large section of very damp, spongelike timber. Anyway, he looked at me, said, "That'll be condemned then" and with that we rapidly left the area. The flag pole in this case was a very tall mast with yard arms etc and was used frequently to salute ships entering the aformentioned Pompey. Young deeps was not popular when all that had to stop untill a new mast was stepped...!
Any way, back to the question - perhaps you might contact the MOD or better the RN or a friendly Stone frigate and ask who they use?
Jim

At our site we have a regime in place for the inspection of masts and towers. Flagpoles are part of this and are subject to inspection every two years. Generally we use the services of a firm of consulting engineers who are competent to carry out the assessment. A Google search under 'masts and towers maintenance / inspections' will probably come up with the company we use and a few others who can undertake the work for you. The following link is to an MoD guide on the same subject which you may find useful:
http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdo...F8D6A9E4FCF/0/pg1008.pdf

Danny

Perhaps forum users from companies responsible for wooden telephone poles or wooden poles for overhead power lines in rural areas might be able to help. This suggestion is prompted by one of my late Mum's reminiscences of when she studied for City & Guild technical subjects during WW2 in order to become a traffic superintendent with the GPO Telephones. One of the questions in a "Transmissions & Lines" exam asked how a telephone pole should be checked to see if it was still in good condition. My Mum wasn't sure of the correct answer so she guessed and wrote something like 'kick it and listen for what sort of sound it makes'. Afterwards she looked up the relevant maintenance manual and found that the GPO issued a special type of hammer for testing the integrity of poles. However, when she later asked a maintenance engineer about such hammers, he said that he and other engineers didn't bother using them - a good kick was easier and equally effective!

As an aside I deduce from this tale that safety boots with steel-reinforced toecaps were probably available to the GPO engineers involved. However, does anyone happen to know when safety boots of this type generally became available in the UK?

Back to the main topic: ExDeeps describes how the inspector he was "volunteered" to assist used a large screwdriver as an implement to test the integrity of a flagpole. Presumably any implement such as a knife or old screwdriver is suitable for such a purpose provided that it is thin and has a reasonable handle. If a flagpole resists penetration at various points by a test implement, its wood is probably reasonably sound, especially if its surfaces do not contain cracks likely to admit moisture.

I'm no expert, but guess the same method probably applies to various other outdoor wooden entities, including wooden window frames and especially sills. Trying to keep such frames and sills sound with regular applications of paint is futile because the paint cannot withstand the UK climate with its greatly fluctuating conditions of temperature and humidity, etc. Changing to uPVC windows at home was great in my opinion because it eliminated the need for regular painting and also work at height from ladders when doing the upstairs windows!