Filling Pipe Columns with Concrete

[MoreCowbell]

Hello. I'm in the middle of a project to convert my crawlspace to a basement. I will be replacing 5 masonry columns with steel pipe columns. Per my engineer's recommendations, I am using nominal 3.5" schedule 40 pipe (4" O.D.). So far I have welded the top plates to the pipes, but will be waiting until everything is in place before welding the baseplates.

One thing I would like to do is fill each column with concrete. My reasoning is that it would take so little concrete to do this, and the strength increase so significant. However, I'm wondering if doing this with one side of the pipe already sealed up would trap any excess moisture from the concrete and rust my pipes out prematurely.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Would it be enough to leave one end open for a few days while the concrete sheds excess moisture? I do plan to grind a couple of notches on the pipe bottom before welding the baseplate to serve as weep holes, but with a pipe full of solid concrete I'm not sure what difference that would make.

Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[nealtw]

Sounds like over-kill.

 

[BridgeMan]

Overkill to the nth degree. Like using howitzers to kill mosquitoes. See my response under your original thread.

But should you insist on making the living room floor strong enough to launch Saturn rockets from, don't forget to use full-penetration, single bevel groove welds for all column to plate welds, using E7018 electrodes and proper preheat. Ordinary fillet welds will not perform properly. Might want to have the welds radiographed as well, to catch and correct any hidden flaws. And of course, only High Performance Concrete will do for the infill, with a compressive strength of at least 10,000 psi.

OK, sorry for the sarcasm (but not really). What I and nealtw are getting at is that you are making more work for yourself for no logical reason. Totally unnecessary.

 

[MoreCowbell]

I guess I do have a problem with going overboard. I actually thought you were serious for the first half of your reply!

Anyway, I guess I'll skip filling the columns with concrete. That makes my job a little easier and the lifting a bit lighter. :

Thanks for the replies.