Installing brackets and poles on metal clad buildings

Quick links :
- Mounting a pole on the corner of a structure
- No other option ? Put it on the roof ?!?

Most of this page is courtesy of Bill Wright.

Installing brackets and poles on metal clad buildings 300H L5

Other possible products to bear in mind when installing on metal clad buildings :

2in x 3ft straight plate mount
1.25in x 3ft L Section plate mount
2in x 3ft L Section plate mount

L section plate mount and keeper plate are useful for metal clad buildings 492W L5

First thing is to check with the building owner about warranties re breaching the fabric.
It’s horses for courses. But if the outer skin is reasonably rigid it can be done by the use of ordinary wall brackets, widely spaced, and fixed using any of the various gadgets sold for blind fixing to sheet materials.
Pop rivets, used in large numbers (implies a special bracket set) to spread the load. I used 3/16 steel rivets, of a length suitable for the bracket and the panel thickness.
Blind nuts are very good. Lots of makes available. Also self-clinching nuts. There’s various steel insert nuts, where you drill a hole, push the thing in, then put a bolt into it and tighten (some makes include a special tool in the pack to stop the insert rotating.) I always used M6 size. Can be as dear as 20p each but well worth the money. The hole has to be exactly the right size.
If the wall panel is very flexible and you can’t fix to the steel members behind it for some reason one possibility is to fix a large flat panel to the wall. This spreads the load and it works well. Try to span two adjacent wall panels with it. Your panel can be ¾” marine ply, well painted and sealed (use paint to match the wall panels). Pre-fix your bolts for your wall brackets to this wooden panel, fixing from the back with large recessed washers.
For low buildings, huts, statics, site cabins, consider running the mast right down to the ground so the bottom bracket is in fact a lump of buried concrete.

Bill Wright November 2018

Bill’s son Paul at Don Valley Aerials does this kind of work

Examples of installing brackets and poles on metal clad building are below :

Installing a pole and brackets on a metal clad building. 500H L5
Installing a pole and aerials on a metal clad building 577W L5
Installing a pole and brackets on a metal skinned building 475W L5
Installing a pole and brackets on a building through metal slats 550W L5

Using a chimney bracket to mount a pole on the corner of a structure :

On the corner of a masonry structure

Using a mitre chimney bracket to install a bracket and pole on the corner of a brick building 500W 60kB L10

On the corner of a metal structure

Chimney bracket on the corner of a metal structure 2 541W L5

No other option ? Put it on the roof :
(also see mounting an aerial on a chimney)

Installing a pole and aerials on a pitched metal roof 530W L5

Tile and slate clamp

Mainly designed for a tiled roof, but can also be used on a metal roof if you could get the screw holes to line up with the plates. Even if the plates needed modifying / extending I’d have thought that would be easier than building your own tripod like in the picture above !

BUT, these are only suitable for small antennas on the (supplied) short pole, see article on “tile & slate mounts”

Tile and slate roof mount to install short poles and small aerials 500H L5