Before you fly a flag, it is always good to have a plan. You can engineer and over-engineer. In this case, we have the latter. This flagpole is actually several different types of flagpoles into one. Starting from the base, this flagpole starts out strange.
The flagpole starts out steel. The base is an atypical shoe-base steel square plate with anchor bolts into the foundation. Instead of a standard shoe welded to the bottom, the steel shaft runs about three feet above the ground. Sitting inside this steel tube is a fiberglass shaft about 25 ft. tall. A pulley runner is bolted to the fiberglass at both the bottom and the top. In the past, a spring-loaded cable system would run through the pulley, allowing the cable to be run up and down to raise and lower the flag.
Sometimes a flagpole can be too much. A simple, commercial grade spun aluminum external revolving 25 ft. flagpole would have been easier to maintain. The parts would be easy to replace, the mechanisms standard to fix, and the system could revolve allowing relief and longer life for the flag and parts.
Typically when someone takes the "easy way out", it is a bad thing. But with a flagpole, it is all about the easiest way to get a flag flying, with low maintenance, low hassle, and a lasting beautiful display. Take the "easy way out" and get a standard commercial-grade aluminum pole and save business from having this flagpole sit out front.
