Start with the opening drawing note of the issued Section 31 63 26.60: confirm that the foundation plan and pile schedule give every helical pile its location, design load, tension or compression type, size, length, and vertical or battered designation, and that test piles and soil data are shown. Then check that the torque and length termination criteria, the shaft and helix configuration, any grout column, the termination plate and its connection to the cap or grade beam, the tolerances, and the load test program kept in the section agree with the structural details and the geotechnical report, and that the driven pile testing text the section carries has been edited to fit a pile installed by torque.
Assemble the review package
Gather the foundation plan with helical pile marks, test piles, and grid dimensions, the pile schedule with design compression, tension, and lateral loads, shaft size, helix count and diameters, minimum length or tip elevation, batter, and any grout column diameter and length, the typical pile and termination detail with the termination plate, bracket, or cap connection and its embedment, the pile cap, grade beam, and slab details, the structural general notes with design loads and any deflection criterion, the geotechnical report with boring logs, groundwater, corrosivity results, hard layers or fills, and any torque correlation factor or capacity recommendation, the site plan with existing structures and buried utilities near the work, the statement of special inspections, and the issued Section 31 63 26.60 with Sections 03 30 00, 31 00 00, and 01 45 35 and the steel, welding, and galvanizing requirements the project uses. Follow one pile from its lead helix to the cap or grade beam before assuming the others match.
WBDG publishes UFGS 31 63 26.60: [Grouted] Helical Piles as a public guide-specification reference (accessed November 8, 2026). Use your project’s issued specification and amendments for the actual comparison; the guide specification does not automatically govern your project. The checklist below is an original suggested review workflow, not a reproduction of the UFGS requirements.
Eight checks to run against the issued set
Use one record per location or system. The CSV contains the same eight prompts plus fields for source revisions, observed evidence, the review owner, the decision, and closure references.
| Check | Sources to compare | Question to resolve |
|---|---|---|
| Pile plan, schedule, and design responsibility | Opening drawing note (locations and design loads, tension and compression piles by type, size, shape, and length, test piles, soil data, vertical or battered) + PART 1 structural engineer note + Description article + [Grouted] Helical Pile System article (bracketed sentence setting pile capacity for bidding as indicated on the drawings) + [Grouted] Helical Pile Design submittal (stamped by a registered engineer) + foundation plan, pile schedule, and structural general notes | Does every pile mark resolve to a schedule line with its design load, type, size, and length, are tension piles identified separately wherever the general notes show uplift, are battered piles marked with their direction, do the general notes give the bending moments, lateral loads, and other design requirements the PART 1 note says the structural engineer must provide, is it clear which items the engineer of record fixes and which the contractor’s registered engineer designs and stamps, and is the sentence setting pile capacity for bidding kept even where the piles are not grouted, since it sits inside the grout strength bracket? |
| Torque, minimum length, and acceptance criteria | Definitions (torque, minimum installation torque, maximum torque rating) + Production Pile Acceptance Criteria (safe design capacity, minimum tip elevation or depth below cutoff, terminal installation criteria, bracketed torque correlation option, skin friction by the designer under UFC 3-220-01) + Termination Criteria article + [Grouted] Helical Pile Installation Records article + Helical Pile Design submittal + geotechnical report | Do the safe design capacity and the minimum tip elevation or depth filled into the acceptance paragraph match the schedule, where the torque correlation option is kept, is the factor’s source chosen, the designer’s or a default confirmed with the manufacturer, and has the geotechnical engineer said whether the correlation yields an ultimate or an allowable value, since the Definitions say torque predicts ultimate capacity while the acceptance paragraph calls its result an approximate allowable end bearing load, and does the Termination Criteria rule, minimum torque and minimum length both reached without exceeding the maximum torque rating, agree with the schedule and the design submittal? |
| Shaft, helix plates, couplings, and material standards | Definitions (helix plates on a central shaft, load transfer device) + [Grouted] Helical Pile System article (solid steel square bar shaft, welded helix plates, extensions, forged or sleeve couplings with bolts developing the rated strength, termination plates) + Pile Connections and Splices shop drawing + Product Data and Manufacturer’s Quality Control Procedures submittals + References article + pile schedule and typical pile detail | Does the pile detail show the shaft the article describes, a solid square bar, and if the design uses a round pipe shaft, has the article been edited, if the schedule fixes the helix count and diameters, does the design submittal have to follow them or are they left to the contractor’s engineer, since the section names no steel standard or grade for the shaft, helix plates, couplings, or termination plate and lists no welding standard among its references, has the specifier added them, and do the couplings and their bolts develop the strength the tension piles need? |
| Corrosion protection and galvanizing | Definitions (surface coating or other corrosion protection) + [Grouted] Helical Pile System article (all steel components hot-dip galvanized under ASTM A153 or A123; termination plate field welded or bolted) + Admixtures note (no accelerators, for steel corrosion) + UFC 3-220-01 protection of materials replacement + geotechnical corrosivity results + termination detail | Where the report shows corrosive soil, fill, or groundwater, has the designer of record evaluated whether galvanizing alone suits the design life or whether added thickness or another measure is needed, as the UFC 3-220-01 replacement on protecting deep foundation materials asks, does the termination detail weld a plate to a galvanized shaft in the field, which the article allows, and if so is repair of the galvanizing at that weld specified somewhere, since the section has no repair article, and is the note’s ban on accelerators carried into the grout mix design? |
| Grout column, displacement plates, and grout tests | Bracketed Grout articles (cement, water, aggregates under ACI 301 with ASTM C33 or C144, admixtures) + Positioning, Alignment, and Advancing article (lead and extension displacement plates, gravity-fed reservoir, positive hydrostatic head, minimum grout column length on the working drawings, volume measurements) + Pile Grout Mix Design submittal + Flow Cone Test and Grout Specimens articles + Disposal of Excavated Material article (piles grouted and protected at the end of each day) + typical pile detail | If the grouted option is kept, does the pile detail give the grout column diameter, minimum length, and top and bottom limits that the advancing article sends to the drawings and working drawings, do the grout strength and flow in the general notes match the section, are the Grout articles, the displacement plate and reservoir paragraphs, and the grout tests deleted together where the piles are not grouted, and has the specifier corrected the Admixtures article’s reference to prestressing steel and the Grout Specimens article’s citation of ASTM D942, a test for lubricating greases, and reconciled that article’s mixed cube and cylinder wording? |
| Installation equipment, torque monitoring, pre-drilling, and utilities | Installation Equipment article (continuous torque measurement, down pressure gauges, reverse rotation, no percussion drilling) + Installation Tooling + Torque Monitoring Equipment article and Calibration Report + Pre-Drilling article + Installation Procedures article (buried utilities, obstructions) + UFC 3-220-01 pre-excavation replacement + boring logs + site utility plan | Is the independent calibration report for each torque indicator required before installation, and does the installation record capture torque at the intervals the records article lists, where the logs show hard strata or fills, are the pre-drilled starter holes the article requires kept within its limits, and has the registered design professional evaluated that pre-excavation, as the UFC 3-220-01 replacement asks, is the single reference to an Owner’s Geotechnical Consultant in the Pre-Drilling article made consistent with the Contractor’s Geotechnical Consultant named everywhere else, and are buried utilities near the pile locations shown, since the section makes the contractor locate them and has the contracting officer decide on obstructions? |
| Termination plate, cap connection, tolerances, and as-installed survey | Termination sentence in the [Grouted] Helical Pile System article (bar cut off to elevation, plate field welded or bolted) + bracketed location and inclination tolerance item in the design submittal + Rejected Piles article (out of alignment beyond the maximum tolerance) + Damaged Piles article + As-Installed Survey article + pile cap, grade beam, and slab details + Section 31 00 00 Pile Cap Excavation | Do the cap and grade beam details show the termination plate or bracket, its elevation, and its embedment for each pile type, including the uplift connection for tension piles, since the section describes only a cut bar and a plate, because the section has no placement tolerance article and the Rejected Piles article rejects piles beyond a maximum tolerance it never states, is the bracketed tolerance item kept in the design submittal or a tolerance written into the section, can the grade beam width absorb it, does the schedule hold concrete until the as-installed survey is reviewed, and does the Pile Cap Excavation option kept in Section 31 00 00, written around pile driving, suit the termination elevation? |
| Load tests, carried-over driven pile text, records, and monitoring | Test Piles article and note + bracketed Dynamic Pile Analysis, Pile Analyzing, CAPWAP, and Dynamic Load Test Reporting articles + Compression Tests article (quick test; UFC 3-220-01 or deflection criterion options) + Tensile Load Test and Lateral Load Test articles + Field Test Report + Pile Records article + Order List article + payment items + Protection of Existing Structures, Vibration Control, and Noise Control notes + Section 01 45 35 | Are test piles located on the drawings, as the Compression Tests article assumes, is one capacity basis chosen, UFC 3-220-01 or a deflection criterion, with that criterion on the drawings if the plans are to state it, are tension and lateral load tests kept where the schedule shows uplift or lateral loads, has the specifier deleted or adapted the wave equation, hammer restrike, energy monitor, refined wave equation order list, and H-pile extension text carried over from the driven pile sections, including the unbracketed Test Piles sentence that still calls for a pile driving analyzer, are the existing structures to be protected indicated on the drawings, and are the vibration and noise paragraphs deleted where, as their notes say, most helical pile projects do not need them? |
Worked example: uplift at braced frames, a round shaft on the detail, and a torque factor read two ways
Illustrative example: a one-story vehicle maintenance shop addition next to an occupied barracks is founded on grouted helical piles under a grade beam, with braced frames along two lines. The pile schedule gives one compression load for every pile, but the structural general notes show uplift at the braced frame lines, and the typical pile detail draws a round pipe shaft with a welded bracket under the grade beam, while the issued Section 31 63 26.60 keeps the solid square bar product article and names no steel or welding standard. The detail gives no grout column diameter or length. The geotechnical report gives a torque correlation factor for estimating ultimate capacity, while the section keeps the paragraph that treats the torque result as an allowable end bearing load. The Dynamic Pile Analysis paragraphs were deleted, but the Test Piles article still calls for a pile driving analyzer on every test pile, and no placement tolerance appears in the section or on the drawings.
Ask the structural engineer to mark the uplift piles as tension piles with their loads, add a tensile load test for them, and detail the bracket connection and its embedment in the grade beam. Ask the specifier to edit the product article to the shaft the design uses, add the steel, welding, and galvanizing repair requirements for the field-welded bracket, delete the pile driving analyzer sentence, and write in a location and inclination tolerance the grade beam can absorb. Ask the geotechnical engineer whether the correlation factor yields ultimate or allowable capacity and what factor of safety applies before the acceptance paragraph is issued, and ask the structural engineer to show the grout column diameter and length if the grouted option stays.
Avoid a false conflict
Section 31 63 26.60 covers helical piles installed by torque, with an optional grout column formed by displacement plates and a gravity-fed reservoir, and their installation records and load tests. The concrete pile cap, grade beam, and slab follow Section 03 30 00 and the concrete guide, excavation and spoil follow Section 31 00 00, and special inspection follows Section 01 45 35, which carries deep foundation inspector qualifications; the section names no steel standard for the shaft, helices, couplings, or termination plates and no welding standard, so check which issued document covers each before calling a requirement missing. Augered cast-in-place piles are UFGS 31 63 16 and drilled concrete piers and shafts 31 63 29, each with its own guide, and driven steel pipe piles are 31 62 16.13 and the steel pipe pile guide, all Active on WBDG. Much of the section’s dynamic testing text, the wave equation, CAPWAP, hammer restrike, and energy monitor paragraphs, comes from the driven pile sections and assumes a hammer the section never specifies, so ask the geotechnical engineer which tests apply. UFC 3-220-01 with Change 3 does not mention helical piles; the section cites it for the safe design capacity from load tests and for skin friction analysis and lists it as the digital version, while the legacy WBDG record shows the 2012 edition with Change 3 of July 2025; confirm the version your task order invokes. Pile capacity, torque correlation factors, minimum torque and depth, and load test interpretation are decisions for the geotechnical and structural engineers and the contractor’s engineer. The current guide section cites ACI 301 and 301M, ASTM A123, A153, C31, C33, C39, C109, C144, C939, C942, C1077, C1157, C1611, D942, D1143, D3689, D3966, D4945, and E329, and UFC 3-220-01; confirm the editions your project invokes.
When requirements disagree, follow the project’s document-control and clarification process. Do not assume that drawings always override specifications, or the reverse. Identify the exact sources and request an authorized decision.
Close the issue across the affected documents
Record the location or tag, drawing and specification references, issue dates, observed difference, and the decision needed. Assign an owner and keep the item open until the response identifies the governing requirement. Check the revised drawings and specification references together; a response email alone may leave the issued package inconsistent.
For the overall process, use the guide to drawing and specification conflicts. Mark an inapplicable checklist row with a reason, and distinguish a verified correction from a question that still needs design information.
Where Groundbook fits
Groundbook’s drawing and specification review helps investigate potential disagreements in the documents you supply. Include the relevant specification sections and drawing references, then verify the cited evidence with the responsible reviewers before acting on a finding.