Start with the pile plan and the fender, cluster, and dolphin details: since the issued Section 31 62 19.13 has no note listing what the drawings must show, confirm that they give each pile’s type, location, batter, tip and cutoff elevations, and the circumference basis the Piles article asks for, butt circumference for friction and fender piles or tip circumference for end bearing, with the test pile and load test locations. Then check that the marine use category and preservative in the section match the general notes and the site waters, that any untreated, wrapped, or capped piles are actually specified, that the hardware, connectors, bevels, and wrap turns drawn match the framing and wrapping articles, and that the bid, test pile, driving, and tolerance articles kept fit the pier layout.
Assemble the review package
Gather the pile plan with pile marks, test piles, and load test locations, the pile schedule with type, butt or tip circumference, length, tip and cutoff elevations, and batter, the pier or wharf bent elevations and sections, the fender system, cluster, and dolphin details with bevels, wrap turns, through bolts, and hardware, the timber framing details with connectors, washers, filler blocks, and counterbores, the general notes with species, marine use category, preservative, and any wrapping or pile top caps, the mudline and dredge elevations, the geotechnical report with boring logs, the installation’s environmental requirements for treated wood in water, the applied biologist’s or environmental office’s advice on borers and creosote, and the issued Section 31 62 19.13 with the concrete, heavy timber, and bid schedule sections. Follow one bearing pile and one fender pile from the treating plant to the cutoff before assuming the others match.
WBDG publishes UFGS 31 62 19.13: Timber Marine Piles as a public guide-specification reference (accessed November 11, 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, types, circumference, and lengths | No drawing note + Basis of Bids lump sum note (number, capacity, locations, and tip and cutoff elevations on the drawings) + Piles note (butt circumference for friction piles, tip circumference for end bearing; clean-peeled where treated) and article (species, one piece, no splices, bearing and fender, cluster, or dolphin circumference brackets, “as indicated”) + Lengths of Job Piles + pile plan, schedule, and bent elevations | Does every pile mark resolve to a schedule line with its type, bearing or fender, cluster, or dolphin, its circumference measured where the Piles article measures it, its length, tip and cutoff elevations, and batter, are the species and peeling stated where the section leaves them bracketed, and since the section has no drawing note, do the plans show the test piles and load tests the Test Piles note and Load Tests article expect to find there? |
| Marine use category and preservative | Preservative Treatment notes (UC5A, UC5B, or UC5C by water and borers, from AWPA U1 Commodity Specification G; the applied biologist; local limits on creosote) and article (creosote or creosote solution, waterborne ACZA or CCA, or dual treatment) + Lateral capacity note + Preservative Treatment quality assurance (independent inspection agency report, accredited quality mark, clean and dry wood) + Inspection of the Preservative Treatment Process (AWPA M2) + Delivery Inspection List + general notes | Do the general notes name the same marine use category and preservative as the issued section, chosen for the waters at the site, does the treatment kept respect any local limit on creosote the environmental office has identified, and where fender, dolphin, and other laterally loaded piles are treated, has the designer considered the larger pile size the lateral capacity note suggests, so the circumference on the drawings is the one the treated pile needs? |
| Untreated, wrapped, and capped piles | Quality Assurance note (untreated piling only for fender piles justified by maintenance records or where plastic covered piling is specified) + borer note (pressure treated piles further protected by plastic wrapping) + Piles article ([treated] [and] [untreated] brackets) + Pile Caps article (epoxy coating or fiberglass or polyethylene conical caps), submittal, and unit price item + Tolerances bracket (clear distance between pile heads and the edges of caps) + fender and pile top details | Where the details show untreated fender piles or plastic wrapped piles, which article specifies the covering, since the notes rely on plastic covering but no article or submittal specifies it, which piles receive the protective cap the Pile Caps article describes, and since the section also uses “pile caps” for concrete caps in the tolerance bracket, do the drawings and the unit price item make clear which cap each refers to? |
| Environmental, best management practice, and field treatment | Environmental notes (local limits on treated wood in water and on disposal) + Regulatory Requirements bracket (blank) + Pesticide Applicator Company Self-Certification + Best Management Practices (WWPI) and the CCA bracket (chromotropic acid test cited to AWPA A3 under a title different from the References article) + SDS and CIS + Field Treatment (copper naphthenate to AWPA P34, coal-tar roofing cement bracketed) + On Site Application of Wood Preservatives + Driving Piles (headed piles treated, spray-zone timing) + Framing Treated Piles (holes treated and sealed with coal-tar cement) | Has the Regulatory Requirements bracket been filled with the installation’s actual limits on treated wood in water and on disposal of cutoffs, where CCA is used, does the fixation test bracket cite the AWPA method the project means, and is coal-tar roofing cement required or optional, since Field Treatment brackets it while Framing Treated Piles requires it and points to a paragraph that does not mention it? |
| Framing, hardware, fastening, and wrapping | Framing Treated Piles (no cutting to fit timbers, uniform piles per bent, treated filler blocks, drift bolt and through bolt holes, counterbores as indicated, treated plugs, no scaffold holes) + Hardware note (corrosion protection with waterborne salts) and article (ASTM A307 bolts, washers where indicated, connectors of type and size indicated, hot-dip galvanizing) + Fastening (retightening thread, connectors and grooves) + Wire Rope and Fitting (FS RR-W-410 type and class bracket, staples, clips) + Wrapping Pile Clusters and Dolphins (turns as indicated) + Driving Piles (fender tops beveled outboard as indicated) + bent, fender, and dolphin details | Do the details give the connector types, washer types, counterbores, filler blocks, and bolt lengths the articles leave to the drawings, does the hardware protection suit piles treated with waterborne salts, do the cluster and dolphin details give the number of wrap turns and the through bolts the wrapping article requires, does the wire rope type and class kept match what the details call for, and are the fender pile bevels shown? |
| Basis of bid, ordering, test piles, and load tests | Navy Basis of Bids notes (lump sum unless quantities cannot be fixed; unit price for NAVFAC LANT; NAVFAC PAC bid schedule) + Army Unit Prices note and pay items (each pile, test piles, load tests, shoes, caps, pulled piles) + Test Piles note (number and locations on the drawings) and article (static loading of test piles; measuring equipment by the Contracting Officer or the Contractor) + Load Tests notes (designer specifies number and loading data; Army method and formulas) and article (ASTM D1143; Contractor provides testing and measuring equipment; registered engineer) + ordering after the Government’s tip elevation list | Is one bid structure kept for the agency and the quantities shown, does the schedule allow for production piles that cannot be ordered until the tip elevation or driving resistance list is issued, if the Load Tests paragraph is deleted, has the Test Piles requirement for static load testing also been edited, and who furnishes the measuring equipment, since the Test Piles bracket may name the Contracting Officer while Load Tests has the Contractor provide it? |
| Hammers, driving criteria, and assisted installation | Pile Driving Hammers note and article (types, vibratory bracket tied to load testing, maximum energy bracket, test and job piles with the same hammer) + Leads (swinging leads bracket) + Driving Cap or Helmet and Cushion Block + Pile Collars + Driving Piles (tip elevation or penetration schedule, refusal, no followers or splices, uplift and redriving, fresh concrete) + Pile Shoes note (only for hard driving in upper strata) and article + Jetting, Spudding, and Predrilling notes (not generally for friction piles in fine-grained soils, uplift, adjacent structures, or closely spaced clusters) and articles + geotechnical report | Does the hammer energy kept suit the pile sizes and the soils in the borings, are pile shoes kept only where the borings show the hard upper strata the note describes, and where jetting, spudding, or predrilling is allowed, have the notes’ limits been applied to the pier, since fender clusters and dolphins are closely spaced piles and many waterfront piles carry uplift or stand beside existing structures? |
| Tolerances, cutoff, survey, and records | Tolerances in Driving Piles (butt location at cutoff, plumb and batter limits, manipulation brackets, separate fender, cluster, and dolphin manipulation parallel and perpendicular to the pier face, cap edge clearance bracket, heave) + Driving Piles (heading at cutoff) + Protection of Piles (batter pile free ends) + Damaged Piles (pulling selected piles) + Survey Data (as-driven survey before concrete; surveyor or engineer bracket) + Pile Driving Records (diameter; forms said to be attached) + Test Piles (driving data per a paragraph “Records”) + deck, cap, and fender details | Do the drawings show the pier face the fender, cluster, and dolphin tolerances are measured from, is the cap edge clearance bracket kept only where piles frame into concrete caps, do the records follow the circumference the Piles article uses rather than a diameter, has the Test Piles reference been corrected to Pile Driving Records, and since the PDF does not include the preprinted driving forms it says are attached, which record form will the contractor use? |
Worked example: untreated fender piles with wrap nobody specified, two kinds of cap, and jetting beside a dolphin
Illustrative example: a small-craft pier at a coastal naval station is rebuilt on treated southern pine bearing piles, with an untreated fender system and two timber dolphins at the outer end, and a concrete pile cap at the landward abutment. The general notes name a marine use category different from the one the issued Section 31 62 19.13 keeps in its preservative paragraph, the fender details show plastic wrapped piles with no article for the wrap, and the pile schedule gives a diameter for each pile, not the butt or tip circumference the Piles article asks for. The issued section keeps the Pile Caps article with polyethylene conical caps and the cap edge clearance bracket, deletes the Load Tests paragraph but keeps the Test Piles sentence requiring static load testing, allows jetting without exceptions although the dolphins are tight clusters, and leaves the Regulatory Requirements bracket blank.
Ask the structural engineer to state one marine use category and preservative in the general notes and the section, to give circumferences in the schedule, to specify the fender pile wrap or delete it from the details, and to mark which piles receive conical caps and which frame into the concrete cap. Ask the specifier to edit the Test Piles paragraph to match the deleted Load Tests paragraph or restore load testing, to keep jetting away from the dolphins and the abutment as the note advises, to fill in the Regulatory Requirements bracket with the installation’s limits on treated wood in water, to correct the Test Piles reference to Pile Driving Records, and to say which driving record form applies, and ask the contracting officer to confirm the ordering schedule for piles that wait on the tip elevation list.
Avoid a false conflict
Section 31 62 19.13 covers round timber piles for waterfront and other marine structures: their species, marine treatment, protection, framing, hardware, wrapping, driving, and testing. Timber piles for land and fresh water follow Section 31 62 19 and the timber pile guide, concrete cylinder, precast, and cast-in-place piles and steel pipe and H-piles follow their own sections and guides, and steel sheet pile bulkheads follow the metal sheet piling guide. Concrete caps and decks follow Section 03 30 00, and the timber stringers and decking above the piles follow their own section, so check those before calling a requirement missing. Some of the section’s own wording needs resolving before it is compared with the drawings: it has no drawing note, its Test Piles paragraph points to a paragraph titled Records that does not exist, its driving record forms are said to be attached but are not in the PDF, its notes rely on plastic covered piling that no article specifies, its CCA bracket gives AWPA A3 a title different from the References article, coal-tar cement is optional in one article and required in another, “pile caps” names both a protective top cap and a concrete cap, the test pile and load test paragraphs disagree on who furnishes measuring equipment, and the records ask for a diameter where the piles are specified by circumference. Ask the specifier which wording the project intends before treating a difference as a design conflict.
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.