Start with the opening drawing note of the issued Section 31 62 19: confirm that the pile location plan carries GPS coordinates, that test piles and boring logs are shown, and that the schedule gives each pile its capacity, length or tip elevation, cutoff elevation, and the minimum butt or tip circumference the Piles note asks the designer to set. Then check that the species, the treated or untreated option, the splice rule, pile shoes, cutoff and field treatment, tolerances, and test program kept in the section agree with the pile and cap details, the geotechnical report, and the exposure the piles will see, and that the concrete pile text the section carries has been deleted.
Assemble the review package
Gather the pile location plan with pile marks, GPS coordinates, and test piles, the pile schedule with capacity, butt or tip circumference, length or tip elevation, cutoff elevation, and batter, the typical pile detail with any pile shoe, any splice, and the pile head in the cap, the pile cap plan, schedule, and details with embedment and the clear distance from pile to cap edge, the structural general notes with design loads, bending moments, lateral loads, uplift, and any species, grade, or treatment they state, the geotechnical report with boring logs, groundwater levels, the bearing stratum, and any obstructions, the environmental permits or owner restrictions on wood preservatives, the plan of existing structures near the work, the statement of special inspections, and the issued Section 31 62 19 with Sections 03 30 00, 31 00 00, and 01 45 35 and the AWPA use category the design assumes. Follow one pile from its tip and shoe through its cutoff to the cap before assuming the others match.
WBDG publishes UFGS 31 62 19: Timber Piles as a public guide-specification reference (accessed November 9, 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 location plan, test piles, and design loads | Opening drawing note (subsurface soil data logs; pile location plan with GPS coordinates; test pile locations) + extent note + PART 1 structural engineer note + Description article + Subsurface Data article + Production Pile Acceptance Criteria (bids on number, butt and tip circumference, and length) + Lump Sum Payment note and Table 1 + foundation plan, pile schedule, and structural general notes | Does the pile location plan give GPS coordinates, as the opening note requires, are test piles located or tied to boring numbers, are the boring logs where the Subsurface Data bracket says they are, does every pile mark resolve to a capacity, circumference, length or tip elevation, and cutoff elevation, do the general notes give the bending moments, lateral loads, and other design requirements the PART 1 note says the structural engineer must provide, since the Description article has the contractor design the piles, and if the lump sum basis is kept, are the number of piles, capacity, locations, and tip and cutoff elevations on the drawings and the table’s bending moment and shear columns filled where the design uses them? |
| Species, circumference, and straightness | Piles article and notes (treated Douglas fir or southern pine clean-peeled piles, or untreated species and peeling options; butt circumference for friction piles and tip circumference for end-bearing piles; NAVFAC LANT circumference table) + ASTM D25 + straight-line and continuous-taper sentences + Delivery, Storage, and Handling article (curvature limit) + Pile Sweep article and note + pile schedule | Is the minimum butt or tip circumference given in the bracket or on the schedule, butt for friction piles and tip for end-bearing piles, as the note directs, and does the schedule say which governs each pile type, are the species and peeling consistent with the treatment option kept, where the specifier works from the note’s NAVFAC LANT table, has the inch-pound version been checked against the metric one, since its first capacity row is misprinted, and has the specifier kept one straightness rule, since the Delivery article’s curvature limit sits beside an unbracketed Pile Sweep paragraph whose note says sweep and camber typically apply to steel piles? |
| Preservative treatment and AWPA use category | AWPA note (use categories to review; AWPA U1 Section 3; regulators may not recognize every AWPA combination) + Preservative Treatment article and note (creosote, creosote-coal tar solution, or ACA, ACZA, or CCA; no waterborne arsenicals for round piles under significant bending or impact) + Quality Assurance article (branding under AWPA M1, M2, M6, T1, and U1; independent inspection agency; plant under AWPA M3) + Plant Inspection article + References article + general notes and environmental permits | Does the issued section or the general notes name the AWPA use category the design relies on, since the Preservative Treatment article names preservatives but no use category or retention, is one preservative kept, where the piles carry significant bending or impact, are the waterborne arsenical options deleted, as the note directs, has the specifier corrected the article’s pairing of creosote-coal tar solution with AWPA P3, which the References article titles Creosote - Petroleum Oil Solution, and does the preservative kept suit the project’s environmental permits, since the AWPA note warns that other regulators may not permit every combination the AWPA standards list? |
| Untreated piles, handling, and field treatment of cuts | Untreated pile option and note (high-density species where environmental conditions prohibit preservatives; ASTM D25, AWPA T1, and AWPA U1) + Delivery, Storage, and Handling article (stacking and support, AWPA M4 handling, periodic inspection of stored untreated and treated piles) + Damaged Piles article (soundness, splits, knots, and holes) + bracketed AWPA M4 sentence in the Preservative Treatment article (cut, bored, and damaged surfaces) + Pile Cut-Off article + cap details | If untreated piles are kept, is the species filled in and has the designer of record confirmed that untreated wood suits the groundwater and exposure along the pile and at the cutoff, should the untreated option still cite the AWPA treatment and use category standards it names, where treated piles are used, is the bracketed AWPA M4 sentence kept so cut, bored, and damaged surfaces are field treated, and since the Pile Cut-Off article asks only for a smooth level cut, does it or the cap detail say how the cut pile tops are treated before they are cast into the cap? |
| Splices, shoes, and the one-piece rule | Piles article (“Piles must be in one piece” beside a splicing bracket in both the treated and untreated options) + Pile Splices article and note (splices difficult and undesirable; not permitted, as indicated, full strength in compression, tension, shear, and bending, or detail drawings and calculations) + Pile Shoes article and submittal + Pile Driving Shoes and Timber Pile Splices payment items + boring logs + pile tip and splice details | Is one splice rule kept, since both pile options keep “Piles must be in one piece” beside a bracket that can permit splicing and the Pile Splices article offers splices as indicated, where splices stay, is there a splice detail that develops the strength the bracket kept requires, or are splice drawings and calculations required, where the logs show dense layers, cobbles, or obstructions, are pile shoes shown on the tip detail with the piles that get them, since the article attaches shoes “where indicated or directed”, and do the pay items for shoes and splices match what the drawings show? |
| Driving stresses, acceptance basis, and carried-over concrete text | Pile Hammers article + Driving Helmets or Pile Cushions and Hammer Cushion articles and note + Wave Equation Analysis of Pile Drivability article (Allowable Driving Stresses table for wood) + Production Pile Acceptance Criteria (terminal criteria by the Contractor’s Geotechnical Consultant; dynamic formula paragraph) + Driving Piles article and note + Protection of Piles article + Jetting of Piles article + geotechnical report | Has the geotechnical engineer confirmed the driving stress limit the wave equation analysis must meet for the species and grade supplied, since the Allowable Driving Stresses table gives one fixed figure for wood compression and tension beside a stray label for the allowable static timber stress, is the unbracketed dynamic formula paragraph in the acceptance article, written in inch-pound terms only, deleted or reconciled with the terminal criteria the consultant sets, and has the specifier deleted the concrete pile text the section carries: the unbracketed sentence tying driving to concrete strength and casting age, the sentence on cracking concrete and grout around prestressing cables, the projecting strand and reinforcement orientation sentences, the jetting sentence on damaging concrete, and the note’s effective prestress? |
| Tolerances, cutoff, and the as-driven survey | Pile Placement and Tolerances in Driving article and note (plumb and batter variation, butt location, manipulation bracket, clear distance from butt to cap edge, heave monitoring) + Damaged Piles article (pile below butt elevation spliced or footing extended; corrections approved by “the Engineer”) + Rejected Piles article + Pile Cut-Off article + As-Driven Survey article + Driving Piles bracketed excavation option + Section 31 00 00 Pile Cap Excavation + pile cap plan, schedule, and details | Do the cap dimensions keep the clear distance from butt to cap edge the tolerance article requires for a pile at its location tolerance, do the cutoff elevations agree with the cap bottoms and embedment, has the structural engineer accepted the Damaged Piles remedies for a pile driven below its butt elevation, splicing or extending the footing, given the splice rule kept, since that article and others refer to “the Engineer”, a party the section never defines, has the specifier said who it is, does the schedule hold cap concrete until the licensed surveyor’s as-driven survey is reviewed, and do this section’s excavation option and the Pile Cap Excavation article of Section 31 00 00 keep the same sequence? |
| Load tests, testing agency, pay items, and monitoring | Test Piles article and note + Dynamic Pile Analysis, Pile Analyzing, Pile Drivability, CAPWAP, and Dynamic Load Test Reporting articles + Static Load Tests, Safe Design Capacity, Tensile Load Test, and Lateral Load Test articles + Testing Agency Qualifications article + Pile Driving Records article and notes + fifteen payment items + Protection of Existing Structures, Vibration Control, Noise Control, Preconstruction Condition Survey, and Construction Instrumentation and Monitoring Program articles and notes + Section 01 45 35 | Are tension and lateral load tests kept wherever the schedule shows uplift or lateral piles, and deleted where it does not, is the dynamic measurement paragraph that sits inside the Tensile Load Test article kept or moved deliberately, is the Testing Agency Qualifications article edited, since it cites ASTM C1077, a practice for agencies testing concrete and aggregates, in a section with no concrete testing, is the Sound Monitoring pay item, which its text measures per vibration monitoring point, edited to count noise monitoring points, are “build-ups” and “pile driving points” deleted from the pay text where the piles have neither, and are the structures to be protected and the monitoring locations shown on the drawings, as the notes require? |
Worked example: no circumference on the schedule, one-piece piles with a splice detail, and arsenicals under lateral load
Illustrative example: a one-story boat storage and maintenance building beside a freshwater reservoir is founded on treated southern pine piles under concrete pile caps and a grade beam. The pile location plan gives grid dimensions but no GPS coordinates, and the pile schedule lists capacity and length but no butt or tip circumference. The issued Section 31 62 19 keeps all three preservative options and keeps “Piles must be in one piece” beside “Splicing is permitted”, while the typical pile detail shows a sleeve splice. The general notes give lateral loads at the overhead door wall, but the section keeps the waterborne arsenical options the treatment note says not to use under significant bending, and keeps the Tensile Load Test while deleting the Lateral Load Test. The Pile Cut-Off article says nothing about treating the cut tops, the bracketed AWPA M4 sentence was deleted, and the Driving Piles article still ties driving to concrete strength.
Ask the structural engineer to add GPS coordinates to the pile location plan and the minimum butt or tip circumference for each pile type to the schedule, and to decide whether splices are allowed: if they are, to provide the splice detail and calculations and delete the one-piece sentence, and if not, to remove the sleeve splice from the detail. Ask the specifier to keep one preservative, deleting the waterborne arsenical options for the laterally loaded piles, to name the AWPA use category, to restore the AWPA M4 field treatment sentence and add treatment of the cut tops, and to delete the concrete pile sentences. Ask the geotechnical engineer whether the laterally loaded piles need a lateral load test and which driving stress limit the wave equation analysis should use for the species supplied.
Avoid a false conflict
Section 31 62 19 covers round timber piles for land and fresh water: their species, treatment, handling, driving, and testing. Waterfront and other marine timber piles, including fender and dolphin piles, are UFGS 31 62 19.13 Timber Marine Piles (Active, November 2016 with a May 2022 change), which has its own field treatment, pile cap, hardware, regulatory, and best management practice articles that this section lacks. Concrete pile caps and grade beams follow Section 03 30 00 and the concrete guide, pile cap excavation follows Section 31 00 00, and special inspection follows Section 01 45 35, all Active on WBDG; check those before calling a requirement missing. Steel H-piles are 31 62 16.16, steel pipe piles 31 62 16.13, precast concrete piles 31 62 13.20, and cast-in-place concrete piles in steel casings 31 62 13.13, each with its own guide, so a schedule that mixes pile types should say which section governs each. Pile capacity, circumference, species and grade, preservative and retention, driving stresses, terminal driving criteria, and load test interpretation are decisions for the structural and geotechnical engineers and the contractor’s geotechnical consultant. Its Safe Design Capacity paragraph points to UFC 3-220-01, listed as the digital version while the legacy WBDG record still shows the 2012 edition with Change 3 of July 2025; confirm the version your task order invokes. The current guide section cites AWPA A1, A2, M1, M2, M3, M4, M6, P1/P13, P2, P3, P5, T1, and U1, ASTM C1077, D25, 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.