Iron Canvas
Steel Fabricator · Senoia, GA
Contact →
Six steel pipe bollards standing on a shop floor, finished in safety yellow above grade with the embed portion left in grey primer
Six bollards on the shop floor, yellow to the grade line and primer below it — the buried part never gets topcoat.
— Site protection · safety yellow · made in Senoia, GA

Steel pipe bollards.

Schedule 40 pipe, cut to your height, capped with quarter-inch plate and finished in safety yellow. The thing you put between a truck and whatever you cannot afford to have hit.

Buy — secure checkout → Request a quote →

  • PipeASTM A53 Gr. B, Schedule 40
  • FinishShop primer + safety yellow enamel
  • Lead time1–2 weeks, typical
  • PickupFree · Senoia, GA

What it is.

A short answer for the property manager, the site super, and whoever has to sign off on the number.

A bollard is a steel pipe standing in concrete. That is the whole idea, and its simplicity is the point: there is nothing to adjust, nothing to maintain, and nothing that stops working after a winter. Its job is to take a hit that would otherwise land on a building corner, a gas meter, an overhead door jamb, a transformer, a storefront window, or a person.

Ours are Schedule 40 pipe to ASTM A53 Grade B — the same pipe spec that carries steam and water, which means the wall is heavy and consistent rather than the thin-wall tube that gets sold as a bollard sleeve. We cut it to your height, weld a quarter-inch plate cap flush across the top so water cannot stand in the pipe, prime it overall, and put two coats of safety yellow enamel on everything that will be above grade. The buried length stays in primer, which is what the photograph above is showing: yellow to the grade line, grey below it. Topcoat on the embed would only get scrubbed off by the concrete.

Three ways to buy the same bollard. Embed style comes loose for setting in a new or cored footing, which is the strong way to do it. Baseplate style arrives on a half-inch plate with four anchors, for a slab that is already poured and must not be cut. Or our crew sets them: supplied and installed on Georgia jobs, which we quote against the site rather than sell online, because what is under a slab is not something to guess about.

Specifications.

Pipe weights are the published ASTM A53 Schedule 40 values, so your engineer can check them against the standard rather than against us.

Pipe bollard: embed-style elevation with footing, baseplate-style elevation with anchors, and a section through the pipe showing concrete fill ¼" PL CAP 42" 36" Ø18" FOOTING EMBED STYLE ¼" PL CAP 42" 11" SQ · ½" PL (4) Ø⅝" HOLES (4) ½" HDG WEDGE ANCHORS BASEPLATE STYLE CONCRETE FILL Ø6.625" OD 0.280" WALL SECTION · 6" NOM SCHEDULE 40 PIPE TO ASTM A53 GR. B · SHOP PRIMER OVERALL · (2) COATS SAFETY YELLOW ENAMEL ABOVE GRADE NOT TO SCALE · DIMENSIONS ARE THE PAGE DEFAULTS · FOOTING SIZE PER ENGINEER FOR IMPACT-RESISTING BOLLARDS
Both mounting styles at the 6-inch default, and a section through the filled pipe.
PipeSchedule 40 to ASTM A53 Grade B · 4", 6" or 8" nominal
4" nominal4.500" OD · 0.237" wall · 10.79 lb/ft
6" nominal6.625" OD · 0.280" wall · 18.97 lb/ft
8" nominal8.625" OD · 0.322" wall · 28.55 lb/ft
Cap¼" plate, cut round and welded flush across the top · no standing water in the pipe
Height24" to 72" above grade, your call · 42" is the usual commercial height
Embed18" to 48" · 36" default, in an Ø18" footing poured 6" below the pipe
Baseplate½" plate, square, 4½" larger than the pipe OD (9" / 11" / 13") · (4) Ø⅝" holes · (4) ½" HDG wedge anchors supplied
FinishShop primer overall, (2) coats safety yellow enamel above grade · embed left primed
Concrete fillExposed length filled and domed under the cap · included on installed bollards
Weight≈ 126 lb per 6" embed bollard at 42" + 36" · ≈ 86 lb per 6" baseplate bollard at 42"
Not ratedProtective bollards, not vehicle barriers. No ASTM F2656 M rating, no K rating, not crash-tested
Made inSenoia, Georgia · AISC-certified shop

How it goes in.

The sequence our crew uses, and the one we would hand a site super setting them himself.

01

Locate and check below

Mark centres and call 811 before anything turns. Bollards go exactly where vehicles already scrape, which is exactly where meters, conduit and irrigation tend to run. On a slab, confirm you are clear of post-tensioning before coring.

02

Core or dig the footing

An 18-inch hole, 6 inches deeper than the pipe, on undisturbed soil. Baseplate style skips this step entirely — clean the slab, mark the four holes, and drill for the wedge anchors.

03

Set plumb and brace

Two levels at ninety degrees, then brace it and leave it braced. A bollard 2 degrees out of plumb is visible from across a parking lot forever, and there is no adjusting it once the footing sets.

04

Pour, fill, patch

Footing first, then fill the pipe once it has taken its initial set, doming the top of the fill so water runs off under the cap. Patch the slab back, and touch up any yellow the shovels found.

Questions we get asked.

From property managers, site supers and the occasional insurance adjuster. If yours isn't here, it goes in the form below.

What size bollard do I need?
It depends on what is driving at it. 4-inch suits pedestrian areas, gas meters, hose bibs and building corners where the worst case is a van backing up slowly. 6-inch is the general-purpose commercial size — storefronts, drive-throughs, equipment yards. 8-inch is for loading docks and truck courts where a loaded trailer maneuvers every day. If a spec, a utility or an insurer has already named a size, use theirs; those are usually written down and not up for discussion.
How deep does a bollard go in the ground?
Rule of thumb is a third to a half of the total length buried, never less than about two feet. Our default is a 36-inch embed in an 18-inch footing poured 6 inches deeper than the pipe, which suits a 42-inch exposed bollard in ordinary soil. Frost depth, soil bearing and the size of the hit all change it, so a bollard that genuinely has to resist an impact should have its footing sized by an engineer rather than by a rule of thumb.
Embedded or baseplate — which should I use?
Embedded, given the choice: the footing does the work and there is nothing to shear off. Use a baseplate when the slab is already poured and cutting it is not an option — a finished warehouse floor, a post-tensioned slab, a leased space, or a bollard that may have to move later. Understand the trade: a baseplate bollard stops scrapes and nudges, but everything depends on four anchors in the top couple of inches of concrete, so it will not take the hit an embedded one will.
Should a bollard be filled with concrete?
Yes, for anything protective. Fill stiffens the pipe so it dents instead of folding, and keeps it from rusting from the inside out. We fill the exposed length as part of an installed bollard. Setting them yourself: fill after they are plumb and the footing has taken its initial set, and dome the top slightly under the cap so water cannot sit there.
Are these crash-rated or security bollards?
No. These are protective bollards — they keep vehicles off buildings, equipment, utilities and people at parking-lot speeds. They are not crash-tested and carry no ASTM F2656 M rating or Department of State K rating, and we will not represent them as vehicle barriers. If your project calls for a rated anti-ram barrier, that is a tested proprietary assembly on an engineered foundation and it is not this product. Tell us that is what you need and we will say so plainly rather than sell you pipe.
Why painted instead of galvanized?
Because a bollard is meant to be seen. Safety yellow is the whole function of the finish — a galvanized bollard is nearly invisible against wet asphalt, which defeats the purpose. Paint is also repairable: bollards get hit, and a hit bollard can be scuffed back and recoated on site in twenty minutes, where a damaged galvanized coating cannot. If you want one galvanized under the paint for a wash-down bay or a coastal site, ask and we will price it. More on finishes in the Journal →
What is the lead time, and do you ship or install?
One to two weeks typical — there is no galvanizing run to wait on, since these are primed and painted in our own shop. Pickup at Senoia, Georgia is free. We deliver on our own truck within the Atlanta metro, and bollards palletize well, so LTL freight anywhere in the United States is straightforward and quoted per order. Our own crews set bollards on Georgia jobs; that is quoted against the site rather than bought online.
— Quote · installed pricing · bulk orders

Tell us what you're protecting.

A count, a size and what it is guarding is enough to start. We reply the same business day with pricing, lead time and, for Georgia jobs, an installed number.

Got it.

Your request is in the shop's inbox. We'll reply the same business day with pricing and lead time. If it's urgent, call (404) 680-5396.