BEFORE YOU DIG
Locating Underground Utilities can be a Challenge
and we LOVE a challenge
The purpose of an outdoor utility location service is to prevent accidental damage to these underground utilities during construction, excavation, or any other outdoor activity that involves digging or ground penetration. By accurately locating and marking the positions of underground utilities, this service helps prevent costly and potentially dangerous incidents such as service disruptions, injuries, or environmental damage.
Using EML (Electro-magnetic Locating tools), accounting for the lifelines of each site and marking them accordingly, ( correct colors neatly and writing estimated depths using the EML tools as well as Ground Penetrating Radar, (GPR, big gpr looks like a push lawnmower for non metallic utilities not picked up using the EML tools), such as PVC piping, concrete piping, voids, empty pvc conduits, basically anything sub surface thats non metallic. We can also double check depths of utilities we have already marked metallic utilities using EML tools mentioned above.
Indoor utility location refers to the process of identifying and mapping the various utility systems and components within a building’s interior. These utilities typically include electrical wiring, plumbing pipes, gas lines, ventilation ducts, and telecommunications cables. By knowing the precise location of these utilities, building owners, contractors, and maintenance personnel can effectively manage and maintain the infrastructure, plan renovations or repairs, and avoid potential hazards during construction or excavation work.
Indoor utility location may involve several techniques and tools. In some cases, building blueprints or as-built drawings can provide valuable information about the utility layout. However, these documents may not always be available or accurate. As a result, other methods such as electronic detection devices, ground-penetrating radar, or thermal imaging may be employed to identify the exact positions of hidden utilities behind walls, ceilings, or floors.
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is a geophysical method that uses radar pulses to image subsurface structures and detect objects buried underground. It can be used effectively for utility location, specifically to identify and map the presence of underground utilities such as pipes, cables, and conduits.
It’s important to note that GPR is most effective for locating metallic and non-metallic utilities that have contrasting properties with the surrounding soil. Factors such as soil type, moisture content, and depth of burial can affect the accuracy and detectability of GPR signals. In some cases, additional methods like electromagnetic induction or utility records may be used in conjunction with GPR to improve utility location accuracy. Professional GPR operators with experience in utility location, like us, are best suited for conducting these surveys.
We can find electrical faults where at some point an electrical wire has had its jacket or sheath damaged, moisture gets in and cases the wire to corrode and may get hot and burn apart or together with other phased legs of power causing a disruption of power, total loss or partial power being delivered to run the equipment. For example, all it takes is a rock that was in the ditch when filled in around the cable and later it rubs the insulation jacket and cause a fault by going to ground and tripping a breaker. We can find these spots, locate the wire and fault find along the line. This allows the owner to then dug it up expose in fault area, and put in a splice to get power back on, avoiding the huge expense of replacing the wire total run. Expensive and time consuming, plus the rehab after a new ditch line is excavated and dug up to install the new wire and then back-filled, tamped back and then landscaped as it was before. Simply have us find the Fault and dig up the spot(s).
We locate the water line, metallic or pvc, then go along the marked water line and listen with Hi-Tech modern equipment and search our where we hear the leak at and mark locations so the excavator can go right to the problem and repair the line. We would also locate all other utilities around the marked area so they don’t damage or destroy other utilities in an effort to repair the leaking water line, creating a safe environment where power gas and communication lines may be around the proposed excavation area.