Category: Excavation
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To Remove Your Pool or Not To Remove Your Pool
Are you on the brink of deciding to remove your swimming pool? Here are some facts that may help you dive into the decision process. With the close of the summer season here in Northern California, pool owners are once again assessing just how much they used their pool this year. And they are posing…
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Why Use Foam in Pool Construction?
We have been contracted by a number of pool installers this year to assist them in installing pools using “geofoam” as part of the design. There are some very good reasons why you would want to use this foam material in pool construction, as well as in other construction applications. With regard to pool construction,…
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How to Choose an Excavation Contractor
When you choose a builder, landscaper or pool company, you also are choosing numerous other sub-contractors that will work in conjunction with the primary contractor you have chosen. This is especially true when heavy excavation or drilling is part of the project. Few contractors do this type of work themselves (in-house) because the equipment investment…
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Installing Pools in Tight Residential Lots
In Northern California many houses sit packed together on small plots. With homes of 2,500 square feet or more sitting on a lot of 5,000 sq. ft. This can present some serious challenges if you’re thinking of installing a nice swimming pool, but it’s certainly not impossible. If you’ve been told a pool can’t be…
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How Rebar Reinforces Concrete in Construction
The inclusion of reinforcement bars (‘rebar’) in concrete construction is a method that adds long-term strength to the concrete used to build foundations, walls, pools, pads and other structures. Concrete handles compression well, but without rebar would perform less well under tension or torsion (stretching and twisting). Load-bearing structures like foundations or walls need to…
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Using 4Rs to Manage Our Construction Waste
In the past, it was a common practice during the demolition of buildings or other structures to simply cart the waste materials away to a landfill. Today however, the growing cost of disposal and new materials, has put a greater emphasis on recycling old materials. De-constructing is an approach that involves a more careful disassembly…
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Excavation: Grading a Sloped Construction Site
An experienced builder understands that a sloped building lot presents issues such as stability, varying soil types, possible erosion, and poor drainage which can complicate construction and drive up costs. The slope of the site might be obvious. If site drops six feet from one end to the other, for instance, you know you may…
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The Value of French Drains in Controlling Water Flow
Your property needs to properly drain water to protect your home. Foundations in particular need to be protected from pooling water and seepage. So the property surrounding your structure needs to be engineered to divert water from storms off the property easily. And you may need to work with your neighbors. If their land stands…
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Excavating and Drilling in Wet Weather
The Northern California rainy season has begun, and with it come special challenges for construction project crews. The most common wet weather dangers are “slips, trips and falls.” These dangers are particularly prevalent when working in elevated positions such as when using scaffolding, hand holds, stairs and ladders. Even after the rain stops, conditions remain…
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Construction Site Excavation Safety Steps
Excavation and trenching are naturally hazardous construction operations, and contractors need to take all the appropriate steps to ensure worker safety. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) defines an excavation as “any man-made cut, cavity, trench, or depression in the earth’s surface formed by earth removal.” A trench, in particular, is defined as “a…