Hey
Morning guys
How are we all?
So, we're heading off today
Got a job down at Clifton Springs
Going to be doing some locating with Ground Penetrating Radar
We're going to be doing some Service locating
Trying to locate where all the underground cables are in the area and all the pipes that are through here.
So, they're going to be developing all this.
This is going to be a new estate out here
Before they design where the new water pipes going to go
Sewer pipes, telephone cables, gas pipes
Before they design where all that's going to go into the ground, they need to know what's here already.
So, obviously having houses here already, we're going to already have,
well, power. You can see that is overhead
We're going to have underground telephone cables,
we're going to have underground gas pipes
We're going to have underground water pipes, underground sewer pipes.
So, we're going to locate where all that is first
Surveyor's going to come out and then pick it all up from what we locate
And then they're going to go down and yeah, then they can design where it all goes
So, normally what would happen is they'd call us out
We'd go and locate it all and then with our hydro truck,
we'd dig down and expose it all
Industry's changing a bit
There's a lot more vac trucks out there which is good
But because of that, there's a lot of guys that are just taking a shortcut
And thinking, they can just call the vac truck company
and get the vac truck company come, and expose it all, and locate it all
The issue about it, is what's happening when the vac truck company's coming out
And they're literally coming out and digging an entire trench
Trying to find everything in this area.
So, they'll dig a whole trench along either side of the road to expose everything
The problem is they spend 3,4 hours digging the trench
Not knowing how deep to go.
Not knowing where to dig
Just digging the whole thing trying to expose the services
Which I think is crazy
In terms of productivity, the best way of going about it
Would be to locate where everything is first
Then once you've located it all
Then you can dig down at that one spot, and expose it
And then, move on
So, for example
In this patch where we are right now
There should be a telephone cable, and a water pipe in here
So, what I'll do
Instead of them digging, the whole trench from that fence to this road
Digging the whole way through
Instead of them having to do that
We can just, if I locate where the water main is
And locate where the Telstra cable is
It would take them maybe 20 minutes for the water main
15 minutes for the telephone cable
That's, say for the time you dig down and expose it
Backfill it all
You're looking at an hour
Compared to 4 hours to try to dig down
and dig the whole trench here
Not knowing what's here so...
Should be a good day
She's a great day out here
Love spring
Nice spring weather
So, yeah, let's get into it
Let's do it
All right. So, first thing I need to do
Is get a bearing of the site
I've never been here yet
So, I need to have a look at where we're working
Have a look at the site. Get an idea of it
I've got the plans on my phone
So the client sent us the plans of where they want the services located
So, they've got specific spots along here on both sides of the estate
Where they want everything exposed
Normally would have the surveyor, with us on site
And, they'd be marking out where they want these found
Unfortunately, because we're not working for the surveyor. He's not out here
So, that's all right.
I've got a fair few years of experience
I think I can, do it without them
So, all I'm doing is literally, marking from the plan
Out on the road, where each area is
Just so when the guys come in with the truck
So they know where they're going to be digging
And so when I'm doing my Locating
Rather than me having a look at the plan again
I know the areas where they're going to be working
So, over here for example
All they want to do is, they just want us to
locate everything in this area
And everything on that area on both sides of the road
So, we've got a, Telstra cable, in here running through here
Down to there, and I've also going up to there
And, let's go locate this Telstra cable now
Okay so, that is Telstra located
Let's go mark, while I'm on the Telstra, let's go mark the rest of the Telstra
I think this one here might be a bit of a hard one for them to dig
Well, not hard one to dig but they got this tree in the way
So, when they come in with their boom
Might be a bit annoying for them
But, at least they'll know exactly where it's going to be
And they know it's 900mm deep
So, it's going to be easier for them to dig down there
Rather than not knowing how deep it is and where to dig
We've got a water main that runs, up along the street there
The issue is the water main is plastic
But, I'm hoping being a newish sort of area
I'm hoping, that they might have put a trace wire on top of it
If they have, we'll be able to locate it by inducing the signal from the transmitter
On to the trace wire
That's what I'm hoping to do now
Let's see, if they have done it the right way or not
You get the Telstra, but not the water
So, they haven't put a trace wire on it
Okay so, I'm just checking the gas plan
Gas plan says it's 2.2 meters from the back of kerb
Rather than from the property line, which is a bit different
Normally, they always have the offset from the property line but, that's all right
And again, I'm hoping with the gas main
That they put a trace wire on top of it
If they have, I should be able to locate it
If they haven't, then we're going to be in trouble
Damn it
No good
Okay so, what that means is we're going to have to locate
The gas main and the water main, via Ground Penetrating Radar
Luckily the ground is pretty soft here
Clifton Springs, the soil is okay
It's not great
So, we'll see how we go with the GPR
So, I do know guys that won't get Ground Penetrating Radar in Victoria
Because they say, you can't see anything with it
If we were in, Perth or somewhere else where it's nice sand
You'd see 4, 5, 6 meters deep in Gold Coast
But, out here, unfortunately, you can only see so deep
Okay
So, they're going to be digging in the grass
Now, we've got two areas here
We've got grass and concrete
Radar is always going to find it easier to scan through bitumen and concrete
Than what it is on the grass
Unless the concrete's got a lot of reo in it
Which I don't think this one here will
It's just going to find, compared to what the grass would be like
I just find it'll be a lot easier to scan through this section here
So, I'm going to go up the drive way
We'll see
I'll do a comparison here and there
And show you guys what it looks like
Okay, so, I can already see one pipe there
And, possibly something there
Not really the best
That does line up to where the water should be
And actually houses have one, inside
One's, sort of ones that where the gas should be
Funny enough, I expected the water main to be easier to see
Than what the gas main was
The stormwater coming through
It must be made of concrete because it is really easy to see
Now, I won't change any settings yet
Which we'll go through
I'll do one scan
And then, I'll try again and change the settings
And now, I'm just going to change the gain on it
And it's telling me, it can see about a meter deep
In this soil conditions right here
All right. Let's go again
It's funny how with Ground Penetrating Radar
It all depends on the soil conditions
Over there I could see the gas, and possibly the water
Here, I can't see anything at all
I can see, the water main brilliantly
It's beautiful, it's just there.
And, I can also see the gas back here
So, we've literally just got on, what would that be
100 meters?
From, down there up to here
And yet, I can see so much better in here than what I could see down there
So it's, all this depends on soil conditions
You'd think the same area, soil would be similar
But the soil here is so much better than what it is down there
Okay guys
This is a good example of where, it'd be nice if we're working with the, surveyor
Rather than, the vacuum excavation company
We've done, we've lifted up, the sewer pit as you can see through here
And I can see the pipe in there
Now, if we're with a surveyor, what they could do
Rather than us try and locate it and then the guys dig down tomorrow and expose it
Surveying company could, pick up the invert right here
The next pit which is, 20 meters away
Pick up the invert at the next pit, line up and I'd be able to see, get exactly the
Or I'd be able to work out the, fall of it
And work out where it is right there and how deep it is
Rather than go into all the expense to, first locate it and then dig down and expose it
When they're not here, we'll have to do it the old-fashioned way
So, all we're doing is we put the rod down the sewer pipe
I'm now going to locate where the reel is
Once we locate where the reel is, that would tell us where the sewer pipe is
Okay, we've got good milliamps
What we're going to do now is try to locate it
We'll use cream for sewer
I hate cream but it's part of the Australian Standards
And, it's right there
That's it guys
So, that is the sewer all located
So, over here, I've been able to locate the Telstra, the gas, the water, the sewer and the stormwater
All right guys
All finished out here
So, we've done the whole street down the other street, before lunch
Now, after lunch we've done this street here
And all successful
I'm pretty, happy with this
This actually turned out to be a really good job
We found everything which is, it's not often where we can find everything
And I'm pretty, happy as you can tell
So, we've come out and we've found a gas main just here
We've found it with Ground Penetrating Radar, that's why it's pink
So, the gas main is right there
I found a Telstra cable. I mean you can see where the Telstra pit is
But the Telstra cable is right next to it
So, I put a circle around where I want the boys tomorrow, where they want them to dig
I'll try to make it easy for the guys
So this way, tomorrow when they come at the site
They don't have to worry about trying to locate what is here,
trying to understand what it is.
All they need to know is where they dig.
Dig right there.
So, we make it as simple as we can for them when they get out here
So, rather than, so originally, if we didn't come out here today
The boys would have done a trench from there, the whole way through to here
Trying to expose everything in here
So, yeah
This is why, if you want to know where stuff is, get a locator first
Find out where stuff is first
It's the smart way of working
Have a look on the other side of the road though
On the plans, we knew that there was two water mains on this nature strip through here
Found one of them through here
This one has a trace wire so it was easy to find
The other one, the offsets were off on the plan, what the plan said
But, we've found it with Ground Penetrating Radar, in the road right here
So, I found it right there
Knowing what some vac truck companies are like, and some operators are like
I reckon, the boys would've got out here tomorrow maybe not this company
But I know somebody, I'm not talking bad about them but anyway
I reckon they would have come out,
and they would have dug from that fence post over there
Gone through and dug down, dug down, dug down trying to find this water pipe
Not found it. Dug down, dug down, dug down, expose that one
Keep digging, keep digging, dug down through here
They would've keep going deeper and deeper trying to find this one
Not one to dig in the road because you shouldn't dig in the road
Not knowing where it is
They would have kept digging 2 to 3 meters deep
Instead, we've told them, that this is a water main right here
So now, they can come here tomorrow
Expose this one
Bang! Done
Expose this one
Bang! Done
Move on
Move up the next spot
So, again it just, if you're going to expose services, locate where they are first
Once you've located where they are, then go ahead and expose them
It's just a clever way of working
Anyway guys, I hope that all makes sense
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Even if you don't use us
If you use another Locating company
If you are from Queensland or Perth or somewhere else
And you do this sort of stuff
It's just something to keep in mind
Get a Locator at first
locate where the services are
Once you know where they are, then you get a vac truck out and expose it all
Any questions
Any comments
Leave them in the notes below
Until then, I do hope you're well
Take care
And bye for now