Piling has been around for eons, since the earliest usage in prehistoric Alpine sites where ancient humans used piles to lift their dwellings from the swampy floor, piling has appeared in human architecture across countless cultures and civilisations. Piles are installed underneath most constructions or structures to provide solid foundations either by transferring the weight to a strong, rocky layer of earth (end-bearing piles) or by dispersing the weight to the surrounding soil via friction (friction piles). Piles come in variations for screwing and driving into the earth and those for casting in-situ in a pre-bored hole. A piling solution exists for almost all imaginable environments and terrains, as humans have built on some of the most remote and difficult places in the world!
Remote Mountainous Sites
Remote sites are difficult to access, and even more difficult to transport precast concrete or full-sized steel piles to! Lugging the piles through mountain ranges in order to reach your site is both costly and heavy on carbon emissions, and it can be dangerous, too! Cast in-situ piles can help ease this as then only the raw materials need to be transported, but these sites can be difficult to pile in regardless of method!
Restricted Access Urban Sites
Urban sites can be difficult to access for an entirely different reason. Though easy to find, the sites are often in restricted spaces with little room to engage machinery or maneuver piles into the correct installation angle. Urban sites most often come with another key difficulty – local complaints! Urban constructions often require low levels of noise pollution and vibrations as to not disturb local residents, which can make your piling project much trickier to complete. Mini piles can help as these produce less noise and vibrations than their full-sized counterparts.
High Sand or Clay Content Sites
Piling into earth with a high sand or clay content is tricky and risky in equal measure. Sand can be washed away easily leaving your foundations unsupported while clay can at times expand and shrink with the changing temperatures of the seasons, leaving piles exposed to erosion and weathering. Helical, or screw piles, were originally invented for use in constructions on sand for seaside structures such as lighthouses, and can provide a wider support which helps counteract the shiftiness of the soil.
Piling on the wrong site can cause countless issues, including subsidence. For bespoke advice on your piling project, get in touch today!
