You may have seen television commercials or heard radio spots for your local utility companies requesting that you call them before you dig to avoid cutting into lines and piping—yes, even if you only plan to dig a hole a few feet deep to plant a new tree. And this is a pretty reasonable request, considering you probably have no clue where these lines are located underneath your residential or commercial property. Luckily, modern technology allows professionals to look into the ground to locate the whereabouts of underground utility lines and piping.
Whether you own a home, school, church, mall, business complex or new build site, how do you go about finding underground utility lines and piping before beginning a dig with equipment rentals in Monroe, LA? The following is some helpful information to ensure you avoid damaging in-ground neighborhood utilities during improvement projects.
Use a utility and pipeline locating company
Keep in mind that in-ground utility lines are not all buried at the same depth. In fact, each is buried at varying depths compared to the others, and although you might know roughly where the lines are, you might not know how deep they have been placed. It’s irritating to property owners to find themselves misjudging the location of utility lines when digging. To save time and headaches, you want to properly identify both current (active) and old (inactive or abandoned) line locations prior to digging; otherwise, your tools could sever or damage the utilities. This leads to expensive, time-consuming repairs.
It’s crucial that you take measures to ensure the safety of everyone around your dig, as well as to protect utility lines and piping. Be proactive, because you should want to do everything possible to keep damage to a minimum—or even better, to avoid it altogether. The responsible thing to do is to bring in an experienced underground utility line and pipe location service.
For accuracy, combine GPR, EM and multifrequency surveys
It’s been said that the most efficient and accurate property utility line and piping location service will offer a combination service that includes ground penetrating radar (GPR), an electromagnetic locator (EM) and multifrequency surveys. Why? Because for most soil types, GPR gives a view of the ground below the surface, EM makes images more complete—like locating metal tanks and metal pipes, clay units and contaminated water—and multifrequency detects lines that carry a frequency. This combo provides the most accurate results so you can proceed with your project with confidence and peace of mind.
Furthermore, this combination is both quick and cost-effective. A professional company can accurately mark in-ground utilities, create maps and show the location of anything that’s buried. Ask questions and check references before hiring a contractor.
Because not every dig project is the same size or type of work, Ram Rent-All, Inc. offers our customers a huge selection of tool and equipment rentals in Monroe, LA. But first things first—know before you dig! Contact your county or hire a private company to locate lines and piping ahead of time.