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A few projects I have done recently

CM1995

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Running what I brung and taking what I win
As the arena turns...

So the drilled pier contractor hit an existing storm line 3 times while drilling caissons.

The first time the foundation contractor hit the 30" line they poured up to the flow line and stopped. The second time they hit the pipe was close to the CMU wall and they stopped.

After they hit the line the second time we were asked by the GC to uncover the existing 30" storm line from the building to the pump station in order to figure out the extent of damage. We potholed the line in a few places and then had a big on-site white hat meeting with folks wearing shiny shoes - ya'll know that type of meeting. Luckily this time around we weren't the focus of it.:D

During the meeting I asked the drilled pier super about the last caisson they poured that was in a direct line along the existing 30" from the building to the pump station if they run into anything unusual - He replied no. 5 minutes later he spoke up and said "Well we did dump some extra mud in that hole". I asked how much? He said - "It called for 7 CY's and we dumped 16 CY's". I turned around and told the PM - your storm line is full concrete.:cool:

The third caisson that filled the line can be seen in the bottom of the pic below - straight inline.


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So we were awarded a nice CO to replace filled line.

1970's quality workmanship right here. 30" RCP cut on a 45 and not even grouted. This is where the 30" line that drains the entire arena complex dumps into a pump station with 2 Cat powered 8" pumps that dumps into the box culvert we replaced up thread.

The gap in that 45 was the way they installed it.

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The concrete filled pipe looked like a corn dog.

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Site access was tight to say the least. Yeah we knew the dangers of hammering that close to that deep of a trench but there wasn't another way. There is a fiber optic line underneath the track frame closest to the ditch and a 6" med pressure gas main running under the center of the 325. The hammer purchase has earned it's cost.

Good talent is priceless ya'll.;)

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CM1995

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The repair required 2-60" manhole bases we had cored in the field as the lead time was 2 weeks and the project schedule didn't allow it. Since it was a CO the $5K cost to core holes was covered.

First two MH's set coming out of the pump station.

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Setting the second manhole. I thought this was a neat pic.

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Pulling trench boxes sucks and it sucks even more when you have no room and your closest neighbor is a fiber optic line and a gas line. 14' deep to flow line.

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Space was tight as the schedule was. Our guys rose to the challenge and got the project back on track.

This was the tie in point from the new line to the existing. Since this line drains the entire project there was a trailer mounted pump in the trench box for when it rained.

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CM1995

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More pics of the tie in.

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The GC rented a 320 Next Gen excavator for a week and they only used it for 2 days so they let us use the last 3 days to help speed the project along. The Next Gen Cat's are pretty damn nice.

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Tie into the existing line. The caisson that caused all the problems is behind the road plate next to the trench box.

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Of course the distance from our last full stick of 30" RCP to the existing line would end up being 9'...

So we spliced 2 - 4.5 sections of pipe together and poured a concrete collar around them.

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No we didn't leave the pallet in the ditch..:D
 

CM1995

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18" DIP discharge line from the pump station to the box culvert we replaced back up thread.

We received a CO to encase the existing pipe with 4500 PSI concrete 1' minimum around the pipe. Spec's didn't call to dowel into the box culvert or the pump station but it need to be.

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This is the first time we have used Stay Form the metal mesh stay in place forming panels. Worked like a charm and we didn't have to wreck forms.

4" gas line that feeds the natural gas powered Cat's in the pump station is sleeved with some 8" ADS we had on site.

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Poured out.

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CM1995

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Running what I brung and taking what I win
That's top notch problem solving right there

Now I would love to see the pier guys face when he gets the back charge for filling it full of mud

Thanks AZ.

Well as it turns out the caisson company won't owe a dime. According to the GC they have an iron clad contract that indemnifies them from anything they hit underground - I need to hire their lawyer...

This company is local and really the only game in town unless you go with a big national outfit such as Long or Keller. There is not that much to drilling piers except the cost of entry which with money cheap these days as big a barrier as it was.
 

AzIron

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Cassions are a good business till down hole problems eat your lunch I have seen a few bad days do to soil conditions not being so friendly
 

oceanobob

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That Stay Form product is a worthy method indeed, has "saved" jobs many times for us.
Sometimes we put a horizontal 2x4 "rail" and hang from the rail in order to establish and control elevation (not directed at your job in photo 'cause we have done that same thing just like that but this is what we have done when we have to say set a column which requires a template and anchor bolts etc).
Other things we have tried:
Allthread can be utilized as a tension restraint, sometimes slip a PVC pipe over the allthread or utilize a big washer out of some stiff sheet metal and a companion nut for a line up device to hold it apart "just so" until the concrete arrives (no need to worry about the bridge 2x4 falling into the pour under the concrete pump hose);
if just tension being desired a length of tie wire say twice as long plus as the forms' width then twine/twist the wire into a two ply strand using a battery powered variable speed drill, then one can just loop the strands around a pin from a pencil rod or 3/8" rebar scrap or sometimes just a 16D nail which the wire can pass through the wood via a small drilled hole.
Ergo hold the wood like a whaler and the wood will "back up" the stayform. Easy to strip too.


This Stayform will hold 3 sack sand slurry if the slurry has some small amount of pea gravel. Say for underpinning where there is not a trench wall or pit to hold the underpin material. We have added a lot of air to the concrete for slurry cause it reduces the shrink cause we then dont add as much water. The slurry need to be only stronger than the soil is the premise for the Big Air content (like 20%).

Needless to Say: Good job in tough conditions (running a breaker in a trench etc etc) going after a mess.
 

CM1995

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Thanks for the compliments Bob.

My guys who are not concrete men formed and poured that. I gave some pointers on how to set it up but they took the ball and ran with it.

Really like the stayform. It's expensive but one makes it up on the labor of not stripping forms. It was the first time we used it after seeing the concrete guys use it for pier caps. They set theirs up like you described with a 2x4 frame around the top to set level and anchor bolt templates.

We could've just poured the entire trench full of concrete and called it a day but that wasn't the way it needed to be done with the gas line to the pump room, box culvert and wet well being so close in proximity. Also we had to cut a corner out out of one of the culvert sections to get the 45 bend in. I wanted to make sure the encasement concrete also re-poured the section we cut out, hence the dowels.

Concrete spec was 4500 PSI, 4-6" slump with 3-5% air. No admixtures.

Side note on the 45 degree bend on the discharge line. If both Cat pumps kick on at the same time the engineers were concerned that the discharge water would deteriorate the opposite wall of the box culvert if ran straight into the culvert. The 45 bend allows several more feet of distance for the water to dissipate it's force.
 

CM1995

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Running what I brung and taking what I win
Back at the Arena project. This is the area where we dug up the boiler up thread. Former foundations of some sort of manufacturing facility. It appears they demo'd the buildings into the basement and covered it up.

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Foundation wall for the former factory. We're running a storm line form the existing box culvert we replaced a section of down thread and down stream. Our hammer has earned it's keep. All excavation to sub-grade is unclassified however anything below sub-grade is not so it's a change order.

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18" RCP coming out of the box culvert to the back flow vault by the ladder. Storm sewer vault with duck bill one way check valve behind the DI gate valve.

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CM1995

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So the engineer designed 18" RCP transitioning to 18" DIP transitioning to 16" DIP on the inflow side of the back vault then transitioning back to 18" DIP then 18" RCP. Hey I don't get paid to design it - we install which is drawn.:cool:

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18" RCP coming out of the existing box culvert.

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The engineer spec'd a MarMac coupling for the connection from 18" DIP to 18" RCP. It's basically an ice and water shield type of material with ratchet straps to bind it tight. There is extra ice and water shield type of material to wrap back over the ratchet straps.

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Full view of the MarMac coupling and transition fitting from 16" DIP to 18" DIP. This is problably the screwiest thing I have been paid to install in my career.:rolleyes:

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