Piling - What You Need To Know?

Piling - Foundations
It is a well known and accepted fact that for any building, house or concrete structure to be built well, it must have a very strong foundation and underground structural base that supports the building. This is what makes piling so important.
What Is Piling? Piling is a technique used extensively by contractors to set a deep foundation for structures such as buildings. By driving and embedding piles of wood, concrete or steel into the deep soil of the ground, the piling contractors are able to provide a strong support to the building structure at the foundation level - a pre requisite for any construction project.
Factors such as the size, capacity and scope of the project, the condition of the soil immediately beneath the ground, and space required for rigging, all need to be taken into consideration before beginning the piling process. As opposed to a shallow foundation, a deep foundation is used to transfer the load of the structure to the deeper, stronger layer of the soil which has a high bearing capacity and can take the load, thus supporting the structure well.
Materials Used The commonly used Piling materials include wood, concrete or steel - precast concrete piles, vertical columns of wood, steel sheet piles and timber piles etc.
Piles of the chosen material may be drilled or driven into the ground, thereby, making a solid foundation for the structural load. Geotechnical Engineers, Structural Engineers, Site Fitters and Foreman, Area Contractors as well as all other team members of the construction staff play their individual roles in designing, planning, understanding and streamlining all the tasks that go into digging, piling and constructing a strong structure.
Where is Piling Used? The different forms and variations of piling techniques are hired and used by all major Contractors, Housing Developers and Consulting Engineers etc in the construction and establishment of large Commercial projects, Housing Development projects, Retail and Road Construction projects, Marine projects etc.
Forms of Piling The different types of piling can be differentiated from one another based on the choice of material used or the specific method/technique adopted for piling etc.
Driven Piles: This technique makes use of a Pile Driver which is used to drive in prefabricated piles into the ground. Most Driven piles are made of wood, concrete, or steel & the driving technique leads to soil displacement.
Drilled Piles: Drilled piles are also called Cast-in-drilled-hole piles (CIDH piles) and use extensive boring techniques to drill into hard earth.
These include:
Auger Cast Pile also called Continuous Flight Auger Piling (CFA)
Underreamed piles
Pier and grade beam foundation
Tripod Piling and
Mini Piling
Piling Equipments Some of the most commonly used Piling Devices include;
Pile Driver: a mechanical device used to insert or drive piles into the soil.
Hydraulic Hammer: a modern and state-of-the-art piling hammer for inserting/driving timber piles and pipes etc into the ground.
There are many different Piling Contractors and Companies offering Piling Techniques around the globe.