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Diy piling. Homemade piles


Patrick

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Just been looking for a mini digger to hire, when I came across a website that rents out and sells Piling Rigs in all sizes and shapes. Would have not crossed my mind before, but they are approx. 4miles down the road from me and they offer training with their equipment .

Now I just HAD to ask them how much it was to rent one of the little mini rigs.(waiting for the reply)

The Misses and my mates are all very much opposed to even discussing the idea.

Anybody on here ever played around with something like this? I know people in the  UK are not very keen on doing things themselves and God beware there might be a health and safety risk. Kids might get hurt. Can please someone think about the kids. ??

 But some of you left this island working abroad or maybe still remember the old days (before there where Health and safety inspectors for Bouncy castles). Went a bit off topic, but you get the idea.

Thoughts?

 

 

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TBH, I can't see any reason not to DIY piles, especially pretty foolproof ones like screw piles.  When I looked into using them it seemed to require little skill, just a matter of driving them until the right torque/depth was reached.  I watched a few videos showing screw piles being driven and it really didn't look to be that hard a job.  Not sure about other types of pile, as I didn't look at using them (screw piles were needed for the first plot we looked at because of the need to minimise damage to some underlying archaeology).

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I did look into hiring the piling rig and doing my own piles, but thought this was one step too far even for me who does absolutely everything myself. 

 

After now having had it done if my budget was very tight I would consider doing it my self. 

However you need to consider the cock up factor, you will need the rig for longer than the piling team as it will take you a while to get up to speed, on my job the rig broke a cable and had to have a new one re threaded on. Down time of half a day. 

My piling came in at £10500 including the design of the piles, the design of the ringbeam, and the bar schedule. 

If you have to have a separate engineer this could be a few quid, then you hire the rig, then you have the steel tubes, then you need to take two weeks of you time into consideration. 

 

Are you having a building warrent. 

 

Having spoken ken about your site, why do you need piles what about an insulated slab. 

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1 hour ago, Russell griffiths said:

 

Having spoken ken about your site, why do you need piles what about an insulated slab. 

Needs Piles due to slope, clay Ground, Trees around, access.

Insulated Slab would need to be protected from sliding off on 1 side, with piles (according to Building Control and SE) , so double the work, not saving the piling.

In your case , @Russell griffiths , I think that the Piling worked out at a similar price than DIY would have been. Your saving would have been minimal and not worth the stress.

Been in touch with your piling contractor and maybe they get back to me with a complete acceptable quote.

Like I said, was not planning to do this myself but just stumbled across the option.

But for the possible savings worth a BMW,  I am at least thinking about DIY .

Edited by Patrick
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I would not consider piling a DIY task. A while back on one of my sites the guys doing the slab formwork decided to move a small tracked piling ring because it was in the way. Rig toppled and caught someones arm. Could have lost a limb. He was initially OK but got MRSA in hospital.

 

Piling requires proper design and safety planning and if DIY will carry lots of risk as you will not be trained and competent to use the kit. If you involve anyone else to help and you do not have the right experience you may (quite rightly) be open to criminal prosecution of it goes wrong.

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17 hours ago, Patrick said:

... 

The Misses and my mates are all very much opposed to even discussing the idea.

...

If it was that easy we'd all be at it. 

 

What happens when the ground survey is 'wrong' and you bump into a small incursion of mudstone - as happened on our site? 

64 piles cost us £6500.

 

 £100 a pile: it ain't wurf it mate it ain't wurf it. 

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51 minutes ago, AnonymousBosch said:

 

64 piles cost us £6500.

 

 £100 a pile: it ain't wurf it mate it ain't wurf it. 

Agreed 100%.

 

What happens if it became 1000£/pile at yours. Would you consider it then or you generally would never ever touch it?

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The price range was £22000 to £6500 depending on the specification. We had to have piles ; but our SE reminded us that there are piles and piles.... We chose to use stone improvement columns (piles by any other name) they were much cheaper, much quicker than steel sleeved concrete (specified by the ground survey company) and far less hassle. 

The company that did them was superb. PM me if you want a contact. 

The bottom line - no hassle or worry and 17k cheaper. And we now have 64 soakaways under the house ?

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  • 3 months later...

Thought I give an update. Not that anybody is really worried, but some adventurers might read and want to try similar. I now hired a piling contractor. He's a brilliant guy (so far) and keeps up with all my bullshit. I decided against diy for once. Like many mentioned. It s too much of a specialist job. I would like to do it, but I'd rather not take the risk of failure at the end. Can still diy the rest so plenty to do.

 

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On 08/07/2019 at 08:35, AnonymousBosch said:

The price range was £22000 to £6500 depending on the specification. We had to have piles ; but our SE reminded us that there are piles and piles.... We chose to use stone improvement columns (piles by any other name) they were much cheaper, much quicker than steel sleeved concrete (specified by the ground survey company) and far less hassle. 

The company that did them was superb. PM me if you want a contact. 

The bottom line - no hassle or worry and 17k cheaper. And we now have 64 soakaways under the house ?

so now you tell us ? Piling rigs just arrived on site; 41 5M piles circa £500 per pile, odex so through mud and into rock beneath.  Locals loved the tracked compressor coming down the narrow unadopted access road so much they banged on the side with joy. 

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