Hole boring machine hire?

[baconbarm]

Hi all,

I have to give a price to fit roughly 80 railing panels for a school.

Normally, I would just use a set of spoons and a jackhammer to dig any post holes, but I thought id ask if there was an alternative, i.e. some kind of machine I could hire to make things quicker?

The holes will be on a playground, so tarmac for the first few inches.

Im open to any ideas chaps,

Cheers

 

[awemawson]

You can be pretty certain that under the tarmac will be at the least a foot of hardcore so anything will struggle. Minidigger based drills are available but you'll need a heavy duty one to get through the hardcore. Diamond core drill is a possibility but it'll be a pain fishing the bits out as you go.

 

[Welderpaul]

Post hole borers (Either hand held or machine-mounted) are fine in soft soil free from big bricks and stones but in rough ground they are not much use - they either slip on the clutch, try to spin you round or break the auger bits.

The old fashioned way, although hard graft, is the most efficient way IMO.

 

[baconbarm]

Yeah, I was thinking as much.

Thanks for the replies,at least I know now.

 

[nickk]

when i made a load of railings recently the builder had a mother of a diamond core drill -had its own water supply ,the bit was 70mm & as it was 300 long it cut the slug out in one go -no need to withdraw to keep breaking out the slug jammed inside,bit like a mag'drill with a rack &pinion to keep the pressure on & an inbuilt spirit level,it was the DOGS! think it was a HILTI & i presume you can get larger bits.

 

[brightspark]

when i made a load of railings recently the builder had a mother of a diamond core drill -had its own water supply ,the bit was 70mm & as it was 300 long it cut the slug out in one go -no need to withdraw to keep breaking out the slug jammed inside,bit like a mag'drill with a rack &pinion to keep the pressure on & an inbuilt spirit level,it was the DOGS! think it was a HILTI & i presume you can get larger bits.

yea u can rawlbolt the rig to the floor or wall and just wind it in water fed cost a couple of grand mind

 

[awemawson]

Which ever way you jump, get a signature on a piece of paper stating that there are no pipes or cables where you are digging otherwise it gets exciting

 

[the snooper]

Which ever way you jump, get a signature on a piece of paper stating that there are no pipes or cables where you are digging otherwise it gets exciting

you should be able to check with the local council free of charge before digging

 

[ben8vgte]

Which ever way you jump, get a signature on a piece of paper stating that there are no pipes or cables where you are digging otherwise it gets exciting

Indeed, this week my company had to find the broken wire's for a auto gate at a school. Due to another company putting up a new fence...

 

[Pete.]

Don't rely on plans to find services - they are rarely where they are supposed to be. You want a CAT scan done before you start.

Diamond drilling is my trade - you don't want to be pushing one through a foot of hardcore it'll trash the drill. If you just want to stick it through the tarmac then all's well, you don't need much power for that just keep the water turned up so the asphalt doesn't melt and glue the core to the drill bit. Most playgrounds are tarmac laid over type 1 which is ok to post bore.

 

[Paul99]

Don't rely on plans to find services - they are rarely where they are supposed to be.

You're telling me - we had a job back last summer to do for our town council - dig out a flowerbed / shrubbery and lay a re-enforced concrete pad for the blood donor lorry to park on - on the job sheet was the sentence "there are no known cables or pipes running through this area" the extension to the building and flowerbeds were only added in the late 90s yet no one had any idea that some idiot had covered over two manholes with 6" of soil and planted pampas grass and shrubs over them - my god I got a shock when I hit something that solid with the digger having only just got rid of the vegetation. Half an hour later we stumble across the main BT phone line running right through the middle and into the building too .

 

[brightspark]

[quote="Paul99,we stumble across the main BT phone line running right through the middle and into the building too .[/quote]wasnt as bad as near me a trench was dug across the drive entrance to a concrete works and they dug up the bt fiber optic cable feeding god knows how many

 

[chriscase]

Just a thought , how about an air pick and a pair of spoons ? (once your through the tarmac)
Basically just a long tube with a trigger on , force's compressed air into the ground to loosen it then use spoons to take out , safe to use round underground services to if you do come across any , world definitely have a cat scan on site to locate electric and bt cables etc , bt offer a free service called " dial before you dig" they come to site and mark up all their underground services for you and most of the other utility services will give you plans of where their's are for free , good luck with it witch ever way you go with it , Chris

 

[baconbarm]

Theres definitely no cables or wiring of any kind on the site, I did some railing there last year which was closer to the school with no problems.

This new area to be covered is even further away from the school and backs onto the school field.

The hardcore I had to dig out last time was a pain because it was loaded with rocks roughly the size of jacket spuds, which was awkward with the spoons.

I ended up on my hands and knees picking them out individually.