Allen Watson Ltd is an Essex-based no-dig specialist working in the rail, water, oil, gas, electricity and telecoms sectors. The company was recently asked to look at a domestic drilling project at a large house in Surrey set in acres of fields and approached by a half mile long drive. An expensive, new resin driveway surface had just been laid along the full length of the drive when the homeowner noticed a leak and pooling water. A sewer pipe running under newly laid resin had been ruptured during the works.
Tasked with fixing the problem without ripping up the drive, Allen Watson Ltd contacted TRACTO UK to discuss solutions for renewing the pipe without causing damage to the new drive and minimising damage to the surroundings. The customer also prohibited the use of diggers and tracked machinery on site, so a trenchless solution that necessitated minimal earthworks was also a key requirement. The compact GRUNDOPIT PS40 drilling rig – measuring just over 1m x 1.25m – was recommended and duly hired with an experienced operator from TRACTO. The unit provided the capacity to drill through sandy and loamy clay ground conditions adjacent to the drive, whilst operating from a small entry pit.
On arrival at site, the TRACTO team plotted the exact route of the bore hole and located the position of the connection pipe. All utilities had been pre-checked before the job started and the start and exit pits were dug by hand. The PS40 was lowered into place to drill 10m of 125 PR demco pipe and the whole job took just under 4 hours including drilling out, back reaming and pulling the product pipe back. The exit pit was fortuitously located to the right of a fountain on the other side of the driveway.
Scott Shorthouse, Operations Manager at Allen Watson Ltd, has previously worked with TRACTO and is always impressed by the swift and efficient solutions provided: “We often work with TRACTO on jobs where we don’t have the right equipment in our fleet ourselves. This job, whilst a small one, was nonetheless very important for the customer. It would have cost a fortune to rip up the driveway to fix a sewer pipe. The GRUNDOPIT PS40 provided a quick, cost-effective solution that solved the problem in just half a day with very little impact on the mature front garden. The customer was utterly delighted at the speed of the job and the minimum hassle all round.”
