What can be deceived by the builders of foundations on reinforced concrete piles. How to check the grade of concrete in concrete piles for free

There are several reasons when the best solution for your house would be a foundation made of reinforced concrete driven piles. This can be the slope of the site and weak bulk soils. Even reinforced concrete piles are a more reliable and durable option (if in doubt about screw). Examples are shown in this article.

As in any construction process, there are decent builders, and there are those who will try to save money and earn more money at your facility. How not to be deceived in this?

The first thing that builders can save on at your facility is the quality of concrete in piles. Usually in them concrete grade M400. The lower the grade of concrete, the lower its cost. But this cannot be verified without special research. This is what they use. One of the options for field studies of concrete strength is the sclerometer device. Its mobile version is shown in this article. Absolute precision is not required. The main thing is to determine the grade of concrete.

The strength of concrete should be at least 38-40 MPa, which corresponds to the concrete grade M400 and strength B30.

Checking piles with a sclerometer on one of pile production:

Even such a mechanical sclerometer, which is used to measure strength on video, is not of low cost:

And the device is needed for one time - just to make sure of the quality and strength of the piles.

You can ask large companies that care about their reputation on the spot to check the strength of concrete in the piles brought to you with a sclerometer in your presence. This service is free.

If they offer to do this for a fee, it means that such manufacturers have something to hide or not have a sclerometer and quality control department. Or builders buy piles on the side without checking them.

In production piles mark. By marking, you can determine the date of their production. It should be no earlier 28 days from the date of hammering (the minimum period of concrete curing for transferring the pile to work).

Small pile manufacturers can do everything by eye, citing the large margin of safety of the concrete and the bearing capacity of the piles. Large manufacturers always issue a quality certificate for the piles themselves.

Piles must be free of chips and surface defects. And cracks are even more excluded. If a grillage is planned for driven piles (which is done faster than bored piles), then the strength of concrete is very important.

Another way to save money from low-quality manufacturers is that the reinforcement inside the piles can be of a smaller diameter than the design one. This is even more difficult to verify (without cutting the pile).

They can also drive in fewer piles than the project requires - for a lower price of the pile field in comparison with competitors (to reduce the cost of the project). And the most favorite saving technique is the required pile length. The cross-section of driven piles and their length are selected based on geological studies of soils. Drilling of pits by specialists in this case is a mandatory procedure.

It also saves time on work. There are times when driven piles run into strong, rocky layers of soil or boulders. It takes a long time to complete these layers. And some firms simply cut piles without reaching the design depth. At a shallow driving depth, the pile can be squeezed out by frost heaves.

Also, a high-quality installation company will not be able to forget about metal pile heads.

Better this whole process installation of piles control your presence at the facility. Having previously studied and immersed in the features of technology.

***

Subscribe to the channel, add it to your browser bookmarks (Ctrl + D). There is a lot of interesting information ahead.