Piling and Foundations
Arma Piling Ltd offers an extensive range of piles and piling techniques to suit most structures and projects.
Construction and Structural Works
As experts in a wide variety of specialist construction trades, we have the expertise to undertake a range of builders' works.
Basement construction
Arma Piling specializes in Basement Shell Construction works.
This method is brilliant for limited site access and limited headroom. To operate, we will use rigs ranging from a 2-Ton, door entrance drivable rig, which can drill piles from 150mm up to 300mm in diameter maximum depth of 15m, up to a 15-Ton piling rig, which can drill from 300mm diameter up to 450mm in diameter down to 20m. We will supply augers of 1m -1.5m section and manually install them metre by metre. This solution will work for clay or chalk grounds, where the borehole needs to stay formed and open with no water strikes and gravel. This method is vibration free.
This method is great for limited site access and height headrooms. To operate, we will use a range of rigs, from a 3-Ton rig, which can drill piles from 250mm up to 450mm in diameter and a maximum depth of 15m, up to a 15-Ton piling rig, which can drill from 300mm diameter up to 600mm in diameter down to 17m. We will supply augers of 1m -1.5m, which will be installed manually metre by metre. As above, this solution will work for wet, gravely, and sandy ground conditions, where the borehole will collapse after auger extraction. This method allows us to pump concrete through the middle of the augers. While the augers are slowly removed from the ground, filled concrete will stop the sides of the boreholes from collapsing. The next step is to install reinforcement in the hole to finish the pile while the concrete is still fresh and wet. This method is vibration free.
This method allows us to install metal tubes in the ground by dropping weight on them, constantly driving them down until the required depth is achieved. The tubes are then cut to the correct height, reinforced, and concreted. Driven metal casing piles are a good solution when loose material will not allow a borehole to be easily formed. Once tubes have penetrated the ground surface, they are driven down into the virgin ground, where they begin compacting the existing strata until they cannot be driven down any further. We provide diameters from 150mm up to 300mm, and the piling rig we use is a compacted 3-Ton rig with a 780mm wide tracking access.
This is the same as the drop hammer method but uses pneumatic air equipment to produce less ground vibration compared to the drop hammer method. This solution is limited in pile load capacity and works perfectly on small domestic projects. Pile diameter from 100mm up to 150mm.
This is a method that will suit semi-open and open sites, such as new builds. The piling rig that can be used, dependent on the pile specification, is from 15-Ton up to 60-Ton. A string of augers goes into the ground as one hit, ranging from 12m down to 25m, including a special kelly bar which will push augers down, depending on the piling rig specification. This is a quick piling method, using only 10-15 min for a pile, including concreting (again, we can leave the borehole open, or we can concrete the borehole through the middle of the augers). Pile diameter from 300mm to 600mm.
This particular method can be used where a high load pile capacity is required, but the pile depth is limited. A rotary piling rig can have a phenomenally big diameter, so it will allow for a good ground bearing base on mass concrete fill and still pile to a reasonable depth (circa 25m).
RBA is an option suited for clay/chalk ground, where the open bore pile can be formed without the need for concreting via an auger.
Rigs usually have a telescopic bar with a 1-1.5m auger at the end. The operator spins the auger into the ground at the same depth as the auger, removing the auger where the scooped soil rests, then swings the rig out on-site, spinning the auger to shake free the resting soil. This operation is repeated with the auger depth increased each time until the required pile depth is reached.
Further piling methods can be used as alternatives for projects, but the major and most commonly used methods are listed above. Explore WHY US to learn more about our experience and why we are a good choice for you and your project.