Every household and commercial building is crisscrossed with an intricate network of utilities hidden beneath floors, behind walls and under the ground. These utilities include a myriad of systems such as water pipes, gas lines, electrical cables, and communication lines. It's essential to know where these utilities are hidden before undertaking any major construction or landscaping projects to avoid damage, costly repairs, and potential safety hazards.
Here are some steps to help you locate hidden utilities
1. Understand the Basic Layout
Typically, utility lines follow a standard layout. Water and gas lines usually run along straight paths from the street to the home. Telephone and electric cables are often strung from utility poles or buried along property lines. However, it’s important to remember this is not always the case.
2. Use Blueprints or Property Maps
If available, detailed blueprints or property maps of your building can provide valuable and comprehensive information about the precise location of hidden utilities. By examining these documents, you can gain insights into the pathways and routes taken by utilities within the building and its surrounding grounds, enabling you to effectively plan and navigate your way around any potential obstacles.
3. Contact Your Local Utility Companies
Before commencing any digging project, it is of utmost importance to always reach out to your local utility companies. This crucial step ensures that you can access the valuable information needed about the precise location of utility lines. By doing so, you can effectively prevent potential accidents or damages and carry out your project with utmost safety and precision. Remember, taking the time to contact these companies can save you from unnecessary hassles and costly repairs in the long run. You can also call our friendly team at South East Scanning and we’d be more than happy to come down and assess the area.
4. Use a Utility Locator
Utility locators are highly specialised devices that utilise advanced radio frequency technology to accurately detect and pinpoint the precise location of buried lines. These remarkable tools are capable of not only detecting metal pipes and cables, but also have the ability to locate non-metallic utilities such as plastic water lines or even delicate fibre optic cables. With their exceptional capabilities, utility locators play a crucial role in ensuring the safety and efficiency of excavation projects, allowing for precise and accurate identification of buried utilities.
5. Hire a Professional
If you’re uncertain or find it challenging to locate utilities yourself, it’s advisable to consider hiring a professional. These experienced experts possess the necessary training and specialised equipment to safely and accurately detect hidden utilities. By entrusting this task to professionals, you can ensure a thorough and reliable utility location process, minimising the risk of any potential damage or inconvenience.
6. Mark the Utilities
Once you have successfully identified the utilities in the area, it is crucial to mark them using flags, stakes, or paint. This simple step will serve as a helpful reminder of their precise location and act as a safeguard against any unintended damage that may occur during construction work. By taking the time to mark these utilities, you can ensure the safety and efficiency of your project, avoiding any potential disruptions or costly repairs.
7. Respect the Markings
It is of utmost importance to always show respect towards the markings and strictly refrain from any digging activities in these designated areas. In the rare event that it becomes absolutely necessary to disturb these marked zones, exercise extreme caution by utilising hand tools and conducting digging operations with meticulous care in order to prevent any inadvertent damage to the utilities present in the vicinity.
Why Might You Need To Find Hidden Utilities?
There are numerous reasons why one might need to find hidden utilities. Primarily, undertaking any form of construction or excavation work without knowledge of underground utilities presents the risk of damaging these systems, which can result in costly repair and potential danger. For instance, puncturing a gas line can cause leaks leading to explosive hazards, while damaging an electrical line can result in power outages and serious safety risks. Also, inadvertent damage to water pipes can lead to flooding and property damage. Furthermore, damaging communication lines can disrupt internet or telephone services, causing inconvenience. Therefore, prior identification and location of hidden utilities is essential not just for cost-saving, but also for maintaining safety during any construction, renovation or excavation work.
How Can GPR Scanning Help?
Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) scanning is an efficient, non-destructive method that aids in the location of hidden utilities. Using high-frequency radio signals that are transmitted into the ground, the GPR system can create images of the subsurface, thus identifying the presence of hidden utilities. The signals are reflected back to the receiver when they hit an object, anomaly, or different subsurface condition, providing a visual representation of what lies beneath the surface.
GPR scanning is a versatile method suitable for different environments and can locate both metallic and non-metallic utilities. This includes PVC pipes and fibre optic cables, often undetectable with traditional metal detectors. The system is less invasive than other methods, thus preserving the site condition and avoiding potential damage to utilities.
The depth range for GPR varies depending on the antenna frequency used and the subsurface conditions. However, it is worth noting that while GPR can provide accurate information about the location and depth of utilities, it may not identify the type of utility. Therefore, it is beneficial to use GPR in conjunction with other methods when locating hidden utilities.
How Can We Help?
South East Scanning offers advanced Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) services. With a team of experienced professionals and state-of-the-art GPR equipment, we provide accurate, reliable, and comprehensive locating solutions for hidden utilities helping to mitigate the risk of damaging these systems during construction or excavation work. Our GPR services are suitable for different environments and can efficiently locate both metallic and nonmetallic utilities. At South East Scanning, we are committed to preserving site conditions, ensuring safety, and providing exceptional customer service.
