Hydrovac Cleaning Services in Burnaby: Demystifying the Dig
You are probably familiar with the term hydrovac cleaning or hydrovac excavation, whether you live in Burnaby or the surrounding areas of British Columbia, if you have ever been in the vicinity of hydrovac cleaning or seen a Startek Industrial truck with the words “hydrovac cleaning services in Burnaby” on it. The use of this type of technique is growing as an alternative for everything from utility line repairs to pool digging. However, what is hydrovac cleaning? And what can you expect if you need to have the procedure done on your property? Get ready to get your hands dirty.
What is Hydrovac Cleaning?
Hydrovac cleaning, or hydrovac excavation or daylighting, is a non-destructive process using high-pressure water and a vacuum system to expose underground utility services and structures in a timely and safe manner. After this, a vacuum truck shoots water at a pressure of up to a whopping forty thousand pounds-force per square inch at the soil to loosen it. The very same truck then vacuums up the resulting slurry of loosened soil and water.
This allows whatever lies beneath to be exposed without risk of being disrupted by a backhoe or a shovel. Applications include locating, repairing, or installing utilities such as gas lines, fibre-optic lines, storm and sewer lines, and more. It can also be used for environmental cleanup, digging holes for fence posts or decks, creating accesses for directional drilling, and many others.
How Does the Process Work in Burnaby?
If you need hydrovac cleaning services in Burnaby, the process will generally follow these steps:
Locating Underground Lines and Utilities
Workers will mark all utilities buried underneath the work site before any digging takes place. This will prevent hitting a gas line, damaging underground cables, or causing any other damage.
Setting Up the Truck and Worksite
Next, they will bring in an authorized hydrovac truck and set up the worksite. Safety barricades or traffic control may be necessary, depending on the site.
Hydrovac Excavation Begins
Your chosen provider of hydrovac cleaning services in Burnaby will then use the high-pressure water wand to start breaking up the soil and the vacuum hose to draw up the resulting slurry, continuing to clear out the excavated area. The truck typically stores the slurry in a tank on its back until workers can dispose of it at a separate location. Workers focus the high-pressure water on specific areas in the soil. This process exposes several square feet at a time, and often several feet down, until it finds a buried utility or structure.
Line, Location, and Repairs
Once workers expose the utility line or area, they can begin inspecting, repairing, or relocating the line as required. Exposing the line in an open, daylighted area provides workers with safe access without endangering the utility.
Backfilling and Cleanup
When workers complete the work, they then backfill the trench with the slurry-excavated soil. If they contaminated the soil in the first place, they backfill the trench with a new backfill instead. They clean up the worksite, leaving almost no trace of the original soil or groundwater contamination. Call Startek Industrial now to learn about its hydrovac cleaning services in Burnaby!
