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Hydro Excavation Applications: Slot Trenching

hydro excavation

What is Hydro Excavation?

Hydro excavation is a process that uses pressurized water to remove soil and debris from around the pipe systems. The water cuts through the soil to break it apart. Once the soil is breached, the vacuum truck is used to take out the soil and move it to a debris tank.

It is the most preferred method of digging because of its efficiency and accuracy. Traditional digging methods can be tedious, dangerous, and costly.

One thing that stands out the most to clients who prefer hydro excavation is that it does not require digging, which means, the surrounding soil is not disturbed. This eliminates the additional time and team required for landscaping.

Slot Trenching with Hydro Excavation:

The purpose of slot trenching is to dig narrow trenches. This is commonly needed for installing pipes, cables, signs, posts, and other utilities underground. since only narrow trenches are needed, hydro excavation provides a better option because of its accuracy and precision.

Previous slot trenching methods are dangerous and time consuming. These mechanical and manual ways of digging are hard on laborers. It takes a lot of time to get an excavation job done this way and poses multiple safety risks. Also, conventional slot trenching methods are not able to dig a narrow enough trench, this requires backfilling. Backfilling then increases the costs of labor and materials. Hydro excavation offers a way to get the job done without these issues.

For slot trenching, hydro excavation is able to dig very thin and accurate trenches that need minimum amount of backfilling. This allows the job to be completed faster and more accurately. Since this method is non-mechanical as well, it's not labor intensive, as the high pressurized water does most of the work. Also, since it doesn't involve heavy equipment, it doesn't pose excessive safety risks to workers or nearby onlookers.

Locating and Exposing Utilities with Slot Trenching:

hydro excavationHydro excavation is a safe and efficient way to expose underground utilities. The action is used to find and expose things underground, also known as daylighting excavation. This ensures the surrounding material and soil is undisturbed.

Slot trenching and vacuum trucks can be used where heavy machinery is not permitted. If a line needs to be exposed or located for repairs, workers excavate to make room for their workspace. There is a method called exploratory slot trenching which is the process of clearing an area to confirm the location of existing utilities. This makes it easier to find stray lines like plastic or non-conductive material.

hydro excavationThe major benefit of slot trenching with hydro excavation is that it is safer. It is less labor intensive and doesn't involve massive machinery, so it becomes a safer environment for workers. Slot trenching with hydro excavation is precise as well as cost-effective due to the quickness of the job and small amount of machinery used.

The hydro excavation and vacuum truck way of the slot trenching process is considered to be more environmentally friendly as it removes the least amount of dirt possible. The result is a clean, precise hole that is done efficiently and does not damage the area around it.

Benefits of Hydro Excavation:

Hydro excavation brings dozens of benefits to the industrial excavation world. It's the most preferred method of digging because of its low cost, efficient, and accurate results.

The benefits of this process are:

  • Less invasive in nature when compared to other traditional methods of excavating.
  • Since it does not involve any chemicals, this process is environmentally friendly.
  • Higher precision, leading to lesser disposal of materials and accordingly less restoration involved.
  • Use less manpower when compared to traditional digging methods, usually uses a crew of a couple people.
  • Due to the debris storage tank, dirt is not allowed to gather on the road, keeping the surrounding area clean. Further, it leads to minimal disruption in traffic and inconvenience to the public in terms of accidental damages to power or electrical lines.

In general, hydro excavation is a method that creates a better service for the customer and that makes life easier for the contractors and the laborers.

If you are looking to have this service performed on your commercial or industrial property, please contact us at, (877) 560-9007, and one of our hydro excavation contractors would be happy to assist you.

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