Micro Piling

Innovative Drilling performs micro piling in small spaces such as basements and elevators; if you can walk into a space, Innovative Drilling can send one of their drill rigs in. The company’s customized drill rigs can be disassembled in order to enter and operate in locations with only six feet of headspace.

Another core ability of Innovative Drilling is installing casings where conventional approaches to trenchless installation won’t work. They have developed several horizontal drilling systems with rock drill tooling technology. These drilling systems can install casings from two to eighteen inches diameter in any soil type.

Installing five inch micro piles down 15 feet to bedrock in the NSCAD basement. Overhead clearance was limited to eight feet and all access was though a four foot wide door.

Case study – A three-story apartment building in Halifax was built on unconsolidated fill. The insufficient foundation resulted in sections of the building settling 10 to 12 inches below grade. This sinking caused massive cracking throughout the building. Innovative Drilling worked inside a first floor apartment to solve the problem. First, the company drilled micro piles (drilled and grouted piles under twelve inches diameter) into solid rock. Then, footings were placed on top of the micro piles to provide structural support (i.e. tension and compression resistance) for the entire building.

“Innovative Drilling provided a solution for a difficult engineering problem. Utilizing a custom built machine that could fit into very tight spaces, they got the project done on time and on budget.”
- Geotechnical Supervising Engineer Greg McNeil, P. Eng, Jacques Whitford.