Why Bother with a Bay Area Concrete Scan?

Everyone has seen news stories about construction accidents that resulted in oil and gas leaks and explosions, fires, electrocutions, and major power outages.  Known as external force damage, these run-ins with underground utilities can cost lives as well as huge sums of money.  While avoiding such catastrophes is probably the best and most obvious reason to perform a Bay Area concrete scan before any excavation, it is not the only reason. Certainly, many excavation and construction accidents can be preempted by calling Underground Service Alert (USA) North 811, northern California’s utility location one call center.  811 is useful service provided...

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Bay Area Utility Location

In the Bay area utility location markers in a rainbow of colors liven up sidewalks and streets.  Those location markers indicate the presence of utility lines beneath the surface, but to really “see” what’s down there requires specialized technology.  Modern excavation construction projects depend heavily on ground penetrating radar (GPR). As the name suggests, ground penetrating radar employs radar technology.  The acronym stands for radio detection and ranging.  Basically, radar is the transmission of a signal via antenna, which bounces off objects in its path.  A receiver picks up the signal on the rebound.  The technology has been around for...

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San Francisco Bay Area GPR, Concrete Scanning and Utility Location

San Francisco boasts so many iconic images that it’s hard to isolate one that best represents the city.  When you hear the name San Francisco, do you picture the famous cable cars?  The Golden Gate Bridge?  Chinatown?  Alcatraz?  Lombard Street?  The Mission District?  Haight Ashbury?  While historical structures dominate the list, San Francisco is the furthest thing from a city stuck in the past.  From the Presidio and the Golden Gate Bridge across the Bay to Alameda and Oakland, the area is bristling with construction projects.  The city is looking up—literally.  Between the Mission District and Nob Hill, twenty high-rise...

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