Remodeling an existing home or commercial building is never a simple task. In most cases, a general contractor is working with a structure that he or she was not involved in building in the first place. They have to work with what they’re given, which can be a challenge. If they’re lucky, they might have access to the original building plans, but even then, those plans may not be completely accurate.
It’s important that general contractors have all of the information about a structure, so they know exactly what they’re dealing with. This is especially important if they will be drilling, cutting, or coring into concrete. There tends to be a lot of things embedded in concrete, such as rebar, post tension cables, conduit, and pipes. There may also be voids in the concrete that need to be considered.
Disturbing concrete can be hazardous for many reasons. Damaging the concrete’s support structure could result in the concrete’s collapse. Hitting electrical wires could cause a power outage, or worse, electrocution to the person hitting the wire. Hitting a pipe can cause expensive damage that can also cause delays to the project. For all of these reasons, it’s imperative that a contractor find out what’s below the concrete’s surface prior to drilling, cutting, or coring.
Fortunately, there are experts out there who can help contractors see what the naked eye cannot. Using non-destructive technologies, such as concrete x-ray or ground penetrating radar (GPR), the items embedded in the concrete can be located, in order to be avoided when disturbing the concrete.
Both concrete x-ray and GPR concrete scanning are effective at finding embedded items, but there are pros and cons to both technologies. Concrete x-ray can provide great detail, but it involves a time-consuming, and therefore expensive process. It also requires that the structure be completely evacuated because of the radiation it emits. GPR, on the other hand, is safer and much more affordable, yet it still provides the detail that most contractors need in order to avoid embedded hazards.
Forrest Sim, owner of Enhanced Scanning in Southern California, had this to say: “In 99% of cases, GPR is the technology we use for concrete scanning because it is quick, effective, and safe to use around humans. However, when we need to ‘thread the needle’ in a highly congested concrete slab, we may employ the use of X-ray.”
GPR may not tell you exactly what you are looking at on the scan it produces, but a trained GPR technician can often infer what is below the surface based on their experience and by looking at context clues, such as the spacing of the embedded items. Therefore, ground penetrating radar, when used by a trained technician, tends to be the technology of choice for general contractors.
