Blog
What Is Basement Underpinning?
Whilst rural properties might have the luxury of building an extension or annex should they wish for a bit more space, inner-city homes are afforded no such thing. With space coming at such a premium, particularly in cities like London, one of the only truly...
What’s The Deepest Borehole To Have Ever Been Drilled?
During the Cold War, things across the world got more than a little bit, well, weird on several occasions. From face mask disguises to threats to detonate nuclear warheads on the moon, there was a very real risk of events boiling over into a full-scale global, nuclear...
Christmas Wishes From The Borehole Team
Christmas Wishes From The Borehole Team! In what’s been a year like no other, the Borehole Solutions team has felt privileged to keep providing geotechnical and ground investigation services, the nation over. Perspective is something we’ve all gained a bit more of...
What Is BRE365 Testing?
We’ve talked in posts before about the many benefits of having BRE365 soakaways installed. They’re cost-effective, relatively easy to install and practical means of improving drainage – particularly in areas prone to flooding. Now we’re in the midst of winter, it’s...
Well Drilling: Protecting Your Home Water Systems This Winter
Here at Borehole Solutions, we’re regularly met with poorly maintained water systems when we go out to properties as part of our water well drilling service. Now, whilst ill-advised, most of the year you probably can get away with not paying as much attention to your...
What Is The Difference Between Cohesive And Non-Cohesive Soils?
For many people, soil is exactly that. The stuff that gets on your children’s new clothes, your Sunday League shorts or your fingers whilst gardening. Most of us don’t give soil much thought beyond it being, well, soil. However when carrying out a ground investigation...
What Are The Different Types Of Ground Investigation?
Knowing that you need a ground investigation is one thing, knowing what typeof ground investigationyou need is quite another. Here at Borehole Solutions Ltd, we’ve got decades’ worth of industry experience between us. This experience has enabled us to put together a...
Top Reasons To Get A Ground Source Heat Pump, This Winter
As the evenings grow longer, temperatures creep downwards and we hunker down for the winter, it might be time to consider whether you’re heating your home in the best way possible. Many of us, when we move into our homes, simply accept the current heating situation...
What Is Ground Penetration Radar (GPR)?
Though it might sound like something from an 80’s action movie, ground penetration radar (GPR) is actually an important part of many a site investigation. This non-intrusive investigative method is mainly used to identify buried services before a careful evacuation -...
Contamination Testing: An Investigation Of Asbestos
Unless you’ve been living under a particularly carcinogenic rock, you probably know by now that asbestos isn’t the best thing in the world when it comes to your health. In fact, we’ve known for a while now the material’s danger, with Greeks and Romans recognising that...
The Pathway Of Contaminated Land: The Different Methods Of Site Investigation Remediation (Phase 3)
Dealing with contaminated land consists of four key phases for geotechnical firms. These are: desktop study, intrusive site investigation, remediation and finally, validation and verification. Whilst no one phase is more important than any other, it’s of course...
Using Soakaways & Other Methods To Deal With Torrential Rain This Winter
Rain is inevitable when living in the UK, soakaways and other geotechnical drilling methods are a great way to tackle these downpours. Although we tend to get rain all year round here in the UK, the autumn and winter months bring with them the most truly miserable...
Geotechnical Investigations: What Is A Phase 1 Desk Study?
Phase 1 Desk Studies are amongst the very first stages which are usually carried out in any geotechnical investigations. They are either carried out as a form of due diligence before property transactions or prior to site development. That’s what we’re interested in,...
Considerations For Site Investigations On Soft Ground
Borehole Solutions drilling company discuss site investigations on soft ground and the different considerations to take on board. Soft ground is a term used to describe weaker ground, which has often already been developed upon, in previous years. This land-type is...
What Is WAC Testing, And Why Is It Important?
WAC testing, or, Waste Acceptance Criteria testing, is used to determine whether particular organic material (most often soil) is suitable to be disposed of in landfill, per the EU’s Waste Framework Directive. In other words, you’re looking to see how certain...
How Are Exploratory Holes From Geotechnical Testing Dealt With, Once Finished?
Geotechnical testing requires below the ground investigative work. In order to decide various spoil properties and geological make-up. This is in the form of sonic drilling, rotary drilling, window sampling, cable percussion or trial pitting. This is in order to...
Considerations For Motoring And Highway Geotechnical Drilling Projects
We’re a nation propped up on logistics and motoring. On the smooth and seamless transport of people, goods and services between one location and another. We utilise trains, planes and ships, but there’s no form of transport with such a widespread and versatile set of...
A Day In The Life Of Our Geotechnical Drilling Company
The life of a driller is one of hard graft, early starts and time spent away from loved ones. It’s as challenging as it is rewarding, but for the team at Borehole Solutions, one of the UK’s foremost geotechnical drilling companies (and certainly one of the...
Geothermal Borehole Drilling: How Does A Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) Work?
Increasingly, homeowners look to their own back gardens to heat their homes. How? Through the use of ground source heat pumps (GSHPs). These simple, yet deceptively clever pieces of kit help leave your home toasty and warm. Even in the harshest of winters. Asides from...
Borehole – An Expert’s Guide to Soakaways
During periods of heavy rainfall (which are extremely common within the UK), surface water develops on the ground of some properties, causing flooding. This is extremely frustrating - especially if it becomes a frequent issue that you have to deal with. If it does...
3 Types Of Project Where Geotechnical Site Investigations Are Needed
The sheer range of projects which require an initial geotechnical site investigation is astounding. If you’re planning any kind of construction, remediation or structural alterations, the chances are you’ll need to carry out a geotechnical site investigation...
What Extras Do I Need With My Rig Hire?
Choosing what rig you need for your project is only the first step in carrying out your geotechnical work. As a contractor, there are often additional extras you’ll need to hire in order to deliver your project to the highest standard possible. Unfortunately, many of...
Five Qualities Needed By Any Geotechnical Drilling Company
The drilling industry is one which requires many things from those who work within it. As an absolute base minimum, it requires a lot of hard work. Beyond this, however, there are several additional qualities that a geotechnical drilling company needs to possess...
What Is Rotary Drilling And How Does It Work?
One of the many geotechnical drilling services we offer here at Borehole Solutions is rotary drilling. This commonly used method of drilling suits many different types of project, both small and large. The team here at Borehole wanted to look at the process in more...
What Is Geotechnical Drilling And When Is It Needed?
It seems a simple question, but geotechnical drilling actually covers an immensely wide range of different processes and operations. In short, however, it refers to the process of boreholes (or other similar holes/excavations) being drilled prior to subsequent...
Which Rig Should I Hire?
For any geotechnical drilling scenario, you’re going to need a rig of some sort. What rig you require, however, hinges entirely on various factors, some of which we will go into within this blog post. In recent years, the sheer expense of the drilling equipment alone...
What Are The Factors That Affect Well-Drilling Cost?
Having a water well drilled undoubtedly brings with it several great benefits. In fact, we’ve written a whole blog on the topic – you can find it here! However, what many people fail to realise is that installing a water well isn’t a one-size-fits all process. There...
Important Considerations When Choosing A Sonic Drilling Contractor
Our sonic drilling service is one of the things we’re most proud of as a geotechnical drilling company. Although it has been around for years now, the proliferation of sonic drilling as a more widely-used drilling method amongst contractors has only been relatively...
Why Is Cable Percussion Drilling So Popular?
Cable percussion drilling has long been the most common form of drilling in the United Kingdom, if not the world. It has proven its worth as a drilling methodology time and time again, and its reliability is just one of the reasons why it has become so popular to...
What Is The Purpose Of A Trial Pit?
Before any construction project takes place, the ground conditions and soil composition must be worked out to determine whether the proposed construction is feasible or not. This is often done by excavating a trial pit. It’s a simple and cost-effective means of...
When and Why Are Soakaways Necessary?
We live in a pretty rainy country here in the UK. It’s not uncommon for our summer plans to be scuppered by total washouts and floods are something that river-adjacent towns and cities see as par for the course. In some cases, the constant threat of flooding is so...
The Intricacies Of Restricted Access Drilling
When most people think of geotechnical drilling companies, they don’t think of an urban setting. But here’s the thing, we do. Restricted access drilling is now a rock-solid option when it comes to those environments where a regular rig won’t work. Towns and cities are...
BSL’s Metal Engineering Workshop Has A New Addition: The XYZ PROTURN RLX 780 CNC Lathe
Every so often, as adults, days come along that feel just like Christmas did as a child. The joy of waking up and tearing open that year’s present was beyond comparison. Well, at BSL Precision Engineering - part of the Borehole Solutions Group - the metal engineering...
How the BSL Precision Engineering Team Is Helping During The Pandemic
We’re in unprecedented times at the minute. In fact, I’m not sure the word unprecedented has ever been said as much as it has been in the last couple of months. However, it’s been used with good reason because we’re all of us in the midst of a global pandemic. The...
An In-Depth Look At Window Sampling
In geotechnical surveying situations, different situations call for different approaches, just like with everything in life. There are those drilling rigs which are truly huge in scale and their drilling capabilities are unparalleled but whose footprint is sizable....
Why We Love The Eijkelkamp GeoPoint Compact CPT Rig For Site Investigations
One of the more recent additions to our drilling armoury here at Borehole Solutions is the Compact CPT Rig from Eijkelkamp GeoPoint. There’s a saying that goes the greatest things often come in the smallest packages. That’s certainly the case with this rig. The...
Borehole Solutions’ Complete Guide To Sonic Drilling
In a world full of fads, trends and phases, the drilling industry has proved no different. There’s been a trend in recent years for geotechnical site investigation companies to err towards using sonic drilling rigs. But why is this? Unlike more conventional auger and...
The Benefits Of Geothermal Drilling & Ground Heat Pumps
Renewable energies have taken centre-stage in recent times. Taking proactive environmental steps has become even more important since Greta Thunberg and her cohort of supporters, including none other than David Attenborough himself, took centre stage over a year ago...
The Benefits Of Water Well Drilling
An increasing number of people in recent times have looked to install their own, domestic water wall for their home’s water supply. Businesses too have looked to water borehole drilling for greater levels of self-sufficiency. It’s important, however, that you make...
Why Is Sample Testing So Important?
Time changes every industry and the geotechnical sector is no different. Gone are the days in which drilling revolved around rough estimates and ‘that’ll do’ mentalities. In today’s geotechnical industry, the need for precision, accuracy and watertight results is...
Considerations For Every Geotechnical Site Investigation
Undertaking a geotechnical site investigation is no small feat. It requires extensive planning, and there are several key considerations to make before you even get on site. It isn’t simply a case of getting there, drilling a hole and going on your way again, as many...