horizontal auger boring

[ironhorse82]

I am bidding a project that is in need of a horizontal bore under a ditch/roadway/utilities/ditch. It will be a 12" drainage pipe needed to cross under the roadway. This particular job and 3 add'l ones beyond it are leading me to consider purchasing my own equipment to do the job. I have found 12"-24" machines anywhere from $5K to $15K that are appealing to the budget. What is going rate for boring/dia/ft (or whatever measure is used)? What are economical machines to look into? Avoid? Etc?.....I am not afraid to learn how to do this kind of thing and in turn add to the arsenal of services I can offer. Competition is scarce in my general area for this kind of service too. Thanks.

 

[heavylift]

I done a lot of auger and HDD... hdd is easier I think

If you are the only on in the area it might be a good thing... but the major boring contractors do travel great distances for bores..
so there must be some money in the bigger bores..

As for the rates now ...no clue

I think every thing we had was American Auger stuff... the smallest American was a 24" size ... and a little Ditch Witch it only went to 12"
All the machines had their own trailers..

most roads require casing... which you will push thru.... 12" pipe may require an 18" casing... skids.. blow sand or flowable fill...or the foam concrete stuff... can't remember the name..
Lots of oak planks enough to set the machine on.. steel plate to back the machine as it pushes.. the back wall needs to be straight/plumb so the machine can push against it.... but sloped also...after the top of plate for safety''
spoils that really bites a big on... lots of shovel work..

the biggest negative with the auger bore was the size of the pits...length and depth
if you want to put a pipe 5' under ground your ditch may be 8' feet deep..

You did say drain pipe so now you have to set the machine on the grade the plans state.

 

[ironhorse82]

I've been rough quoted by a boring contractor......$5K-$6K+ for the particular bore. I guess I would be curious if this is even a # justifying me to investigate the needed equipment. The job would be for 12" dual wall drainage pipe under roadway at 5.7' max cut across crown of road for 75' on a 0.1% grade. In reality just so long as the bore/grade/water goes downhill I will be OK .

Silly question.......In a grade situation, is it ideal to bore uphill or downhill?

I've found a machine that can max out at a 12" steel or PVC casing. Pushing a 12" PVC sewer pipe would be great and work fine with the plan.....is this possible with a auger machine to push 12" PVC and auger at the same time? This would all assume the "Road Authorities" would allow a "non-steel" casing to be used. Thanks.

 

[heavylift]

12" pipe isn't twelve inches.. that usually the inside diameter... the bell of the is .. so you would be in the 14" to 15"... i would guess..

always down hill for the most part... Unless an object dictate otherwise... house ..tree.. utilities.. Po'ed land owner.

We were never allowed to do highways without casing them here... even open cuts have to be cased...

never pushed pvc...

I think it would put a lot of pressure on the bells.. I've seen concrete pipe crush ... friction... and whoops! they forgot to use the jacking station..

the augers will scar the plastic pipe...and be filled with the spoil.. I don't think anyone would want new pipe that has been worn by augers..

 

[heavylift]

The reason they bought boring machines was to do the jobs when they wanted them done.. At the time... here anyway... there were just a few boring contractors... With very long lists for the most part..
we had worked as the borer's laborers...he brought his stuff ... we dug the holes and set the stuff with a crane..
so we had the general idea of how the machine worked...