Partial Excavation with Selective Treatment
This inspection is identical to the partial excavation inspection, apart from the fact that it adds the option of a targeted wood preservative treatment option for those poles that exhibit decay tendencies or the early stages of decay. This option is exercised on those poles to arrest the decay. In short, it is a partial excavate inspection, with the addition of a targeted wood preservative treatment where warranted.
The addition of an option for treatment of decay-vulnerable poles allows for a financial benefit to the utility. If decay is arrested on vulnerable poles. those poles will not need to be replaced prematurely and the cost can be deferred indefinitely in many cases. The program can pay for itself quickly with this targeted approach. With the cost range of a changeout between 500 and 10,000 dollars and the maintenance required to keep a pole from being replaced from 25 to 50 dollars, the numbers work overwhelmingly in the favor of maintenance.
Inspection Specifications:
Visual Inspection
Excavation
Sounding
Boring
If any of the above activities determine the early onset of decay in the form of machinery damage in the ground line area, small internal decay pockets or non-advanced external decay below ground, then the following activities are added:
Full Excavation
Data Collection: This is customer-driven, but the minimum requirement would be a GPS point taken at the pole. Notations of attributes of the pole, which include physical characteristics, would usually be on a staking sheet (height, class, vintage) and any hardware or pole issues.
Data Delivery: Should be given in a suitable electronic format, typically a shapefile (.shp), Excel or Access format. Some utilities request a mark up of their maps for important information such as reject location. RAM generates detailed maps from the data acquired during the pole inspection and presents it in a book form at the end of the job.
Accuracy: This is a big step up from the visual or sound inspections. With the exception of very dry areas, where the water table sits very low, a partial excavation or full excavation inspection will find virtually all reject poles in the hands of a capable inspector.
Cost: This is a high-value pole inspection. Cost per pole is still low, but accuracy is improved significantly with the excavation. In most cases, the addition of the Full Excavation and Treatment option for decay-vulnerable poles adds only a dollar or two to the average per pole cost as it is a targeted approach. Typically, 3 to 5 percent of the poles inspected are fully excavated. This number may be significantly higher in Southern states or where Southern Pine poles are the predominant species.
The addition of an option for treatment of decay-vulnerable poles allows for a financial benefit to the utility. If decay is arrested on vulnerable poles. those poles will not need to be replaced prematurely and the cost can be deferred indefinitely in many cases. The program can pay for itself quickly with this targeted approach. With the cost range of a changeout between 500 and 10,000 dollars and the maintenance required to keep a pole from being replaced from 25 to 50 dollars, the numbers work overwhelmingly in the favor of maintenance.
Inspection Specifications:
Visual Inspection
- 360 degrees of the pole are viewed from the point of intersection of the pole and the ground to the top of the pole.
Excavation
- At a probable decay point (large check extending below ground line, machinery damage or other decay visual indicator).
- Depth of 6” to 8”.
- Width of one shovel width.
- Placement centered on 1) Largest check (vertical split) extending below ground line. 2) Machinery Damage 3) Visual Decay Indicator
Sounding
- From the ground line area to as high as one can reach from the ground.
- 6” apart from ground line to 2’ above ground line. 12” apart above 2’.
Boring
- ½” to the left or the right of the largest check (vertical split) that extends below ground.
- From ground line to the bottom of the excavation, depending on the height of the water table in the area. For drier areas, the excavation should be deeper.
- Angle of boring, depending on the height of the water table, anywhere from 0 to 60 degrees (steeper for lower water table).
- Boring extends to the center of the pole.
- All borings plugged with a tight-fitting treated dowel.
- Soil is replaced in the same manner as it was removed.
If any of the above activities determine the early onset of decay in the form of machinery damage in the ground line area, small internal decay pockets or non-advanced external decay below ground, then the following activities are added:
Full Excavation
- The entire circumference of the pole is excavated to a depth of 18”.
- The surface of the pole is cleaned of all preservative and soil.
- Any machinery damage is shaved flush to the pole from 6” above ground to 18” below ground so that there is no cross-grain exposed.
- The pole is treated with an acceptable paste wood preservative from 3” above ground to 18” below ground.
- The treatment is covered completely with an impermeable barrier that protects if from the soil.
- The hole is filled with the excavated soil and tamped with the soil built up around the pole to allow for settling.
- The pole is tagged with the contractor name and date of work.
Data Collection: This is customer-driven, but the minimum requirement would be a GPS point taken at the pole. Notations of attributes of the pole, which include physical characteristics, would usually be on a staking sheet (height, class, vintage) and any hardware or pole issues.
Data Delivery: Should be given in a suitable electronic format, typically a shapefile (.shp), Excel or Access format. Some utilities request a mark up of their maps for important information such as reject location. RAM generates detailed maps from the data acquired during the pole inspection and presents it in a book form at the end of the job.
Accuracy: This is a big step up from the visual or sound inspections. With the exception of very dry areas, where the water table sits very low, a partial excavation or full excavation inspection will find virtually all reject poles in the hands of a capable inspector.
Cost: This is a high-value pole inspection. Cost per pole is still low, but accuracy is improved significantly with the excavation. In most cases, the addition of the Full Excavation and Treatment option for decay-vulnerable poles adds only a dollar or two to the average per pole cost as it is a targeted approach. Typically, 3 to 5 percent of the poles inspected are fully excavated. This number may be significantly higher in Southern states or where Southern Pine poles are the predominant species.
