By now, everyone in the construction industry knows about calling 8-1-1 prior to excavating on a property. Even many homeowners are aware of this free service encouraging them to “Call Before You Dig” due to the huge promotional campaign that has been conducted over the past several years. The program’s extensive advertising has made many people aware of the importance of locating their utility lines prior to disturbing the ground in any way.
But for many homeowners, calling 8-1-1 is only the first step in locating unseen hazards that could derail their home improvement plans. To explain, 8-1-1 only locates public utility lines, and their responsibility to locate the lines ends at the property’s meter or transformer. Once the lines get past that point and enter the home, a homeowner is responsible to pinpoint their locations. The homeowner is also responsible to locate private utilities, such as propane lines, septic systems, irrigation lines, and more. This requires bringing in private GPR scanning services like Enhanced Scanning.
Locating all public and private utility lines on your property using ground penetrating radar (GPR) can help prevent costly accidents and keep your project moving forward without delays.
Locating private utility lines can also save you money! Say you were adding on a new bathroom to your home. Knowing exactly where your home’s existing water and sewer lines are located can help your contractor more easily tap into them.
What if you have blueprints for your home? Do you still need a GPR scanning service to help you locate utility lines? Possibly. Many contractors will tell you that the blueprints of an existing home that they are presented with prior to a construction project are not always accurate. Either the original builder didn’t exactly follow the blueprints, or changes were made since then and not documented properly. To be on the safe side, it makes sense to scan for utility lines prior to the start of construction. It will give your contractor all the information he or she needs to proceed safely.
As you research GPR scanning services near you, make sure to look for one that not only specializes in ground penetrating radar, but that also has other subsurface scanning tools at their disposal, should any questions arise. GPR is great technology, but it has its limitations, and you want to work with a company that has the ability to confirm their results if needed.
If you have any questions about GPR scanning services, or if you’d like to schedule service with one of the GPR technicians at Enhanced Scanning, contact our office. We service all of Southern California, including Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Orange Counties. However, we will also travel outside of Southern California for special projects when needed.