Project: Concrete Scanning for Suspended Slabs

Xradar were recently contracted by a Vancouver based construction company to carry out Enhanced Concrete Scanning services on a number of suspended concrete slabs.

Situation

In order to safely core and drill through suspended concrete slabs our client required the scanning of designated core holes. The slabs are incredibly complex and are made up of Post-Tension cables, radiant heating lines, electrical conduits and two layers of rebar, all within 8.5 inches of concrete slab.

The Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) concrete scanning industry is, unfortunately, unregulated and GPR product manufacturers continue to limit the technology, to make it more user friendly, in an effort to improve sales. This combination results in many substandard GPR applications and, an unacceptably high ratio of errors. GPR is an interpretive technology for which successful application depends on the skill and experience of the technician.

Xradar is the only company in BC certified to use this new technology and only a handful of scanning providers in Canada are currently qualified to operate Xradar Enhanced Concrete Scanning.

Solution

Xradar utilised Enhanced Concrete Imaging techniques that reduce scanning errors to less than 1%, compared to the 25% typical for the scanning industry. This unique technology can tell conduits and cables from rebar, including those hidden behind rebar.

As such we were able to scan each concrete slab, allowing for safe the coring and drilling of each designated section, resulting in no damage to conduits, rebar or Post-Tension cables.

For more information on our services, get in touch with one of our Canada-wide Xradar technicians.