The client arrived and explained their predicament. The retaining wall was beginning to crack and fail. Due to these issues, they will be building a new retaining wall was beginning to crack and fail.
Due to these issues, they will be building a new retaining wall to support the old, slowly failing wall. Sounds easy enough!! Unfortunately, this was not the case. To build the new wall they would need to anchor through the existing wall. To ensure they are not further damaging the existing wall, they need to try their best to avoid drilling these anchors in an area where previous anchors from the old wall lie. Therefore, the client required the location of the anchor plates in the wall. The Xradar techs formulated a plan and found a solution.
Due to the plates being embedded in the wall a visual inspection provided no indicator as to where these anchor plates where located. This was not an issue because the technicians were confident that with no substantial air gaps or obstructions they would be able to identify large metal objects in the wall utilizing Xradar. Upon first passes with the antenna it was apparent that the wall had some form of thin mesh in it, but no anchors were found with these initial few passes. Instead of taking random passes with the antenna in hopes of finding one of the plates and establishing a pattern, the technicians found it would be more effective to do the scan in a grid system. Making vertical passes a few inches apart they were able to scan a section of the wall and identify the objects they were looking for as well as establish a rough pattern as to how they were positioned in the wall.
After this the findings were marked on the wall in spray paint so the client could visualize the scan & see where to avoid drilling (yellow). The client was pleased with the result and the technicians were happy to implement their Xradar equipment in a unique scenario.
