Are you ready to start a project on your property that requires excavating or otherwise disturbing the ground? Unless the piece of property is completely undeveloped, you will need to pay to bring in GPR scanning services to tell you where any buried hazards are located so you can avoid hitting them during the excavation process. Yes, it’s one more expense it what is probably already an expensive project, but this important step should not be avoided.
First of all, let’s just put this out there: you may be able to get GPR scanning services for free. If all you need to know is where the public utility lines are located on your property, you can call 8-1-1 and someone will come out and scan your property free of charge. They people who come out will scan your property and mark the ground to indicate where the utility lines are located so you can avoid them when you start your project. However, if you have private utility lines buried on your property, or if you’re trying to locate something other than utility lines, you will need to pay a company to provide you with GPR scanning services.
Private utility lines can be anything from irrigation pipes to gas lines going from your propane tank to your home. Other items underground that you will want to locate can include septic systems and storage tanks. Hitting any of these things while excavating on your property can prove to be very costly—much more costly than paying a GPR scanning service in the first place!
So how do you find the right GPR scanning service for the job? Most people will turn to an online search to find the nearest company to them that provides this service. If you know for a fact that all you will need is someone with ground penetrating radar (GPR) equipment and the training to know how to use it properly, most companies you find online will be perfectly sufficient. However, if there may be some buried items on your property that could be a bit more challenging to locate using GPR, you should look for a company that has access to other scanning tools at their disposal.
A company like Enhanced Scanning in Southern California utilizes non-destructive scanning tools such as electromagnetic frequency (EMF) transmitters and receivers, magnetometers, sewer push cameras, pulse wave generators, and more to find everything there is to find on a piece of property. Not only can they mark the ground to indicate where all hazards are located, they can also provide you with digital files that you can reference in the future.
Hiring a scanning company with these types of capabilities can help ensure that your project will move forward as scheduled!
