Core Drilling: Sampling and Cutting
Core drilling is used for a number of different applications in the construction world, from creating core samples for material studies or carving out the perfect hole for a variety of installations. Core drilling uses a specialty diamond drill bit to cut a hole into concrete and other hard surfaces, whether it’s a floor, wall, ceiling, or other structure. While it may appear as simple as using a normal drill, there are a number of factors that you have to consider to get the perfect core.
There are a few things you need to prepare for when you core drill. The core drill can do incredible work on hard surfaces – just be sure those hard surfaces don’t intersect with existing systems. You first have to ensure that you’re not drilling directly into utilities, conduits, or reinforcement structures. Using ground penetrating radar to scan the surface can prevent unexpected damages to existing infrastructure. Hitting these structures can be dangerous, costly, and time-consuming to acknowledge, fix, and repair.
Core drills are significantly more powerful than your typical handheld power drill. To hold this amount of power in place to perform a proper drill, larger core drills often have to be anchored down into a solid surface prior to performing work. With an unsecured anchor, the vibrations of the drill can damage the surface or the drill bit.
Next is preparing the surface. There are wet and dry drilling methods to core drill through the ground. Drilling through a dry surface can cause additional damage and wear to the drill bit. It also requires vacuuming up potentially harmful concrete dust… we recommend a respirator if you use this method on your own. Wetting the surface and prior to drilling prevents damage to the bit and reduces the amount of dust released into the air. This is the method we use. Once the surface is wet, pressure is slowly applied to the surface as we perform the drilling. This can go as far as you need to get the right core, or go right through the material.
We carefully remove the core from the surface. At this point, you have your core and your hole left behind. What can you do with them? You can use the core to sample the material – performing studies on the material composition of the core, as long as you keep track of where each core was sampled from. These cores can be refilled into surfaces with a proper sealant. If the core isn’t what you’re looking for and you want something more, there’s also the hole that we bore! These holes come in various sizes and can be useful for pipe installs, utility installations, and even manholes with a clean, circular cut.
Core drilling is incredibly versatile with both sampling materials and construction. If your team needs concrete scanning services to determine what’s underneath and core drilling to make the cut, our team at Trinity Subsurface offers the full suite. Find out more about all of the services we offer by visiting our website.
