FOUNDATION TESTING

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 13, 19 August 1946, Page 5

FOUNDATION TESTING

NEW POST OFFICE SITE ACTIVITY IN STRAND Activity which shows that Whakatane’s appeals for a new Post Office have perhaps not been altogether shelved, has been noted by local residents, who have had occasion to pass the reclamation at the end of the Strand, where, for the past few weeks, a pile driving machine and a crew of P.W.D. men have been engaged in sinking test piles.

So far, four of these piles have been put down to a depth of 30 feet, and the foundation has in each instance been found to be definitely suitable for the construction of a large building. This work of testing, is an interesting process. The machine used, consists of a derrick 31 feet high, inside which a ‘monkey’ weighing either a ton, or a ton and a half is raised and dropped on top of the pile, by means of a winch. The rate at which the pile goes down, and the manner in which it behaves, is sufficient to give the engineer directing operations, an exact record of the type of ground the pile is going through. Naturally, when a heavy building, such as the new Post Office will be, is to be erected, the engineers must be sure that the foundations upon which it is to rest, wil bear the full weight. As stated, four test piles have so far been sunk, with a probability of more being put down at a later date. Three of the piles were, when driven down to their full depth, resting on sand. The other struck rock, although it is not certain whether this was an outcrop from the hill, or merely a boulder. The piles, when driven in, are merely sawn off level with the ground. It is understood that operations have ceased only temporarily, whilst a study is being made of the findings to date.