Quote:
Originally Posted by stevepaa
The piles are about 14 inch square, 54 feet in length, with no rebar exposed. It is for a parking structure or a new building.
I do see what look like plywood spacers about a foot thick laying on the ground, but not used in the pile driving so far.
My building is two hundred yards away and I am on second floor and the pile driving is felt at my desk. I can see the water in my glass vibrating and I can feel it.
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I have pile-driving experience...
The plywood spacers are actually what we call 'pile cushions.' They are in fact used during the driving to help cushion the tops of the concrete piles during driving. Without 'em the tops of the piles would spall and break. Sometimes they are used to protect the rebar sticking out of the tops of the piles... holes are drilled in the plywood stacks to match the rebar pattern (dowels). Fun fact - they often catch fire from the all the heat generated during the driving of the piles - sortof spontaneous combustion, they literally just out of nowhere burst into flames.
As far as why they are diving below grade first - I can't say for sure without looking at the plans, but likely for access. The pile rig and loaders need to access and to excavate the pile caps/grade beams and whatnot would limit thier ability to get around the site, therefore they drive them below grade, then after the pile driving operations, excavate the foundation.
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