Could you transport a keg of beer for me?

[mbyrne]

Hi Bill,
Hope you are happy and well. I need a favor and think you can help, although this is not an exterior trim question. Actually several questions:
I have a client on Saint Helena island in SC who wants an addition over less-than-ideal soils and a high water table. Her GC claims that diagonally-braced treated wood pilings are less expensive and better than manufactured concrete piles. He may be right.

Are wood piles generally less expensive than concrete?
Do concrete piles - assuming that either type of pile will be sunk to the same depth - need similar diagonal reinforcing?

OK, several means more than two.
Do you ever get to Charleston, SC?

I miss your sweet face.

[Bill Robinson]

Re: Could you transport a keg of beer for me?

Michael, I need a time and place for the transport portion of this thread.

For the piles, here in South Louisiana the most common piling material is treated wood posts.

They last for a long time and are more available and less expensive.

The question is are there companies there who can drive piles?

In most cases piles are driven to refusal, that means they only move a prescribed distance with a given blow.

In soft soils the piles are supported by side bearing, the friction and suction from the sides of the pile are what provides the support.

Here, piles for housing here are often driven 70 feet into the ground. The soils are so soft that does not take much, but certainly more than the weight of a keg of beer. BTW, that is the reason I am thinking you need the beer delivery.

On the diagonal bracing, that would depend on how high out of the ground the tops of the piles are.

That said, I would be reluctant to do this work without some engineering for fear there was not enough bearing and the structure would fail.
So, all things considered, wood piles would be the way to go.

[mbyrne]

Re: Could you transport a keg of beer for me?

Thanks Bill for the usual well-informed answer. We are required to do the engineering on this project and it will be done. Piles near the proposed site are generally sunk around 35-feet. There are plenty of contractors here who can drive piles from the water, on land, or both so that is not a problem.

Oddly enough, the structure is not being built to store beer, but rather a residence. I just got back from a four-month consulting job in the Philippines where I lost 23-pounds - probably because I was not compatible with the food there, and I was not very fond of the beer. Had it not been for jars of Skippy Super Chunk, I would have starved. Black Russians replaced the beer and were an excellent salve for the anxieties I experienced while there which I will not delve into here, but save it for the next time we get together. The bottom line is that I like my new weight and want to keep it that way, so I have reduced my beer consumption to one or two bottles a week, and have down-sized the glass I use for cocktail hour.

Thanks again Bob!

[davenorthup]

Re: Could you transport a keg of beer for me?

wrong one...

[Overbuilders]

Re: Could you transport a keg of beer for me?

Any thread with beer in the title is the right one...

[Ted S.]

Re: Could you transport a keg of beer for me?

I'm confused.

[Overbuilders]

Re: Could you transport a keg of beer for me?

Long day, Ted?

[Ted S.]

Re: Could you transport a keg of beer for me?

Isn't Dave a helical pile contactor? I thought that was what he was referring too

[Overbuilders]

Re: Could you transport a keg of beer for me?

Beats me. I need a beer.

[davenorthup]

Re: Could you transport a keg of beer for me?

Beats me. I need a beer.

By now I think you have had at least one? Friday!!!!

Yeah Ted - I posted in the other thread - Michael started 3 on the same subject.

[MarkMc]

Re: Could you transport a keg of beer for me?

Beats me. I need a beer.

here yah go then....