Timber Piles

These are usually square sawn and can be used for small contracts on sites with shallow alluvial deposits overlying a suitable bearing strata (e.g. river banks and estuaries.) Timber piles are percussion driven.

Displacement Piles

These are often called driven piles since they are usually driven into the ground displacing the earth around the pile shaft. These piles can be either preformed or partially preformed if they are not cast in-situ and are available in a wide variety of types and materials. The pile or forming tube is driven into the required position to a predetermined depth or to the required `set' which is a measure of the subsoils resistance to the penetration of the pile and hence its bearing capacity by noting the amount of penetration obtained by a fixed number of hammer blows.

Grout Injection Piling

A variation of continuous flight auger bored piling that uses an open ended hollow core to the flight. After boring to the required depth, high slump concrete is pumped through the hollow stem as the auger is retracted. Spoil is displaced at the surface and removed manually. In most applications there is no need to line the boreholes, as the subsoil has little time to be disturbed. A preformed reinforcement cage is pushed into the wet concrete.