Tiffiny Decorating GPR Project, Chicago, IL

Tiffiny Decorating Company is the painting and finishing contractor for a new high-rise building in downtown Chicago. To apply the exterior finish, they needed to rig cables for their lifts and baskets, and the best way to run these cables was to drill a small hole into the balconies on the top floor. This presented a problem, as the building is post-tensioned, and drilling through a PT cable is never a good idea. The general contractor, Bovis Lend-Lease, had worked with Ground Penetrating Radar Systems on several post-tensioned buildings previously, and referred Tiffiny to them.

GPRS technician Nathan Machel was able to provide Tiffiny with the information they needed to safely drill their holes. The PT cables were located quickly and easily, and the locations of all cables and rebar were marked directly onto the concrete. Tiffiny was able to drill their holes in the clear spaces, safely avoiding the PT cables and rebar. There is no need to take chances when drilling in a post-tensioned concrete slab, when GPRS can precisely locate the PT cables for you.

Nathan Machel is the manager of GPRS operations in Illinois. He can be reached by phone at 847-514-2277 or by email at nathan.machel@gp-radar.com. Concrete scanning for the purposes of identifying the location of rebar, electrical conduits, and post-tensioning is the most frequent service performed by the GPR technicians at GPRS.

A hole was to be drilled through the post-tensioned concrete in this balcony, and the PT cables needed to be precisely marked. GPRS scanned the area around the proposed hole, marked the locations of the PT cables and rebar directly on the concrete, and identified a safe location to drill.