Don't know if anyone has used these yet, but I'm absolutely sold on them. They are interlocking piles made of plastic and are incredibly easy to handle and use, whilst providing a neat and cost effective solution. The job was a pond leaking into a river some 30ft away, but access is nearly impossible and very boggy ground. The idea was to dig a trench and compact clay into it to form a cut off wall, but some 200tonne would be required and logistically impossible. I found these Plastic piles on the Internet and the client was happy to give them a go. We dug a narrow trench to remove any roots or obstructions and then easily pushed the piles with the bucket. Then using a hydraulic compactor plate finished driving to level. They look geat and performed faultlessly with not one damaged and a very strong interlock. Happy to report (fingers crossed) the pond has begun to raise it's level. It is reputed that lengths of 6metres have been successfully driven, however these were only 1.5metres.
looks good cracking job eddie ,i would imagine they are light and easy to handle they would suit us for shoring up trenches any chance of a link to the supplier you used cheers graham
Hi Graham, thanks for your kind comments and as you can probably establish I was pretty pleased with them also. If you Google 'Plastic Piles' then the two main suppliers will become evident. They are H L Plastics (slightly cheaper and much nicer to deal with) and APE piling (slightly more expensive and not so nice!). Both have a range of profiles to suit various applications but we chose the 'Europile' from APE as it has an exceptionally strong interlock. You are right in assuming they are light (6kg for a 2mtr sheet) but the quality and strenghth was really suprising. I don't know what sort of trench support you are seeking, but for general Utilities type work in the Road etc they would be unbeatable. An idea of cost we paid £3500 for 90 linear metres of pile at 1.5 metre long. We could have got other profiles for under £3000, but compared to alternative options and the professional looking job I think good value. We found they are made in Poland but I have not asked if they sell direct yet.
Eddiebackblade nice looking job, I have never seen these in the states. If they have a website and you could post the link that would be great.
There is a similar product here in the states. Not sure on names. I just know there was a project done in my area a few years ago with plastic sheeting. It was a contamination containment project along a river. They surrounded the lower end of the site in hopes to prevent movement of contaminated ground water into the river system.
Where I have seen plastic sheet piling used is on the gulf coast for sea walls. Plastic holds up well to the sea and brackish water in and around the bays. The sheet piling is normally capped off with either a wood or concrete cap and a walkway. There are miles of this type seawall on the AL Gulf Coast.
Wow, that stuff looks really good! Seems like it would be good to use around lake front property as well to control shore erosion. I loved the pic of the "vibratory piling hammer" that eddie was using on his Cat mini-ex. :notworthy
they tried that plastic piling at about 6-7 homes here on the lake i live on about 5-6 yrs. ago....this is in south dakota, lakes freeze, ice moves....100% failure rate...they ALL broke in bitsy pieces. might be nice in florida tho
Yeah, ice can break a lot of things. We don't get heavy lake freeze here, maybe light surface freeze in still water coves, but nothing heavy.
I read the title of this thread and I thought it was about something else altogether ....man I´ve got to stop reading webmd.:tong Nice pictures.
:lmao
Plastic piling Company Dear Eddie and other forum members I represent APE Plastic Piling, and would really like to know how I or my Company upset you, for you to describe us as not so nice to deal with. My websites are www.miniape.co.uk and www.miniape.com . My companies background was in the supply of pile drivers for trench sheets and plastic piling, and introduce our range of plastic piles that work with this type of equipment - that is better driven. Our products are sourced from Pietrucha in Poland, Profextru in Holland, Truline and SuperLoc from the USA. I am grateful, that despite the fact you did not find us nice to work with, that you did appreciate that we do offer a wide range of good quality products, these also include plastic piles used with timber posts and steel tubes, used akin to a king post. You photos are very impressive, you Eddie it seems you did a very good job and I would really like to speak with you to find out how I or my colleagues upset you. For those concerned about the behaviour of PVC in frozen conditions, why not consider polyester or polyurethane composites, these have a much more temperature stable material - albeit no longer made from recycled plastics. Many regards APE
Hi Miniape, I get the distinct feeling you are reading slightly too much into what were my own thoughts on how I was treated as a new customer to both companies. If I was treated 'slightly nicer' by one but 'not so nice' by the other, that would have been my experience at the time. However as was said Ape were chosen for their superior product and I have recently returned and used a different product that was also excellent. I have no complaints as to how I was treated on this occasion and Ape will continue to be my preferred supplier. It can sometimes be slightly annoying how a new customer can be treated, and sometimes I get the feeling that you are almost asked to prove your worth before being taken seriously. I cannot recall the exact reasons at the time causing you to be described as 'not so nice' but please just take it as a point to the opposition with regard to Customer Service and despite this your superior products won the day. Eddie.
Dear Eddie Thank you for the rapid response, I will endeavour to ensure we also offer superior customer service to match that our our products. Would it be possible to show your photos on our website? Would you also like a listing on my new contractors page on www.miniape.co.uk? Regards David (Miniape)
would you warranty your polyester or polyurethane composite products for the labor and material if replacement were needed, where the temps get to -30 degrees F, and you have a 4000 acre slab of ice , 2' thick, coming at it being shoved by a 30 mph wind? not talking about bending, would it withstand it without breaking to bits?
Great looking job Eddie, looks like the conditions were less than favorable. I am wondering how they would work for flood control. Looks like it would help make the dike strong, so less blow outs and boils from water getting through the dike.
Dear Dayexco, The honest answer is I do not know, but will ask the question. The use of high impact strength polyurethane is quite new to sheet piling and this may yield a solution. Alternatively PVC piles such as Truline 1200 when filled with concrete do create quite a substantial solution. One thing I do know is when conditions are so harsh, there are typically two ways of handling the design, belts and braces and a vert heavy duty design, is clearly the normal but cost substantially more, or alternatively assuming that damage is likely, try to localise the damage and make repair work easier. An example of this was told to me by my dutch supplier, the use of a plastic pile called ProLock which had steel tubes inside. In this mode the plastic pile is only around 1/2m in the ground, the tube is the true retaining structure driven deeper. typically 2 - 3 times the retained height. In this example a speed boat smashed into the piled wall, the ProLock at the impact site was damaged beyond repair and needed replacing - however because the piles broke damage was localised to around 8 metres at the impact zone. The tubes were straightened and new ProLock inserted within a few hours. Had the design been cold form steel then a much larger area would have been damaged, as the steel would act to resist separation pulling the wall out of line. So sometime being more easily damaged but used in a way that is more easily replaced is the answer. That stated, plastic piling is a form of sheet pile and in my opinion works well alongside steel structures, but there will always be times when you do need to use steel as it properties in certain conditions are better suited. Further, regardless of whether you choose steel, pvc, hybrid, or composite always ensure that the ground at the back of the piled wall is self draining and consolidated to ensure that any impact forces are effectively transferred to to soil behind rather than completely absorbed by the pile. The use of rubbing strips and wales on the front of the piled wall, also help to spread out the forced of an impact across a structure, and some are also designed to act as bumpers to reduce the forces on an impact at source. So sometimes the solution is a combination of ideas, when the worse is know then it can be planned for and in terms of costing it is always useful to compare such a mixed systems with a more basic heavy duty steel solution. I hope this helps and I will reiterate back comment received from my suppliers. Regards David
Dear Dirty4fun, Plastic Piling has been used in flood control in three ways to date: Firstly reinforcing the embankment or levee - putting a continuous barrier long the peak down to a depth of between 4-6m, stops water undercutting the embankment or animals burrowing through Secondly used to raise the wall height of an embankment Finally, to raise water levels up stream of typically flooding sites to slow down the travelling of water, often assisting local wetland wildlife and using agricultural land out of season Regards David
sheets we now use plastic sheets for temporary trench support ,they are great to handle and pleasure to use not sure on the manufacturer
Re-visiting this thread since 2011, how time flies. Following on from the above comment on plastic piling in temporary works, the section shown is the Trench Pile by HL Plastics. Plastic piling can be ideal in this application but care needs to be taken to ensure that you allow for any reduction in strength. Shoring is one application where the sheet pile dimensions are deliberately chosen to be slender - the shallower the section the smaller the trench to fill in - the lower the cost of the tarmac and aggregate. However when substituting plastic for steel if of similar dimensions the plastic pile will be many magnitudes weaker. The product in the above image has other comparable products but would be considered more a shoring shield than shoring support. The cross strut and frame in the above picture supporting most of the load. In terms of APE Plastic Piling, we have recently undergone a name change to THE Plastic Piling Company and our contact details have changed to 01543 677290 @plasticpiling and www.plasticpiling.ninja you can email me via this site or direct [email protected] Our biggest selling product is still MultiLock, now used on the M1 and M6 Motorways
MultiLock has also been used extensively for cut-off walls for flood defences using piling mandrels, the following images show a mixture of excavator mounted vibrators - the EMV300 and leader rigs driving lengths of between 4 -12 metres
New product developments include the MultiLock Self seal, the first plastic sheet pile with an in built mechanical seal www.plasticpiling.co.uk
Truline Plastic Piling is one of our latest top end products, this is a modular system that can be filled with gravel or concrete, a bit like formwork
Finally, our latest innovation is a fully plastic kingpost system called the MultiPile - consists of a interlocking plastic panel with plastic "king" tubes that interlock to the back of the sheet