Man on Boring Machine
03Jan, 23 January 3, 2023Construction
  • 0 views
  • By Caroline McNally

Both Trenching and Boring are commonly mistaken for one another, as both are means of creating a disruption in the ground for the purpose of construction. However, the two are entirely different from each other with separate histories and purposes. Boring dates to the Chinese Dynasties and Trenching dates to the Roman Empire, making both some of the oldest, still used, construction methods.  

Through modernization, boring and trenching are far from their historical beginnings. Boring, in its modern-day form, is a tool used to dig into the subsurface of the ground in order to test if the land is capable of the project at hand. Boring can also be used to widen a hole that has already been created by a drill. Oppositely, Trenching is the creation of a trench (a trench is classified only if its depth is greater than its width) for the installation, maintenance, or inspection of the pipeline, conduit and cables. The installation process for trenching is so pipeline, conduit, and cables are protected by the ground, and away from the surface while still able to provide power to local communities. Whereas the maintenance and inspection are the process of creating a trench to work on the pipeline, conduit, and cables that were already placed underground.  

Trenching, historically, is far more dangerous than boring, which is why trenching is avoided when possible. To create the trench, tools are required, but when working on the pipes, conduit, and cables within the trenches, manpower is required. Trenches are known for collapsing and burying workers in. For this reason, other techniques have become the preferred method of repairing, installing, and inspecting- in order to keep workers safe. Boring, on the other hand, is much safer and a preferred method of working underground, as a machine does the work with an operator protected.  

Overall, trenching and boring are both unique and successful techniques of working on the subsurface of the ground. Each has its own capabilities and reasons for use that are very different and require separate skills. Similarly, both have long backgrounds of utilization, with far more history to be created ahead.  

Maverick utilizes both trenching and boring, but for safety purposes, the utilization of boring is preferred. As an engineering, procurement, and construction company, Maverick often must utilize trenching or boring to install or repair underground construction. Underground construction includes underground cable replacement and installation, faulty wire locations, wiring upgrades, reconduction, relocation, wiring modifications, and improvements. To complete underground construction and ensure communities have strong networks of communication, access to wire lines through trenching or boring is necessary, as it is safer for communities to have live wires underground.  

Maverick is proud to have employees certified and trained in both trenching and boring and is diligent about safety measures taken with each, making sure no trench is unsafe, and boring can be utilized, when possible, to ensure all communities Maverick serves have safe and efficient network capabilities.