Torrent Resources has performed more than 70,000 drywell installations over the past 42 years. It’s safe to say we’ve just about seen it all. So when a client tells us they are unsure if our system will work due to access issues, our typical response is, “we will make it work.”
That confidence was recently put to the test on a job near the intersection of Olympic Blvd. and Olive Street in Los Angeles. Rather than install the system at grade, we were asked to put the system in the excavation for the below ground parking structure. Under normal circumstances, we would build a ramp and drive the rig in. Due to site logistics, that just wasn’t possible.
The project team put their heads together and came up with a solution that, while odd, would prove effective. The drill rig would be loaded up onto a flatbed rack and then lifted by crane and lowered into the excavation. The Torrent Resources team would then drill the hole and the drill rig would be lifted back out. The solution worked and the system was successfully drilled and installed without a hitch. But the pictures are too good not to share. It’s not often a drill rig is reduced to looking the size of a child’s Tonka Truck.
As Torrent Resources President/CEO, Phil LeBlanc, said, “Add that to the list of strange installs we’ve pulled off successfully.” Strange indeed, but with urban infill projects dotting the landscape of Los Angeles it may not be the last time.
