Whenever we take on a new underground scanning project, one of the first things we do is talk to the client about what their goals are—what information they are looking for and what type(s) of deliverables they require. We then assess the site to determine what tool(s) will be best suited to find what the client is looking for.

It’s often the case that ground penetrating radar (GPR) is the scanning tool we choose to go with simply because it is so versatile. It can locate buried items made up of many different types of materials—from metal to concrete to plastic. It can also tell how deeply an item is buried. It’s the perfect tool for the vast majority of our projects.

What GPR can’t always do well, however, is differentiate between different materials. Now, for many of our clients, it isn’t vital that they know exactly what is buried underground—they just need to know that there is something there that they need to avoid when excavating. For these clients, a GPR scan is more than adequate. It provides them with all the information they need to safely move forward with their project at an affordable price.

But for other clients, they need to know which utility line is which, and that’s when we may need to bring in other tools. One additional tool that we will likely bring in for underground scanning when we need more clarity is an electromagnetic locator (EL). This tool is great at finding utility lines made from electrically conductive materials like metal. By using EL in addition to GPR, it can help our technicians obtain more detailed information on what, exactly, is buried where.

At Enhanced Scanning, we have many other tools at our disposal, each of which comes with its own strengths and limitations. There isn’t one tool that is right for every project, no matter what anyone tells you. Complex projects often require a combination of tools, and because our underground scanning company invests in a variety of non-destructive tools, it is uniquely equipped to handle just about any project that comes our way.

If you need to know what is located underground on your property, contact our underground scanning company to schedule service. We will use whatever tools are necessary to provide you with the information you need so you can move forward safely with your upcoming project.

The post Electromagnetic Locator or Ground Penetrating Radar for Underground Scanning? appeared first on Enhanced Scanning.

Since Enhanced Scanning is headquartered in the northern part of Riverside County, which  shares a border with San Bernardino County, we have easy access to projects throughout San Bernardino.

San Bernardino is seeing a lot of development lately. With property values in the neighboring counties out of reach for many potential homeowners and business owners, they are venturing into San Bernardino for more affordable options.

If you are someone who plans to develop a plot of land or renovate an existing building, a good first move is to bring in a company like ours for GPR scanning services in San Bernardino. Our team can tell you where any unseen hazards are located before you start excavating or drilling. Having a thorough GPR scan done prior to the start of work can save you money, time, and headaches by helping you avoid obstacles or things that you didn’t know were there.

Even if you have what you think are the most recent set of plans for your property, there is always a chance that there are items that are missing or not located exactly where the plans say they are, such as buried utility lines, underground tanks, and more.

A GPR scan can find any hazards (or confirm the locations of the ones you already know about). The process is quick, the results are accurate, and having it done is probably more affordable than you might assume. The results can be delivered on site, so you don’t have to put your project on hold.

Having a complete picture of where any unseen items are located on your property can give you peace of mind to move forward with any projects you have planned that include disturbing the ground or any concrete slabs or walls.

No matter where you are located in San Bernardino, our team can come out for GPR scanning services. We will even take on projects that other companies won’t touch. We also have other non-destructive tools, besides just ground penetrating radar, that can provide you with all the information you need to proceed safely with your project.

Contact our office to learn more about our GPR scanning services or to schedule service for your San Bernardino property.

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One of the downsides of owning a structure with a post-tensioned concrete slab is that if you ever need to modify it, you need to proceed with extreme caution. Structural modifications often require that the concrete be disturbed. You might need to cut a trench in the slab to run new plumbing lines or conduit, for example. Before you disturb the concrete slab, you want to know exactly where those post-tensioned cables are, so you can avoid them.

Currently, the best way to locate embedded hazards in a concrete slab is by using ground penetrating radar (GPR). GPR technology allows a technician to safely and efficiently scan a concrete slab and provide you with the locations of all post-tensioned cables in the area you wish to disturb, as well as any other embedded items.

Why is this important? Well, severing a post-tensioned cable can result in some pretty disastrous consequences. No, the building probably won’t come crashing down immediately, but the slab’s load-bearing capacity will be compromised, and it will likely start to crack or delaminate. There is also the possibility of injury or even death to anyone who is unfortunate enough to be nearby when the cable is cut. Post-tensioned cables, when severed, can recoil right out of the concrete when the stored tension is released. If that cable were to hit a person, it would be bad—really bad.

You really don’t want to “roll the dice” and just hope that you avoid any post-tensioned cables when disturbing your concrete! Taking the time to have your concrete slab scanned with GPR will allow your contractor to proceed safely with your project.

Since the contractor you will be using to cut into your slab likely won’t have their own GPR equipment, they will need to call in a company like Enhanced Scanning for GPR scanning services.

When we come to a property to provide GPR scanning services, we will provide you or your contractor with all the information they need to avoid post-tensioned cables and any other hazards embedded in the concrete. We can mark directly on the concrete slab or provide you with a document that maps out where everything is located.

Don’t take any chances when it comes to post-tensioned cables! Contact Enhanced Scanning to inquire about our GPR scanning services or to schedule service.

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If you’ve ever excavated on a property before, or had to disturb a concrete structure, you know that running into hazards is a common occurrence. Maybe you accidentally hit a water line or ran into some rebar in the concrete that you didn’t anticipate being there. You may have gotten lucky and not caused any damage, but that’s not always how it goes.

While damaging something like a PVC pipe is a fairly easy fix that will only slightly delay your project, other incidents can cause much more extensive damage and delays. Cutting through rebar or a post-tensioned cable could harm the structural integrity of a concrete slab, and the building as a whole. Accidentally hitting a gas line could cause an explosion, damaging not only the surrounding structures, but also severely injuring or killing anyone nearby. These types of incidents can be prevented by having the area scanned for buried or embedded hazards prior to the start of a project.

Our GPR scanning services in Riverside are available to anyone who needs them. You don’t have to be a contractor or engineer. You could be a private property owner who wants to proceed safely with a project, or who just wants to know where everything on your property is located. When you bought your property, you may have been given building plans that showed you where to find buried utility lines, tanks, wells, etc., but those plans likely won’t be entirely accurate if any renovations have been made in the years since. Enhanced Scanning can come to your property and use our ground penetrating radar (GPR) equipment to scan any areas in question and provide you with a document that indicates where everything is located.

We are experts at finding the unseen! We can even find things that other scanning companies might miss. Our team is extremely thorough and always uses the best tools for the job. Many other scanning services in Riverside use GPR exclusively. While GPR is great technology, we also have other tools at our disposal for locating items that GPR may struggle to find.

Enhanced Scanning is headquartered in Riverside County and can get to any job in the area quickly—usually within 24 hours. Contact our office today to schedule service or to get your initial questions answered.

The post GPR Scanning Services in Riverside, CA for Construction Projects and More appeared first on Enhanced Scanning.

For many companies that advertise concrete scanning services in Los Angeles, what they are really promoting is GPR scanning. They have GPR equipment and at least one technician on staff who knows how to use it. They are able to handle typical jobs like scanning a residential concrete slab or a commercial building with CMU walls. However, not every job out there is “typical.” And that’s where a company like Enhanced Scanning comes in.

Enhanced Scanning is more than just a GPR scanning company. Yes, GPR is often our go-to technology for locating buried or embedded items in concrete, but it’s not the only tool we have in our toolbox. When the situation demands it, we can bring in other tools to get our clients the information they need.

While we don’t do it often, we have the tools and skills necessary to conduct a concrete X-ray. A concrete X-ray can provide a clearer picture than GPR of what is beyond the surface of the concrete. For some clients, a very clear image of what is embedded in their concrete is required for their projects—like if they have a section of concrete with multiple embedded items near each other, and they need to find a safe spot to cut among them. Conducting a concrete X-ray requires more preparation and processing time than GPR, and is therefore more expensive, but it can be worth the cost for our clients who need the type of results it delivers.

Our company has the ability to provide our clients with information other than just what is embedded in the concrete. We can also give them information about the structural make-up of their concrete. Using tools like ultrasonics, eddy current, and rebound hammer instruments, we can analyze all aspects of a concrete slab, such as its depth of cover and thickness, as well as locate any flaws, like voids, delamination, honeycombing, or concerning cracks.

As you shop around for concrete scanning services in Los Angeles, make sure you know what level of service you are looking for from a company. If you just need a GPR scan, there are multiple companies and individuals who can provide this. But if you suspect you will need more information beyond just where rebar and utility lines are located, make sure you reach out to a company like Enhanced Scanning that is able to provide you with a holistic concrete structural analysis.  

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In actuality, our company doesn’t often locate the types of utilities that probably first come to your mind—utilities like public power lines, sewer lines, and gas lines. Those are typically located by the free DigAlert service that is funded largely by the utility companies, and which services San Diego and other parts of Southern California. Rather, our company locates private utilities that aren’t covered by DigAlert, such as septic tanks, wells, propane lines, irrigation lines, and electrical or gas lines that go to things like generators, pool heaters, firepits, or gas grills. All of those types of lines should be located prior to digging on your property (in addition to all public utility lines), and working with a GPR scanning service in San Diego is the best way to do that.

So, besides buried utilities, what else does a GPR scanning service like Enhanced Scanning find? Actually, just about anything! That’s because we are more than just a GPR scanning service. We have many other tools besides ground penetrating radar at our disposal, allowing us to locate items that other companies might struggle to find. In addition to GPR, we use non-destructive tools such as magnetometers, electromagnetic frequency (EMF) transmitters and receivers, electromagnetic induction (EMI) sensors, sewer push cameras, and pulse wave generators.

Our team is highly trained in the use of all these tools and knows which ones are best to use in different environments and circumstances. In other words, we won’t be randomly trying out different tools to see what works (and charging you for it). Instead, we’ll use our time (and your money) efficiently by using the right tool(s) for the job from the beginning.

So, what can our team find for you? There are plenty of companies out there that can take on typical utility locating projects (including us), but here at Enhanced Scanning, we love taking on unique projects as well, and even jobs that other GPR scanning services in San Diego won’t touch. Do you have an unusual situation? Or maybe you’ve already had a GPR technician out to your property and he or she wasn’t able to give you sufficient information for your needs.

Whatever your needs entail, Enhanced Scanning is here to help! Contact us today to schedule service or to have your initial questions answered.

The post What Can Our GPR Scanning Services in San Diego Find for You? appeared first on Enhanced Scanning.

Because Los Angeles is so built out, there are always buildings being renovated or added onto, and prior to making changes, contractors, structural engineers, and the like need to know what they are getting into. Even when building plans exist, they are not always accurate—especially when it comes to the exact locations of pipes and utility lines. Bringing in a GPR scanning service to pinpoint their locations prior to disturbing the ground or concrete is always a wise move!

Commercial and Residential GPR Scanning Services in Los Angeles

While a lot of the GPR scanning work we do in Los Angeles is on commercial sites, we can also work with homeowners to scan their properties for private utilities prior to excavation. In most cases, we are called out by the general contractor on a construction project, likely because the average homeowner doesn’t know companies like us even exist. They may have heard about the “Call before you dig” service, which locates all public utility lines, but don’t know that they may also need to call out a GPR scanning service to locate private utilities.

Rapid Response Times

When we are called out to Los Angeles for GPR scanning services, we do our best to get to the job site as soon as possible, knowing that it’s often the case that a project can’t proceed until our work is done. In many cases, we can have a technician out for next-day service. The results of a GPR scan can be processed on site, so our clients have all the information they need before we leave!

Leaving No Trace

One of the hallmarks of ground penetrating radar is that it is a non-destructive testing (NDT) tool—meaning it doesn’t damage the surface of the area being scanned. If we are scanning the ground, no digging is required. If it’s a concrete slab or CMU wall that needs examining, we don’t need to so much as drill a hole to locate embedded items. The non-destructive aspect of GPR is especially important in forensic applications, when we’re potentially dealing with evidence that can’t be tampered with, or on archaeological dig sites, where valuable and fragile artifacts could be just below the ground’s surface.

When we’re done with our evaluation, you won’t even know we were there. Your property will be exactly how we found it—unless of course you asked us to mark the ground where we located buried or embedded items.

If you are in need of GPR scanning services in Los Angeles, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us today to inquire about our capabilities or to schedule service.

The post GPR Scanning Services in Los Angeles to Evaluate Subsurface Conditions appeared first on Enhanced Scanning.

At Enhanced Scanning, we use ground penetrating radar (GPR) on almost every concrete scanning project. One of the great characteristics of GPR is that it doesn’t emit any sort of harmful radiation while it is being used. Therefore, we don’t need to evacuate a space in order to scan its concrete. In addition, our concrete scanning equipment is fairly compact. You likely won’t have to move equipment around or do much to get out of our way. Our technicians will scan your concrete and be out of your space in a short amount of time. In most cases, work can carry on while our technicians complete the scan of your facility’s concrete. There’s just one caveat: people are often very interested in GPR technology and how it works, so don’t be surprised if your employees stop what they’re doing to observe our technicians or ask questions about GPR.

Ground Penetrating Radar Vs. Concrete X-Ray

Using ground penetrating radar is much more convenient than using X-ray for concrete scanning. A concrete X-ray would require that a safety perimeter be established so no one is exposed to harmful radiation. In other words, all other work would need to cease in the area that is being scanned.

Concrete X-ray is also more expensive than ground penetrating radar, and the results take more time to process. Data from a GPR scan can be interpreted on site, while a concrete X-ray requires the extra step of the film being processed off site.

Concrete X-ray has its benefits, but those benefits only apply in very specific circumstances. For more than 90 percent of the projects we work on, a GPR scan provides all the information our clients need. It’s only in the rare circumstances where concrete is very congested and the drilling or cutting needs to be done in a very specific area that the detail provided by a concrete X-ray is needed.

Our team will honestly advise you if a concrete X-ray is necessary in your circumstances, or if GPR is the best tool for the job. We are one of the few concrete scanning services in the area that offers both. Many only offer GPR.

Contact us at Enhanced Scanning to inquire about our concrete scanning services or to schedule service.

The post Convenient Concrete Scanning Services for Busy Facilities appeared first on Enhanced Scanning.

Unfortunately, this is not always how it goes. Service companies can be notorious for not answering their phones or responding to emails. Then, once you finally get a response and an appointment set up, there are companies that decide to just not show up for whatever reason. You clear your schedule and wait around for a technician who never arrives. It’s frustrating, to say the least!

At Enhanced Scanning, it is our goal to respond promptly to every inquiry. We know you have other options for concrete scanning services in San Diego, so we don’t take it lightly when a potential customer calls us about a new project. If you call our office, we are happy to answer your initial questions over the phone and/or schedule your service. Or if you email us, we will get back to you just as soon as we can with the appropriate response to your message.

We want to be known as a company that is reliable, because unfortunately, reliability seems to be rare these days.

But reliability in getting back to people and showing up for appointments isn’t enough. Our customers expect us to do great work as well! When it comes to concrete scanning services in San Diego, what our customers expect is that we provide them with accurate information about what is embedded in their concrete slabs or CMU walls so they can then proceed safely with their projects.

We take accuracy very seriously at Enhanced Scanning. Our customers need us to do our job well so they can rest assured that they won’t do any damage when they disturb their concrete. To achieve the most accurate results possible, we only used top-quality scanning equipment, operated by highly trained technicians. On most concrete scanning jobs, we use ground penetrating radar (GPR), but we also have other non-destructive tools at our disposal when GPR results are not conclusive.

When you hire Enhanced Scanning for concrete scanning services in San Diego, you are doing the responsible thing. You are ensuring that it is safe to drill, cut, or core, rather than just diving in and hoping for the best. Our team will provide you with all the information you need to move forward with your project, and we’ll do it efficiently and with accuracy.

Contact us to schedule service or to get your initial questions answered about our concrete scanning services in San Diego.

The post Concrete Scanning Services in San Diego That Are Reliable and Accurate appeared first on Enhanced Scanning.

Paying for GPR scanning services every time you need a scan completed can probably start to get frustrating (and expensive) over time—especially when the work they do seems fairly straightforward. They come, they scan the area, they provide you with the results, and they leave (after collecting their fee, of course). You might have considered just buying your own GPR scanning equipment and figuring out how to complete the scans yourself. You may have even gone so far as to research new or used equipment to see how much it would set you back to purchase the equipment you would need to get the job done.

Here are two reasons why you may want to stick with working with a professional GPR scanning service in the Inland Empire:

GPR Scanning Services Can Provide Timely Service

If your main frustration with GPR scanning services in the Inland Empire is that they take too long to get to you, or that they don’t show up when they say they will, you just haven’t found the right company to work with!

At Enhanced Scanning, we provide rapid response times to all our customers. We understand that our customers’ projects often can’t move forward until we provide them with the information they need from a GPR scan, so we do our best to get to their projects as quickly as possible, and then we work efficiently and deliver prompt results.

One of the main benefits of using ground penetrating radar is that it allows us to deliver results quickly. We don’t have to take the data we collect back to our office for processing. Instead, it can be interpreted on site. This reduces the downtime on our customers’ projects.

Accurate Results from Expert GPR Scanning Technicians

Learing how to operate GPR scanning equipment isn’t the hard part when it comes to scanning for buried utilities or examining concrete slabs. The challenge is interpreting the data that the equipment puts out. GPR equipment doesn’t deliver clear pictures of what’s below the surface like an X-ray would. Instead, it produces a series of waves that then need to be deciphered. Learing how to interpret GPR data takes a substantial amount of training, as well as real-world experience.

At Enhanced Scanning, we invest a lot of time and resources in training our GPR technicians because we know our clients depend on us to provide them with accurate results. Unless you are going to heavily invest in learning how to interpret GPR data, we would strongly encourage you to hire an expert in this area. Doing so can help you avoid costly mistakes!

Contact us at Enhanced Scanning to learn more about our GPR scanning services in the Inland Empire and the surrounding areas.

The post Hire GPR Scanning Services in the Inland Empire or Invest in Your Own Scanning Equipment? appeared first on Enhanced Scanning.