trench shoring

we are just getting into doing sewer and water hook ups below 5 feet and i'm trying to figure out what is the best trench shoring system. we need a system that can be configure to a verity of trenches and piping jobs

Have you talked to a local supplyer? Our local cat dealer has a shoring division. Might want to talk to them. We have purchased some used from them. We also use a hydraulic shoring system.

Speed shoring

Apparently there’s like three companies near us that all use wood “lagging” I believe is the term? But because they work in old neighborhoods and don’t know what to expect they just bring tons of wood beams with them and customize there shoring as they go along finding old sewers and utilities. Has its limitations but gets the job done for them, we basically use steel plates whenever we can’t figure something out but I do believe u need engineer sign offs for some of the stuff we’re doing.

We have a trench box that's steel and the excavator drags it along. Not sure what the manufacture is. It was built in the 60s. Never gets used unless they can't bench it, or it's sandy material. Note the date on this thread was 2015.

If you only need shoring for tie-ins a 4 sided modular box is the way to go. Poly shoring sheets and hydraulic spreaders work great for general trenching. The spreaders aren't cheap though.

Some places rent it. Would be a g ood way to try out some styles or buy one type and rent different ones for the non standard jobs.

I rent it all as needed. Speed shoring is good to 6' max width. Where is does not work is in really loose stuff that is caving in and tapering. The sheets need to be more or less parallel when you pump up the jacks. For anything else i rent aluminum Build-a-box. https://www.efficiencyproduction.com/products/aluminum-trench-boxes/build-a-box

skyking1 said: I rent it all as needed. Speed shoring is good to 6' max width. Where is does not work is in really loose stuff that is caving in and tapering. The sheets need to be more or less parallel when you pump up the jacks. For anything else i rent aluminum Build-a-box. https://www.efficiencyproduction.com/products/aluminum-trench-boxes/build-a-box Click to expand... Those build a box's are nice for tight cluttered excavations. We rent from a national company that has a branch here.

United Rentals Trench safety is a block down the road from the shop, but the last few years I get everything from DP Nicoli. They are consistently better on price for us.

We National Trench Safety. If they don't have a specialty box locally they can get it from Atlanta in a day.

Jimothy said: Apparently there’s like three companies near us that all use wood “lagging” I believe is the term? But because they work in old neighborhoods and don’t know what to expect they just bring tons of wood beams with them and customize there shoring as they go along finding old sewers and utilities. Has its limitations but gets the job done for them, we basically use steel plates whenever we can’t figure something out but I do believe u need engineer sign offs for some of the stuff we’re doing. Click to expand... So heres the rundown. Digging a ditch 8' wide 7ft deep and 140ft long. What size plywood do I need to bury on the sides of the ditch to keep the dirt off me and my guys? 2x4s or 4x4s to brace with, need enough space to lay 2 12in lines and 1 16in line.

Can you set the pipe and drag a box along? that would be how to do it. If you have to have it all open, plywood is not going to work. 2x4s and 4x4s are not going to work. You'd need 140' of trench boxes. I've done that on a plumbing job.

milon said: So heres the rundown. Digging a ditch 8' wide 7ft deep and 140ft long. What size plywood do I need to bury on the sides of the ditch to keep the dirt off me and my guys? 2x4s or 4x4s to brace with, need enough space to lay 2 12in lines and 1 16in line. Click to expand... No PE stamp at the end of my name but wood won't work for an 8' wide ditch. Steel will be required. What part of the US is your trench and what are the soil conditions?

None of that matters, really. @7' deep it requires shoring with tabulated data, installed per the manufacturer's manual. The aluminum build a box would be ideal for this application as it is lightweight. I've had a dozen of them on one job, end to end and two 90 corners, closed at the corners with a 5x8 steel sheet across the ends of the box. That is approved as long as the steel sheet rests only on the box end and not the spreaders, which cannot take the side loading.

skyking1 said: None of that matters, really. @7' deep it requires shoring with tabulated data, installed per the manufacturer's manual. The aluminum build a box would be ideal for this application as it is lightweight. I've had a dozen of them on one job, end to end and two 90 corners, closed at the corners with a 5x8 steel sheet across the ends of the box. That is approved as long as the steel sheet rests only on the box end and not the spreaders, which cannot take the side loading. Click to expand... All of that matters. Soil conditions can dictate shoring type and depending on what part of the US the project is located can affect the shoring types available. Aluminum build a box is not the best for our rocky soils for example. Rented an aluminum build a box system once and won't do it again unless we just have to. They are expensive with too many parts and labor intensive coupled with rock and boulders made a frustrating experience. We can get multiple size combo's of steel boxes and spreaders that are easier to put together and tougher in the field.

As long as he goes to get some shoring from a supplier and gives up the idea of a wooden spreader on plywood, I won't argue any other points.

milon said: So heres the rundown. Digging a ditch 8' wide 7ft deep and 140ft long. What size plywood do I need to bury on the sides of the ditch to keep the dirt off me and my guys? 2x4s or 4x4s to brace with, need enough space to lay 2 12in lines and 1 16in line. Click to expand... No plywood would be allowed I don’t know how they do it or how they get approved to do it but it’s very large beams and blocks of wood. They have to do it sometimes in really old neighbourhoods. I was just giving another option. We use aluminum boxes and backfill as we go along. There’s also steel boxes that we use when we’re going deeper or have a specialty manhole or structure to install. If your getting into anything past that you have more money than we do.

Jimothy said: No plywood would be allowed I don’t know how they do it or how they get approved to do it but it’s very large beams and blocks of wood. They have to do it sometimes in really old neighbourhoods. I was just giving another option. We use aluminum boxes and backfill as we go along. There’s also steel boxes that we use when we’re going deeper or have a specialty manhole or structure to install. If your getting into anything past that you have more money than we do. Click to expand... Just looked it up and you would not want to get into the wood method way too much time and labour. Rent a steel or aluminum box haha.

If I could, I'd drag whatever covers the stick lengths. If it is 20's you need to get all the pipes on the same schedule and drag a 24'. It takes a pretty big hoe to handle a 24' steel box. You can get the shoring company to deliver it right to the hole so you don't need to be able to lift it, but it takes at least a 20 ton to handle it in the ditch and reach the other end with bedding. A 25 ton would be better.