Hello Blog World,
After a few days of rain we finally have some sun! Today, we are getting the driveway pipes replaced and driveway apron repaved by the Virginia Department of Transportation also known at VDOT.
During this experience I watched the VDOT crew make a clean rectangular cut with a machine with a diamond saw along the edge, a big machine called the Gradall Excavator removed all the asphalt, dirt, and old pipe from the ground. The Gradall Excavator has two sides. One side has a claw like kitty cats, my cats also liked playing in the claw cover very much and the other side is for driving on the main roads. I was able to interview the Operator, Crew Leader, and a couple of crew members who were all very helpful in answering some questions for me.
I asked the Crew Leader to describe the types of jobs they do. To my surprise, they do a lot more work then what I expected. I thought they mostly worked on driveways, but they have a big maintenance crew that does: tree clear ups to open roads, snow plowing, replacing and paving new sidewalks, road patching and paving and many other public transportation jobs.
They all told me about what they do for their job. Mr. William, the Crew Leader has to
coordinate the team, he decides on the equipment they have to use for the job, how many people they need, how much and what materials such as asphalt, concrete, or pipes are needed for the site work. The Crew Leader told me about an Android App called "Handman's Calculator" and Apple App called "R&G Calculator." He uses these Apps to calculate how much asphalt or concrete he will need for a specific job.
The Equipment Operator, Mr. Bill has to run the Gradall Excavator to dig holes,
patch asphalt and repair pavements. The Excavator is a load-sensing hydraulics machine that adjusts automatically to deliver the right amount of power for the job. The word hydraulics is derived from the Greek word for "water" called, "hydro." A French scientist named Pascal in the 17th Century discovered how to use liquid to create power.
So hydraulics system is when a machine uses liquid fluid to create pressure to move something.
Process of Replacing a drain pipe under your driveway.
Mark your area that you will need to replace.
Using a diamond rotating saw cut a clean line around the area being replaced.
Begin removing asphalt, dirt, and pipe with the hydraulic Gradall Excavator.
Prepare the area by compacting the soil before laying the new pipe.
Lay the pipe down and use a connector to connect with your neighbors pipe.
Fill the hole with cold powdered asphalt and compress it using a pneumatic (air or gas pressure) compactor.
Then use a large Double Drum Roller machine to go over the entire area.
Then bring in some hot asphalt and spread it carefully because it's hot! Did you know when the asphalt comes out of the factor the temperature is 300 degrees Fahrenheit? But by the time gets to the site on a truck it usually cools down to around 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
Once you have spread the hot asphalt evenly then bring in the double drum roller again and compact the asphalt. After compacting it will be harder, but you might want to wait 1 hour before driving on it.
From this experience I learned that it takes a lot of teamwork and lots of machines and tools to do a VDOT job. This may not be the job for me, but who knows it could be for you?
Here are is a video about how Hydraulics system works:
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