2010 Titan Hollow Bar School

During June of each year, TEI takes three days to hold a school for the installation of the popular Titan Hollow Bar Micropiles. 2010 was no exception as 22 people from around the country headed to the TEI Rock Drill facility in Montrose, Co. Instructors from TEI, Con-Tech, ECP, and local drill contractors presented information in a classroom setting during the morning hours. The afternoon was set aside for hands-on drilling, equipment safety and repair instruction by Con-Tech and TEI employees.

Classes were held in the warehouse at TEI opposed to the previous location at the Holiday Inn. The new setting was very popular with attendees, due to the ability to stop a discussion and taking the entire group outside and explain questions with product and equipment at everyone’s disposal. TEI is currently discussing the possibility of creating a full-time classroom in the warehouse that would double as an internal company safety meeting gathering point.

TEI’s Micropiles Installation School

Jeff Tully, ECP, once again presented the ECP Micropier bracketing system. The underpinning system for hollow bar micropiles has gained acceptance in the industry as the premier underpinning bracketing system. The ECP Model 350MP pier bracket was jointly developed by TEI and Earth Contact Products to fill a demand for a high-quality underpinning bracket that can be used in the commercial and residential micropile markets. The patent-pending bracket is based upon ECP’s line of underpinning brackets for helical anchors and steel push piers along with TEI’s man-portable drill rigs (MP250 and MP260). Terry Burnell of Mountain Highwall Concrete Contractors gave the system great praise and shared the success his company has had since using the Model 350MP underpinning system.

Courses were taught in load calculations, testing techniques, installation methods, and grouting. Instructors included Dan Mclean of Contech Systems, Bill Patterson of TEI Rock Drills, Jeff Tully of Earth Contact Products and more. Terry Brunel, Mountain Highwall, and Kyle Vanderburg, Mays Construction, both local contractors gave case studies on some of their local projects. On Thursday afternoon the entire class was able to visit one of Terry’s job sites to watch the installation of some Titan bars in real time. Terry’s crew also demonstrated a tension load test on this same project. Norman Parsons headed up the load test and was very informative in his explanation of testing procedures and requirements.