The Process

Earthbolt today is a product used and accepted by virtually every manufacturer of precast concrete panels in Melbourne where it first began, and after 7 years and over 100,000 installations the company has been used by over 270 commercial building companies in 3 states. The precast and tilt-up panel industry’s main benefit is its speed of construction and when it comes to speed and safety our team can install temporary footings for 100 panels in one day.

Although most of Earthbolts activity revolves around general factory and warehouse commercial building projects it also sub contracts to projects for Bunnings, Myers, Big W, Masters, Kennards, Coles, Target, Woolworths, Harvey Norman, Dan Murphy, Officeworks, JB HiFi and a multitude of retail outlet projects. In recent years the Earthbolt product has been used in many architecturally designed high end residential projects. Government projects both state and federal in secondary colleges, universities, hospitals, prisons, police stations and aged care facilities have also been major users of our product.

Today many structural building plans with precast panels come to us specifying the Earthbolt system with accordingly detailed propping plan set outs for our product. But generally, for any formal quotation we require firstly a geotechnical report for the project site, compaction report, elevation plans, panel overview with required propping direction and panel shop drawings to ascertain wind loading requirements and ferrule positioning.
In 99% of cases our quotations shall be provided within the same day if received prior to midday. It shall be forwarded incorporating our Terms & Conditions which are available on the website along with any requested SWMS and Certificates of Insurances required including Workcover. The Earthbolt installation teams run virtually fully booked on most occasions with installations and removals occurring rapidly. For this reason it is important to book both safety anchor installations and removals as soon as possible to ensure availability.

If our quotation is accepted and a formal order is received our next step is normally a site evaluation and contact with a nominated site manager to ascertain any site constraints such as access. If due to the site soil report or our historical knowledge of an area that lead us to any concerns we will normally recommend that a site test take place to ascertain the kN loading achievable for certification or a site visit during the excavation of the main panel footings.

On the day of installation our Operations Manager will after site induction inspect the site with a site manager to explain the procedure and identify and mark any relevant underground services then identify a suitable unloading site after which a detailed mark out will be done. The precast manufacturer will have marked out the panel footing pins and joins prior to our installation crew attending the site.

All machinery used by Earthbolt is purchased new and maintained in accordance with the manufacturer’s specifications and fully serviced on a regular basis. A Kubota or Yanmar 5.5 tonne excavator is used with a customised Digga PD 15 planetary drive to install the Earthbolt product. Unloading and distribution of stillage units and product on site will be done with a Bobcat S130 or Terrex tracked skid steer loader.

The Earthbolt Mk IV is designed to take 2 prop footings with 2 stainless steel M20 nuts on both sides of the top plate, the additional nut either side acting as a spare. Operations staff lubricate the connections, but in most cases the associated precast panel company provides new M20 bolts. Our staff will install a bolt to either side during the Earthbolt installation to protect the thread and make their lifting procedure run smoothly. With the torque pressures applied during installation soil is forced up through the attachment points so we do recommend bolts are supplied as this assists everyone in the process.

At the finalization of the installation the Site Manager shall be provided with a Certification allowing the connection of props or braces for lifting purposes. Every individual Earthbolt anchor will be recorded with the Panel No for torque during installation for required translation to a kN load rating. A signed copy is kept on file and on site, additional copies shall be forwarded to the building or precast company if requested. This paperwork allows us to identify every individual anchor location on site and its associated torque rating and load certification.

Once the structural steel work is welded off and certified by a project engineer with the props or braces removed the Earthbolt team can safely proceed with a removal. (Note: Earthbolt staff are not authorized to disconnect props or braces under any circumstance.) During any removal our stock is visually inspected and clearly colour coded for types of maintenance required and placed in a separate stillage for delivery to our maintenance staff for inspection purposes.

Due to Earthbolts manufacturing strength for multiple uses designed without the need for hidden structural welds in unison with the failsafe collar mechanism the product is easily monitored and repaired when necessary. Although production batching identification numbers do appear on our product the integrity of the design structure negates the need for monitoring each individual anchors usage unlike other products which are only certified for a maximum number of installations by their manufacturer.