Tips
- Determine the soil characteristics of the lake, lagoon or stream bed you are installing your piles into.
- Rock will be unyielding, obviously, so this technique will not work, and silty, muddy material will not support the pier structure. Sandy material is ideal for jetting pilings, but any firm soil will allow jetting.
- Pilings will become buoyant and "lose the weight" necessary to push them down deeper than 5-6 feet (that's below water level, not below bottom level). In areas where winter ice uplift is a problem, setting the pilings deeper is needed.
- Some bottoms are tough, clayey, or full of shells. Pilings may need help "jetting" down by turning.
- This technique is fairly simple in shallow water, but it is very difficult to accomplish if you must have a boat do work off of.
- Most water ways, rivers, and bays are jurisdictional, and permits are required for both construction of piers and using jetting to install piling.
Warnings
- Any lifting equipment must be checked by a registered engineer for safety
Things You'll Need
- Permission from the landowner
- Water pump or water supply
- Jetting pipe
- Piling
