Steel sheet piling is used as soil retention and support for excavation. Use steel sheets that interlock to create a solid barrier and holding soil back. If the wall is too long or tall, then it is important to add anchors to withstand the weight of the earth pressing against it. For the support of underground parking garages, foundations, basements, seawalls, etc., steel sheet piling was used. Principally, they are utilized in any project involving a retaining wall below grade.
For the development of sheet piles, there are two main techniques: hot-rolled and cold-formed. At high temperatures, hot rolled piles are produced and the interlocks appear to be stronger and more resilient. The hot rolled piles are bigger than cold-formed piles and are heavier. Cold-formed piles will have looser interlocks and hard driving is not recommended. When low permeability is required, cold shaped piles are usually used.
1. Set out the sheets in parts to make sure that the piles are correctly interlocked.
2. Drive every sheet to the depth that was laid out.
3. Then drive the second sheet between the first sheet and the second locked sheet that has the interlocks.
4. Repeat until the wall completion.
5. If the wall involves complicated shapes, connector elements are used to ensure that the wall’s integrity is preserved.
6. For the installation of steel sheet stacks, vibratory hammers are used. If the soil is too thick for the vibratory hammer, an impact hammer is used.
7. The sheets are forced into place by hydraulics at places where vibrations are not recommended.
• It is light in weight, making lifting and handling easy.
• It is reusable and recyclable.
• The length and design of the pile are easily adjustable.
• Joints are designed to withstand the high pressure necessary for them to be placed in place.
• Just a little maintenance is needed above and underwater.
• If the soil is rocky or has major boulders, installing sheets into it becomes difficult.
• This will create an environmental disturbance if you use vibratory hammers to mount the sheets into the earth.
• Driving the sheets will cause interference in the neighborhood. It may make the near properties settle and cause problems with the vibrations from driving the pads.
• Parts can seldom be used as part of a permanent structure. The permanent sheet piles can remain on the ground and serve as a foundation for long-lasting retention. Most are used as temporary structures and are used for building projects to provide secure roads or paths for entry. When the project is finished, they are withdrawn.
See us here at Bigfoot Pipes for industry grade steel sheet piling in OKC. For more queries, visit our website.
If you are looking for strong, long lasting, high quality work that looks professionally done, then nails are not the solution I'd ever choose for joinery of this sort.
Nails work well between a pair of 2x4s when you are framing a wall, but that is where I stop using them. If you are expecting finishing nails to hold any serious load, don't. That does not say that finishing nails have no purpose. They can work nicely to hold together a joint while the glue dries - no clamps need apply! But even so, butt joints with glue (and a few light nails) are simply not very strong. It won't hold up over a few years. (Yes, I'll admit that I have never UNDER-engineered my work.)
So, the next step up might be rabbet joints, glued and nailed. Again, with nails or not, they simply won't offer strong, long lasting joints. In the right place, a rabbet can be the right joint.
Dado joints (a groove that fully encases the matching wood) will be strong, and will support a serious amount of weight. These offer a good solution, IF you have the tools to cut one, so either a router or a dado blade for a table saw. But a dado joint is not always an option.
Butt joints with dowels can work, but it will be somewhat slow to do. You need to be accurate in lining up the holes, so a good jig will be important, and know how to use it.
Personally, I like biscuit joinery. It helps to have a biscuit joiner to cut the slots, but a router could do the job in a pinch. It is strong, works well enough with plywood, easy enough to do. Biscuits will be far easier to use and install compared to dowels, because they allow for a bit of slop in the slots.
The last option I'll throw out is pocket screw joinery. It creates quite a strong joint, even with plywood. They are easy to line up, since you drill the holes with the wood mated together. The screws draw the mating pieces together tightly, resulting in a good looking joint. You can build very high quality case work with these joints, however, you generally want to be careful to keep the screw heads hidden. The cost is not too high for a screw jig, and then all it takes is an electric drill.
Either of these latter two options would be my preference. They will be significantly faster to do than dowels, but dowels (if done well) can offer a strong, serviceable joint.
The point of all this is it depends on how strong, how professional a job you want to do here. Are you willing to invest a few dollars into a piece of equipment (i.e., dowel jig, biscuit joiner, pocket screw jig?)