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Trial Pitting

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Trial Pitting Services

Trial pitting involves excavating a hole in order to visually inspect the ground. Often these are dug using a mechanical excavator to depths of 2-3mbgl and are often combined with BRE365 soakage tests. They are also often by hand-excavated, particularly where buried features such as foundations and services are to be located and inspected.

Trial pits can be a relatively high-risk activity, especially in striking underground services and working in and around deep excavations. The work comes under a variety of different safety regulations around confined spaces, manual handling, working at height, PUWER and LOLER amongst others. Our operatives are fully trained and hold an appropriate range of certificates including in services avoidance, site safety supervision, temporary shoring etc.

Trial Pitting is perfect for visually inspecting shallow soils and some of the benefits of the technique are:

  • Visually inspecting a large surface area in-situ
  • Inspecting variability on the ground
  • Identifying buried structures
  • Examining existing foundations and services
  • Large samples for lab tests such as PSDs & shear boxes

Downsides of this technique are: 

  • Excavators can cause damage to services and surfaces
  • The method is highly intrusive
  • Requires suitable access and working areas
  • Hard to carry out in-situ testing or undisturbed sampling
  • Possibly undermines structures or neighbouring property
  • Can become unstable, especially where water is struck
  • Depth usually limited to 2-3mbgl using an excavator
  • All samples are disturbed
  • There is usually excess soil left over after backfilling
  • Personnel entry into trial pits is highly restricted

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Things to consider:

  • The depth of trial holes required, the size of machine needed, and the access/working restrictions
  • If a buried feature is to be exposed, e.g. existing foundations, the likely depth and condition of the footings
  • Requirements for breaking, services avoidance, backfilling, excess spoil, reinstatement, protection of surfaces
  • Ground investigations fall under CDM and full PAS128 utility surveys should be considered before breaking ground

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