Concrete GPR scanning · El Paso & the Borderland
Know where to look before you core, drill or saw. We scan the planned work area, mark supported findings and explain what the data can—and cannot—show.
01 / The work
Concrete scanning gives your crew more information at the exact places it plans to penetrate.
Ground-penetrating radar can help locate reinforcement, post-tension tendons and embedded conduit around proposed cores, cuts and anchors. We mark supported responses on the surface and flag areas where the interpretation is uncertain.
What the visit looks like
Share the proposed core, cut or anchor locations, sizes and depth if known.
We scan the agreed area, mark supported targets and flag inconclusive zones.
Use the markings and photographs to plan the work; a scan does not certify an area clear.
02 / Beyond the slab
For work beyond concrete, we trace private utilities, investigate focused subsurface questions and narrow suitable cable-to-ground faults.
Illustrative rendering
We use electromagnetic equipment to trace conductive utilities and tracer wire, then add GPR when the site supports a radar search. The work is limited to the agreed area and does not replace an 811 ticket.
Service details
Illustrative rendering
A focused GPR survey can investigate buried structures, disturbed ground, possible voids or changes beneath a slab or paved surface. Soil, surface access and target depth affect what can be resolved.
Service details
Illustrative rendering
For a buried cable leaking current to ground, an A-frame follows the voltage gradient in the soil and narrows the repair area. This method does not apply to every type of cable failure.
Service details
03 / The ground beneath us
The Borderland is not one uniform subsurface.
Dry sand and gravel can give radar good penetration. Clay, salts, moisture, caliche layers, rocky fill, target depth and surface access can reduce clarity or create competing reflections.
We test the conditions on site and explain when the method is limited.
04 / Private lines
Start with 811. Then ask about private utilities on your property.
Private lines beyond a meter or service point may not be included in 811 markings. Common examples include irrigation, site lighting, power to gates or detached buildings, and private water, sewer, gas or communications lines.
HDSL locates private lines within the agreed area. This work supplements and does not replace Texas811 or New Mexico 811.
If the property or scope differs materially from what was described, we stop and discuss price or scheduling before work begins.
05 / What you keep
Surface marks and a record of the agreed work.
Deliverables are matched to the job. Every scope states the requested area, methods, findings, exclusions and limitations.
Marks in the requested area, using recognized colors where applicable.
A visual record of the completed markings before we leave.
Job records, reports or mapping files when included in the quote.
Short-notice scheduling.
Availability is not automatic. Call 915-216-7360 to confirm the scope, rate and schedule.
Notes from the field
The field blog for better questions before work starts.
Read practical guides, technical explainers and sourced industry stories. Every Ground Truth article keeps its sources and review date.
A concrete scan is most useful before the drill is on site and least useful after the first core is wet. Here is what to have ready, how to read the markup, and what the marks do and don't say.
A trench discovers its mistakes one shovel-width at a time, in the open. A bore makes its mistakes in the dark, at depth, and tells you about them later. The locate has to be built for the difference.
Ask what radar can do here and the honest answer is a question back: mesa or valley? The region's ground splits into two radar environments — and the soil surveys, not the sales brochure, explain which one your site is.
The Common Ground Alliance's annual damage data is out, and the direction is the wrong one: a record-high index, telecom and gas absorbing 87 percent of reported damages, and the same root causes as every year before.
No locating instrument measures depth. Every one of them calculates it from something else — field geometry, travel time, null spacing — and every calculation rests on assumptions the ground is free to violate.
A locator never lies about what it measures. It measures the field — and the field is not always centered on the line. The two mechanisms that move it are distortion and coupling, and recognizing them is what separates a mark from a guess.
Start a project
Planning a core, saw cut or anchor?
Send the job address, proposed penetration locations and sizes, slab details if known, and timing. For other locating work, describe the target and work area. We will confirm the right scope.
Project details
We will review the scope and follow up with a quote or questions.
Call 915-216-7360
