Launched nails install at up to roughly 250 twenty-foot nails per day, so most Houston walls complete in days rather than the weeks a conventional drilled system needs, especially in saturated ground.
Soil nailing reinforces a slope or excavation face from the top down, installing near-horizontal grouted steel bars in a grid pattern as the cut proceeds and facing the surface with shotcrete. The reinforced soil mass becomes its own retaining structure rather than depending on a separate wall.
GSI installs soil nails in Houston using our patented Soil Nail Launcher™, which fires a launched nail into the slope at up to 250 miles per hour instead of drilling a conventional borehole. That matters in saturated Beaumont clay, where a conventional open borehole can collapse before a drilled nail is even placed, while a launched nail doesn't depend on the hole staying open. GSI's Houston soil nail projects typically involve:
Launched nails install at up to roughly 250 twenty-foot nails per day, so most Houston walls complete in days rather than the weeks a conventional drilled system needs, especially in saturated ground.
A soil nail wall typically costs 25 to 50 percent less than an equivalent-height soldier pile wall and becomes a permanent structure. We provide a fixed-cost proposal after reviewing site and groundwater conditions.
Yes. Every design is stamped by a licensed Professional Engineer and meets IBC and Texas Building Code requirements for permanent earth retention.
Yes. GSI offers 24/7 emergency response, and the Soil Nail Launcher is well suited to saturated, actively moving ground since it doesn't require a stable open borehole.
A conventional drilled nail relies on an open borehole that can collapse in wet, high-plasticity clay before the nail is even placed. A launched SuperNail™ is fired in a single shot and compacts the surrounding soil rather than depending on a hole that stays open.
We evaluate soil saturation, groundwater depth, and existing movement before finalizing nail length and spacing, since Houston's clay behaves differently wet than a similar clay would further inland.
The launched installation method is less sensitive to groundwater than a conventional open borehole, though our engineers account for water table depth in the design and grouting plan.
Yes. It's a common application for slope stabilization along Houston's bayou system, where saturated soil and erosion make conventional retaining methods harder to install.
An unreinforced slope in Houston's saturated clay can give way with little warning during a heavy rain event. Call (855) 599-5217 to get a soil nailing assessment from a licensed engineer.
