Did you get what you paid for?

A recent dock inspection revealed that the pilings on a ten year old dock were only wrapped at the surface. Not only did this customer not get what they had paid for, their timber pilings were left exposed to marine borers for over a decade. Whoever wrapped these pilings only covered what the customer could see from the surface. Even what little wrap was on the piling was poorly secured, with the wrap only nailed halfway down the vinyl sheet.

There was heavy oyster and barnacle growth below the wrap, all the way to the mudline. Some of the barnacles were 2-3 inches in diameter. On one of the pilings, we found severe shipworm damage just below the area that was wrapped.

Be sure you are getting what you paid for. Wrap should always be installed after the pilings are driven and should be wrapped by professional divers.

If your pilings are wrapped and you want to ensure that it was done properly, have divers conduct a visual inspection of your dock. Let us be your underwater eyes. A dock inspection is the only way to know for sure that you got what you paid for.

For more information on when to wrap pilings, click here.

This piling was only wrapped on the top 5’ of the piling, leaving the remaining 20’ of bare timber exposed to marine borers.

This wrap was not nailed below the low tide line.

Areas of severe shipworm damage were found just below the wrapped area on one piling.