top of page
Image by Ivan Bandura

Horizontal Directional Drilling

We have the experience to stand out with this leading method in pipeline construction.

Dirt Strip

Horizontal
Directional Drilling 

HDD is a technique of installing underground pipelines, conduits, or cables from the surface along a prescribed bore path. This allows for lines to be installed around or under existing features, structures, and habitats.

 

Directional drilling has a very low environmental impact and causes minimal disruption to the site.

Horizontal Drilling
Directional Drilling
Grass

What is directional drilling used for?

Using directional drilling, we can install

  • Water Lines

  • Sanitary Lines

  • Storm Lines

  • Sleeves for Electrical Conduits

  • Fiber Optic Cables

  • Underground Sprinkling

Run Water & Electricity 

From your house to a barn or outbuilding. Because directional drilling allows conduits to be installed under and around obstacles, it's the perfect choice to connect utilities between existing buildings.

 

Choose Straightline Directional Drilling & Geothermal when you want to install water, sewer, electric, fiber, or gas lines from your house to another structure on your property, such as a barn, workshop, or storage building. Our drilling crew will carefully plan the bore path for the conduit around obstructions and other underground utilities.

​

Want to heat your workshop or install electric lights and plumbing in your barn? Directional drilling makes it possible to connect water and electric lines from your home to nearby outbuildings without digging up your entire property.

IMG_6943-1024x768_edited.jpg
Directional Drilling

The four-step process of directional drilling

01

Pilot Hole

First, a small hole of, usually only a few inches in diameter is drilled along the prescribed path for the pipeline. A tracker attached behind the drill head allows the operator to monitor and control the direction of drilling. A motor pumps drilling fluid along the drill pipe to lubricate the drill head and facilitate cutting through solids. Then the fluid and excavated material are pumped back up to the surface and recycled.

02

Reaming

After the borehole has been completed, it must be widened to a size large enough to house the pipes or electrical lines. This is done by attaching a succession of larger and larger reamers to the drill string, which then rotates as they are pulled or pushed from both ends of the borehole. As the borehole is widened, drilling fluid (or slurry) is pumped in to keep the hole open and bring excavated soil and other material to the surface.

03

Mud Pass

This step ensures the hole is clear of all excavated material. It also ensures that a mud mixture or drill fluid fills the hole completely to keep it from collapsing.

Call now for a site visit and quote.

04

Pipe Pullback

Once the hole is at the desired diameter and filled with fluid, the drill string can be removed, and the desired conduit for power lines, electrical cables, water lines, sewer lines, or other products can be installed. The conduit or product pipe is prefabricated at the end of the borehole opposite the drilling rig.

 

The drill rod and reamer are attached to a swivel, which will keep the product pipe from rotating. As the reamer and drill string is pulled back by the rig, the product pipeline is installed at the same time.

bottom of page