The Great Sheet Wall of Bethel Island
Reported From: APE Western (CA)
“FCI Constructors and the great sheet wall of Bethel Island”
There is an art to driving a straight sheet wall and that art takes years to learn. You can’t just look at it and make it stand straight, you have to work it. It takes patience and you got to go slow and easy. As soon as you get in a hurry things start going south in a hurry. Just ask Richard Foster with FCI Constructors! Richard has been driving sheet pile since he was kid, and that was a long time ago! He grew up in the piledriving industry and learned from hard work and determination! To see him work on a sheet wall is like seeing poetry in motion. Richard makes it look easy! “I like to start a sheet wall with the vibro and get myself a good running start” says Richard, “and when I have a nice start and the driving gets hard and I have to pick up the impact hammer, I know I will have a good finish”. The lesson of the day is this: when driving a sheet pile wall you should always have two things, a good crane operator and a seasoned front end man, like Richard Foster!
