Location: McInnis Rise, Victoria, BC

Project Scope: Basement Deepening & Bedrock Removal

Duration: 3 Weeks

Expanding a basement in Victoria often leads to one major obstacle: the island’s notorious solid bedrock. For this project on McInnis Rise, the homeowners needed significant rock removal within an existing structure to increase ceiling height and usable square footage—a task requiring extreme precision and zero room for error.

The Challenge
Demolishing rock inside a basement is a delicate operation. Traditional blasting is impossible, and heavy machinery exhaust or vibration can threaten the home’s structural integrity. The bedrock at McInnis Rise was dense and integrated into the foundation area, requiring a “surgical” approach.

The Solution: A Triple-Threat Method
Our 3-person specialist crew spent three weeks meticulously removing the rock using a combination of mechanical and chemical expansion:

Precision Rock Drilling: Using specialized drills, we created a high-density grid of pilot holes throughout the basement floor.

Hydraulic Splitting: We utilized powerful hydraulic splitters to exert thousands of pounds of silent pressure, snapping the bedrock along the drill lines without shaking the house.

Expansive Grout (Non-Explosive Cracking): For the most stubborn sections near the footings, we applied high-grade expansive grout. This material expands as it cures, silently fracturing the rock overnight for easy removal the following morning.