About Us
Terra Firma Drilling began in Seattle in 1996 in response to the landslides caused by the massive rain fall from the “pineapple express” in that year. Since then we have become widely known in the Pacific Northwest as the premier difficult-access drilling contractor. Most of our business comes from the need for waterfront property landslide repairs that are too difficult to access with typical heavy equipment and drilling rigs. We can literally repel down vertical cliffs and drill and grout the same anchor you see used by the Department of Transportation to hold back the massive retaining walls you see along Interstate 5.
Usually we work off of pipe scaffolding with which we can access about anywhere. We have however used window-washer rigs, crane baskets, excavators, and extended-reach forklifts. You can see the different setups in the gallery links.
We have worked from the Bahamas to Alaska. We are currently licensed in both Washington and Alaska.
Most of the time we drill holes and install grouted anchors (sometimes called soil nails). Conditions permitting, we also install percussion-driven anchors. These anchors then retain the surface of the hill by with either a very high-tensile steel mesh or Shotcrete. Alternatively, the anchors are used to reinforce a pile/lagging wall, or an existing retaining rock or concrete wall. Terra Firma Drilling was the first contractor in the State of Washington to install Geobrugg Teccomat below Magnolia, above Palisades Restaurant in 2004.
Our key employees have a deep background in heavy construction, fabrication, machine design, and engineering. We build much of the specialized equipment ourselves in house. We think outside the box and can usually come up with several solutions to your problem. Give us a call.