THE Budget Plastic Piling
THE EcoZ Standard, THE DuoRib and THE Europile
The Budget range of Plastic sheet piling includes the EcoZ Standard Z pile, The DuoRib and The Europile. The EcoZ Standard Z Sheet pile represents our version of the original plastic pile design, that was introduced into the UK around 30 years ago now.
The EcoZ is two products in one, simply by how you interlock neighbouring sheet piles. If you alternate, creating a U shape, we call this the box configuration, and it is the format that offers the greatest strength, but lower ground coverage. When all EcoZ sheet piles are interlocked the same way, then the configuration produced is called Rib.
Despite its long history, the EcoZ type product has been made redundant through the general advancement in plastic sheet piling. There are simply better products available, so much so that the product is considered niche. Typically used only by established applications such as ditch / grip blocking, which found that this light duty, flexible product was perfect for its application. Even in this application product such as MultiLock® and DuoRib are fast replacing its use.
The appeal of this product is that it is consider a known entity and that it is cheap. We can still source this product if the quantity is viable as not currently a stock item, very much made to order.
When the EcoZ Standard Z pile was the only design available, it was very useful to have the ability to use in two ways. However, the box format is a much more stressed design than the rib. Simply the pile thickness to depth ratio is much higher, as such it is more prone to buckling when used towards the top of its strength capacity. This is where we first introduced the Europile this was the first major improvement on the EcoZ Standard Z Sheet pile. It provided a similar strength as the EcoZ in its box configuration, but with the coverage of the EcoZ in its rib configuration.
The benefits didn’t end there, it was also a more rigid sheet pile and so installs more efficiently. It also has a much better design of interlock, one that seals against the flow, rather than one which can be opened up when set against the flow.
So if the Europile is an improvement upon the box format, is there a better product for the rib format? Yes, THE DuoRib, this is exactly the same as two EcoZ, but with one less interlock, so there is greater rigidity, better sealing performance and is cheaper. In fact the DuoRib is the cheapest plastic pile of our range and extremely popular for applications that prefer to dig in, or manually drive the sheets.