What to look out for when digging??

[TRIVERS08]

Hi: I am just wondering what has to be considered when digging--what to watch out for, who to call, etc.

 

[destro]

You have to call the dig line ; thats what there called in B.C. They let you Know what lines are under ground. phone lines , gas lines etc... I made the mistake of not calling and took out a gas line. It be a good Idea to find out who to call in your erea .

 

[TRIVERS08]

You have to call the dig line ; thats what there called in B.C. They let you Know what lines are under ground. phone lines , gas lines etc... I made the mistake of not calling and took out a gas line. It be a good Idea to find out who to call in your erea .

Hey Destro: How much did it cost you when you took out the gas line? Tom

 

[sterlclan]

Hey Destro: How much did it cost you when you took out the gas line? Tom

I worked for a guy that ate a gas line to the tune of 10 grand in 1999 dollars....stay clear "most" gas and water and electric lines are marked with tape about a foot to two over them or at least supposed to be.....Jeff

 

[destro]

I worked for a guy that ate a gas line to the tune of 10 grand in 1999 dollars....stay clear "most" gas and water and electric lines are marked with tape about a foot to two over them or at least supposed to be.....Jeff

Hi Tom ; It cost me $3000.00 .. It was friday night and there was over tome cost. I,ll be sure to make a call from now on. DESTRO .

 

[excavator]

Hi Tom ; It cost me $3000.00 .. It was friday night and there was over tome cost. I,ll be sure to make a call from now on. DESTRO .

I have been in excavating business since 1973 and we have crossed every thing from TexasEastern oil lines and Fiberoptic lines from NY to Washington. There is no substitute to hand digging when there is any line to find. You are required by law to call for markout but that is NOT good enough. They make mistakes all the time. When you are working on residential sites and are with in 15 feet of curb there can be main lines such as gas,electri.water,phone.cable.sewer,storm sewer and can be ant where in 15 foot easment from curb. What many markout people forget to markout is the lines that come from the otherside of the street all the way across to your side to connect to the main under the curb or sidewalk. The first thing I need to do is locate myself the gas meter,water box,sewer,phone electric cable box from accross the street and see if it line up with my side of road. Another mistake the markout people do is locate and markout abanded lines such as old gas line and forget to mark out new gas lines. When ever I work on any building I go in the house / basement and scope out every utilitl line for myself. Dont trust anyone to tell you it is over there so dig here

 

[Earthwerks Unlimited]

I have been in excavating business since 1973 and we have crossed every thing from TexasEastern oil lines and Fiberoptic lines from NY to Washington. There is no substitute to hand digging when there is any line to find. You are required by law to call for markout but that is NOT good enough. They make mistakes all the time. When you are working on residential sites and are with in 15 feet of curb there can be main lines such as gas,electri.water,phone.cable.sewer,storm sewer and can be ant where in 15 foot easment from curb. What many markout people forget to markout is the lines that come from the otherside of the street all the way across to your side to connect to the main under the curb or sidewalk. The first thing I need to do is locate myself the gas meter,water box,sewer,phone electric cable box from accross the street and see if it line up with my side of road. Another mistake the markout people do is locate and markout abanded lines such as old gas line and forget to mark out new gas lines. When ever I work on any building I go in the house / basement and scope out every utilitl line for myself. Dont trust anyone to tell you it is over there so dig here

It's a craps shoot whenevr you're digging. About 5 years ago I was about to tear down a house that cught fire. The city required a permit to tear it down. But they would not relaes the permit to me until the utility companies had to give an all-clear. The city's "beeotch" in the permit department got a fax from the gas company but didn't bother to read it and wouldn't let me read it. She gave me the permit. The owner met me a t the porprty but my sixth-sense told me that the gas wasn't off. The owner loosened the gas meter pipe and it kept spewing gas. I told him something wan't right. The gas company was called and sure enough it WASN'T turned off and wasn't scheduled to be turned off for another two weeks! SO instead of digging up the line and disconnwecting from the main at the street, they only removed the meter from the house and put a small plastic pipe over the valve! And told me don't ruin the pipe! I tore down the house. Two weeks later I drive by the house lot and NOW they're digging up the supply at the main. I stoppd and asked them what they were doing telling them they were about two weeks too late. They smiled and said oh it was too cold a few weeks ago. I watched them pull the supply out of the main and plug it (and get this: gas is spewing out of the 8" main, he's smoking and tosses his LIT cigarette into the hole! Turns out it wouldn't catch fire unless it was about 6' higher than the hole--not enough oxygen in the hole he said!!).
Two weeks after that I got a $430 bill for "destroying their gas meter". Called their law department, stated what REALLY happend and the attorney says, "don't worry about, it happens. We'll take care of it" and they did. Whew!
Two months later while digging a footer for a forklift ramp just up the street, my guys hit a 1" gas supply with a pick. LUCKILY, we were hand-digging it so no charges were levied---though they did get my truck's license plate number and demanded my business card. DOH!!!

 

[Skidder2]

The marking people ... " miss utility". , tell us they only mark an underground utility, provided the utility subscribes to their service . That may exclude say, a private residential subdivision buried h20 service . A title search of the property should Give clues as to what you have . Legally. If there is no recorded easement, giving " grantee " rights, then , legally I would assume the U/G has no right to be there.

 

[stevemurphy]

Hello, I would like to thank you for sharing this useful material. Frankly speaking at the first point you are saying simple thing, but in reality, they are really important, especially about the dig line