Underground Utilities

[surferguy]

I am currently redoing my fence and subsequently going deeper than the original post holes. Turns out my gas line is right adjacent to one of the post holes. In a regular backyard how deep would one expect to find the main gas line to my home?

I asked the locator yesterday but I think she was fairly green and couldn’t answer my question, I just got a blank I don’t know.

I’m hand digging so I’m not concerned per se but what should I expect it to look like and how deep would it be?

Anyone have any insight?

[psicodude]

I'm not an expert, but when I did my fence I was told that they should be around 6 feet deep. I also dug that one hole by hand to about 4 feet and never saw the gas line.

[Fuzz]

Definitely not 6 feet. I believe they are required to be 24" for the main line, but I wouldn't count on that given the age of your community. When they did my locate the first time they were off by well over a metre. I had them come back becuase I knew it was off. So don't count on those marks to be very accurate. One way to see if you are in the general area is to find the shutoff in the alley. That should be where the line starts. And it ends at the meter on your house, so ideally that would be a straightish line.


If they have replaced your line(they did mine about 10 years ago when they moved my meter outside) it will be a yellow plastic, otherwise I think they are black steel.

[surferguy]

What would the alley shut off look like?

[Fuzz]

A metal circle about the size of a coffee cup. You may want to use a magnet if you can't see it, it may be buried a little.

[Nufy]

What moroon would put a gas line along a property line ?

You know where they put fences and stuff ???

[surferguy]

Mine is straight down the middle of my yard, the post in question is on my back fence line

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by surferguy

Mine is straight down the middle of my yard, the post in question is on my back fence line

Is there a gate on that section of fence? You could always just move where the gate is located to change where you put that post.

[surferguy]

Not a bad idea but unfortunelty it likely won’t work given the set up for this particular post.

[You Need a Thneed]

If you don’t want to dig by hand, call a vacuum truck - probably a bit expensive though.

[FireFly]

My husband installs underground utilities and says they're supposed to be 3 feet but can be as little as 18 inches. Go wide and shallow with that hole until you find the line. Do NOT put your spade straight down and jump on it to get traction!

[llwhiteoutll]

Originally Posted by Nufy

What moroon would put a gas line along a property line ?

You know where they put fences and stuff ???

Plenty of homes have utilities coming in the side and run along the fence line.

OP: Code is either 15" or 18" to top of service, but it was most likely buried deeper, it will be a yellow or yellow wrapped pipe. Since you're digging by hand, you should be fine. If you have underground electricity, it might be a common trench, something to watch for.

[Fuzz]

Isn't your yard mostly random sizes of rock with a thin dirt covering? That's gonna suck. I know I complain about my clay a lot, but I'll take digging in that over rock any day.

[Nufy]

Are you drilling / augering or hand digging

[surferguy]

I’m digging by hand with a shovel and post hole digger. My yard is mostly 6” of topsoil then it quickly transitions into glacial till (thanks Laurentide ice sheet). Yesterday I spend two hours extracting a watermelon sized rock at 20” in the first hole. I am aiming for 36” Total for the new posts. It’s tough work in this neighborhood.

[surferguy]

Originally Posted by llwhiteoutll

Plenty of homes have utilities coming in the side and run along the fence line.

OP: Code is either 15" or 18" to top of service, but it was most likely buried deeper, it will be a yellow or yellow wrapped pipe. Since you're digging by hand, you should be fine. If you have underground electricity, it might be a common trench, something to watch for.

Power is all overhead in these parts.

[surferguy]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

If you don’t want to dig by hand, call a vacuum truck - probably a bit expensive though.

Across the alley last summer they replaced the sewer line. A hydrovac truck was onsite for two days to get to eight ft for the city tie in!

That couldn’t have been a small bill at the end of the job.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by surferguy

Across the alley last summer they replaced the sewer line. A hydrovac truck was onsite for two days to get to eight ft for the city tie in!

That couldn’t have been a small bill at the end of the job.

Gotta win those government projects.

[surferguy]

I think it was the home owner on the hook, can’t be sure though

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by surferguy

I think it was the home owner on the hook, can’t be sure though

Shouldn't you be digging?