When to have underground utilities marked?

[jenkinsph]

Even in agricultural work don't take anyone's word for it that the dig is clear. I was digging on a ranch in a pasture a few years ago and had believed the farmer who had lived there for forty years and said there was nothing in my path. Well I dug a trench for a new irrigation line and about 300' down the inside of the fence spotted a phone box almost covered in the weeds. I stopped and called 811 and waited for them to mark. Glad I did because there was a 600 pair phone line about 10' ahead of my line. That line was put there about 50 years ago and was still in use. That would have cost me dearly. So I learned a cheap lesson, don't trust anyone.

 

[Looking4new]

I was the spotter/all round joe boy for a trencher in Alberta many years ago. We were trenching for irrigation on a farmers field. The operator told me to sit in his pickup truck where the crossing lines were flagged. It was my job to hand dig where the flags were when he got close to them. Everything was going great until he hit a line that wasn't marked. The line was empty/unused but he still came out of the cab a lot faster than he ever got into it. We trenched a lot slower after that. Lesson learned. Do NOT trust anybody.
Call before you dig is there for a reason. The life you save may just be your own.

 

[bigtiller]

Why, or how, do you bury a cable 1" deep?

Cable tv installers do it a lot, i watched them do it in my yard. They use a garden spade to make a "trench" about an inch deep, put the cable in and walk on it to close/compact it. I told him at the start that wasn't deep enough. He put my name on a list and 2 months later someone came out with a small trencher and put in a second line about 6" deep.

 

[JimRB]

I have left instructions with my wife to have the cable installer call me. Yes, they did not call me. Yes they did not bury the cable deep enough. Inches deep or less. First time I drag the pasture with a drag harrow, I will pull up cable, unless I pull up the cable by hand and bury it myself a foot deep. I need to keep that on my short list of things to do. The telephone people did not bury deep by the house. The loader guy snagged that cable when doing light rough grading.

 

[RaydaKub]

If you hit a utility that's only an inch deep and did not call for utility marking, the repair cost will be on you.

I cut the phone line to my previous house with a sod cutter. They never buried the line, but the landscape company put sod down right over the top. I come along 6 years later and kicked the cutter right through it. Everything was supposed to be buried minimum of 18 inches. Didn't cost me a dime that time, but I'd never try it again, and certainly not when digging more than the sod.

 

[Streetcar]

in most states the contractor must call locators. each contractor should have his own ticket

 

[LD1]

Edit; gas pipe lines are often patrolled from air, and they are places in plotted, recorded right of ways and or easementw, bit you can't always see from in the field

Funny you mention that. They do patrol the big transmission lines from the air. Any new work in the vicinity they see, they pay you a visit to see what you are up to.

We were putting in a new tile outlet for the local farmer. Back when the tile was laid, they ran slotted across the fields but the last 20' was terminated with a solid PVC pipe if it terminated at a woods line, creek, etc that was near trees. 30 years of encroaching trees and roots get to the connection point at the start of the PVC pipe. That plugs the whole tile.

Was doing one just this year that was within ~20' of a ~40" gas main that runs through the area. We didnt call cause we knew we were just digging up the 20' pvc pipe and it was installed decades AFTER the gas main. and not very deep. So no chance of hitting the gas main, just following a 20' stick of PVC to dig out some roots.

they showed up a few days later to inquire what was going on:laughing:

 

[rmk700]

Why, or how, do you bury a cable 1" deep?

Also, over the years (well after lines were placed) people will cut the grade down for many different reasons and not wanting to deal with the cost or time of lowering the line, they'll leave it shallow.

 

[Dan in CT]

Here's an expensive example of what can go wrong.

 

[Dan in CT]

Here's an expensive example of what can go wrong.
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