building a new house

EddieWalker · Dec 22, 2006

socally,

Irrigating those trees will allow you to move lots of water, so you shouldn't have any stale water issues. I also like the bigger is better aproach!!!!

I'm suprised this is your first rodeo. It looks like you did good and have some pros in there with you trenchs, your utilities and forms all look first class. The blue glue probably wont be an issue, it was more of a curiosity to me as why you used it more than something to be really worried about. I see it in the stores all the time and figure that it must work since people buy it all the time. I just use the clear because it's all the same price and that's what I was told is the best. I don't know this for a fact, so please don't take it any other way.

Congratulations on passing your inspection!!

Eddie

socallly · Dec 22, 2006

thanks for the compliments Eddie.I am lucky for having good friends with skills and one of the best day laboring gophers there is (myself)HAHAHA P.S. Eddie Walker ,I would like to say you are a true insperation to me and probably many more on this great web site we all share

dfkrug · Dec 22, 2006

EddieWalker said:
Do you have to cover your lines in sand? Where I worked in the SF Bay Area, we had to have a foot of sand all around the water mains. Then it had to be jetted with water to compact it before you could fill the trenches with dirt.

Eddie

Wow, Eddie, what jurisdiction was that? I never heard of adding
water to the sand. Sand should compact very well without water. Sand
is a good idea, though rock-free soil is usually acceptable.

We have 50+ different bldg jurisdictions in the Bay Area and they can
demand anything it seems. And the power company has its own rules,
in spite of the NEC.

EddieWalker · Dec 22, 2006

dfkrug,

This was in the late 80's and I worked from Santa Cruz to Walnut Creek and most everything in between, but I'd say mostly in the Pleasonton area. All of these areas required the water mains be layed on sand, then a foot or more of sand over the pipes. The sand was dumped in the trench with a loader bucket, and when done, water would be jetted into the sand.

I did the jetting all the time. Basically it was a PVC pipe attached to a hose and the water truck. The pipe is shoved into the sand until it colapses onto itself.

Before you start, the sand is nice and fluffy looking. After it's been jetted, it's smooth, flat and much lower in the trench.

The inspector would just look in the trench and pass it. You can tell was right by just looking at it.

Eddie

rox · Dec 22, 2006

Eddie,

Do you think in the san francisco area they made you put sand around the pipes becasue of earthquakes and in texas that is not necessary?

Nice construction pics! Keep 'em coming!

3RRL · Dec 22, 2006

socallly,
I can't believe you're undertaking such a big project without prior experience. My hat is off to you man. I wish I had the guts to build my own place. Where in California are you building? From the looks of the surrounding area, my guess would be Victorville/Hesperia area or Apple Valley....high desert? You're doing a great job. Keep the interesting posts and pictures coming.
Thank you for sharing with us.

Eddie,
There is a gated community around that Country Club (Ruby Hills) up in Pleasonton that has nothing but multi-million dollar homes. My guess maybe a thousand of them in there or so? Was that there when you worked over there? Those homes appear to be fairly new, maybe less than 10 years old but they were all like 7,000 to 12,000 sq feet!!!! It just blew my mind to see all of them like that. Wonder if that had anything to do with the sand/water compacting?

EddieWalker · Dec 22, 2006

Rob,

I only did the utility work for one season in 1988 and the jobs I was on were in the flat parts of Pleasonton, Livermore and Dublin. With the HUGE jump in realestate values, they started builing any place they could stick a house.

My guess is the sand was an Earthquake code issue, but that was the year before the big one of 1989. Things realy changed after that!!!!!

Eddie

Farwell · Dec 22, 2006

3RRL said:
socallly,
I can't believe you're undertaking such a big project without prior experience. My hat is off to you man. I wish I had the guts to build my own place. Where in California are you building? From the looks of the surrounding area, my guess would be Victorville/Hesperia area or Apple Valley....high desert? You're doing a great job. Keep the interesting posts and pictures coming.
Thank you for sharing with us.

Eddie,
There is a gated community around that Country Club (Ruby Hills) up in Pleasonton that has nothing but multi-million dollar homes. My guess maybe a thousand of them in there or so? Was that there when you worked over there? Those homes appear to be fairly new, maybe less than 10 years old but they were all like 7,000 to 12,000 sq feet!!!! It just blew my mind to see all of them like that. Wonder if that had anything to do with the sand/water compacting?

Rob,
I worked in the TV news business in San Francisco and spent quite a bit of time in helicopters flying all over the Bay Area. It is totally amazing how many mansions there are between San Francisco and San Jose. I had no idea that there was that much money in that area. I never saw the Pleasanton gated community, it must have been built after I retired.
David B

dfkrug · Dec 22, 2006

rox said:
Do you think in the san francisco area they made you put sand around the pipes becasue of earthquakes and in texas that is not necessary?

My understanding is it is not an earthquake thing....it is to keep pipes from getting crushed by rocks during backfill and compaction. Adding water to
the sand will actually keep the backfill from being properly compacted.
PG & E and the bldg depts set the requirements for trenches with pipes
around here.