Cables under Driveway

[jhendric]

Guys, I recently had ATT run fiber down the length of my gravel Driveway. The cable is no deep than 6". I also need my driveway to be resurfaced. is it possible to groom a gravel driveway without digging up the cable?

 

[Industrial Toys]

WOW. No one thought of future considerations? How far are we talking?

You just never know what will happen. Guy unloads float in my driveway and punches this nice hole through my phone cables.



Boot is for sizing hole.



The Hole was well done and quite elegant. The repair, not so much.

 

[Gary Fowler]

You guys have some lazy ATT installers. The new fiber optic lines that are installed here are at least 24" deep thru my yard and even deeper along the road way. Now when I lived near Houston Texas, the phone lines there were sometimes only inches deep. Actually one line was exposed due to water erosion under my man gate. It was only a couple inches deep. I cut on line with a shovel putting in a potted flower. The repaired line laid on top of the ground for several months till the phone company send a crew to trench it in deeper.
I dont think anything in that sub-division was by Code including the electric lines and sewers.

 

[jhendric]

Yeah terrible, I am half inclined to rent a ditch witch and do it right with Conduit. That internet will be kinda important to me.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Sometimes for a Utility there is economy in doing it cheap and having the odd repair to do.

 

[mike48130]

So since no one answered your question I will add my 2 cents. I had a gravel driveway with a electric dog fence wire crossing it. Every few years I would hit it, but it was only 2-3" deep. If you are just grooming the top 2" or so, with a rake, you will be fine. If you try to remove material, then you will have an issue.

I had a neighbor that hit his cable line 3 times in 10 years in his yard. They just come out and fix it.

 

[Thomas]

No protection :confused2: over year rock/stone may chafe wire crack box and one thing could lead to another...just hope it during winter.

 

[Industrial Toys]

FIBER is always in a well protected sheath.

 

[dlctcg]

Guys, I recently had ATT run fiber down the length of my gravel Driveway. The cable is no deep than 6". I also need my driveway to be resurfaced. is it possible to groom a gravel driveway without digging up the cable?

"Fiber... no deep than 6" in a gravel driveway is pretty shallow in IMHO... hopefully it armored cable but it probably just direct burial. However unless the driveway is really bad I don't see any reason you can't "groom" it with ease... like mike48130 said, if you are only grooming the top 2" or so, with a rake or a Land Plane (Leveler) I think you should be good.... Our Land Plane really only grades the top first few inches of gravel & does a really good job.

 

[nyone]

I have my 100a garage service ran about 30in deep under my driveway for about 40ft. No conduit either.

Theres a utility pole on my property that the neighbors underground cable comes from. Every winter i see the cable company out putting a new line in when the plow rips it out. There trying to dig frozen ground with hand shovels through a snow bank. Theres got to be 6 or 7 cable lines burried in there now.

 

[oosik]

The 1 1/2" pressurized septic discharge line is 36" deep where it crosses under my driveway. It also inside 40' of 4" Johns Mansville heavy duty green plastic pipe - centered on the driveway. My initial phone line was strung on the barbed wire fence that runs all the way down my driveway. It worked OK until I got the Motorola Bag phone.

 

[D2Cat]

You say, " I recently had ATT run fiber down the length of my gravel Driveway." Two things seem odd. One run the cable down the driveway, why not off to the side? Two, why so shallow? I'd think the installers would question you, if that was your request. Why not ask them to plow a new line deeper and off to the side so you don't have any problems now or in the future?

Or, hand dig at random lengths near the line to confirm it's actual depth. Maybe it's deeper than your thinking.

 

[jhendric]

Thanks guys, I'll go easy on the grooming and hope for the best. I'll cross the broken cable bridge when I get to it.

 

[jhendric]

You say, " I recently had ATT run fiber down the length of my gravel Driveway." Two things seem odd. One run the cable down the driveway, why not off to the side? Two, why so shallow? I'd think the installers would question you, if that was your request. Why not ask them to plow a new line deeper and off to the side so you don't have any problems now or in the future?

Or, hand dig at random lengths near the line to confirm it's actual depth. Maybe it's deeper than your thinking.

The two trencher guys didn't seem to be bringing the "A" game I was at home when they did the trenching but working on conference calls. Didn't really inspect until they were done.