Dug Up Phone Line.... What next?

[fctadam]

Well my neighbor went out and got himself a new digging toy too. He was picking at a stump next door when he hit the phone lines. It left 23 of us without power overnight. The guys from Verizon came out and fixed and were laughing about the problem. This was done in Upstate Ny. The guys who fixed the line were there for a few hours and made a temporary fix. They will have to replace the main line from his house to my house marker. The guys were unsure about billing? Verizon is supposed to come out and take pictures. Anyone knows if this will cost him money, and if so will his homeowners cover it. He said they told home before the incident it would be covered on his property. Hoping this doesn’t cost him anything. Anyone have any thoughts if it will and or how much, and will it be covered on the home owners insurance.

Poor guy first time digging with his machine, I guess he should have called before he began digging. But who would have ever thought it would be 16 inches below the ground way out in the woods at the corner of our lots.

 

[GerardC]

I called Verizon before I put up a fence. They came out, put an orange paint line and flagged it in 3 or 4 places (it was on a radius). She said it should be within 12" on either side of the line. WRONG. The phone line was about 2 feet away from her painted line!! We never hit it but it just goes to show that even when they come out they're not dead on. BUT, if I did hit it, that would be their fault and therefore would not be financially responsible if in fact you are responsible. I think that they are up to the house connection.

 

[nobull1]

Here's the follow up story from a explosion a week ago when someone hit a gas line with a excavator before calling for location.

 

[dmftoy1]

yup it would be covered under his homeowners but subject to the deductible.

My buddy took out his propane line 3 years ago on his first project with his backhoe. He was sure he knew where it was since he trenched it in himself. The funny thing is he's moved and sold his tractor and this weekend started a deck on his new house . .while digging holes for the posts he hit the natural gas line. (didn't puncture it. Thank god!)

Have a good one,
Dave

 

[ronjhall]

Last spring I was helping my son redo his front yard. Called Miss Dig. Phone and Gas Company came out and marked the lines. Phone company claimed the phone line would be buried at least 12". First pass with the tiller and several homes were without phone service. Called the phone company. They came out and repaired the line. Claim that it not unusual to find the lines less than 6" below the surface. The line was fixed in a couple of hours and properly buried at 12 + inches. My Son was never billed because he had the check done ahead of time. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Billing will depend on how much the phone company feels they are at fault. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
Always have the lines marked even if digging by hand. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
I had Phone Company come out and mark lines to do some digging on the East side of my house. They marked the West end that only has a noverhead electric line. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[Poppa]

About eight years ago I was logging soils behind a drill rig. We were working alongside a busy street and I had called to have the utilities all marked. Between water, power and fast moving cars I was barely able to squeeze in a hole. The drillers augered to about four feet and then water came back up the hole. Faster and faster. The operator quickly yanked his auger out and now we have a fountain and it was still growing.

First piece of luck was that I had arranged for flaggers to control traffic while we were drilling. One of the women was quick enough to see what was happening and shut down the road. This was a good thing because within a couple of minutes the water is shooting twenty feet in the air and firing pool ball sized rocks into the air. The drill rig operator braved the hail of rocks to drop his tower, jump into the rig and drive it out of the way before all hell broke loose and the fountain went a solid thirty feet into the air and was launching cannonball sized cobbles up and over the power lines on the OTHER side of the road. You could here them thumping into the thankfully vacant field.

After a few frantic calls, I sat and waited for someone to turn the water off. About an hour later everything was calm and the hole had drained enough to see what we had hit. It was a fourteen inch Transite pipe and we had just nicked one side. This is when I learned that the utility markers just have to be two feet withing Any part of the utility. With a fourteen inch pipe this gave them an extra foot plus of leeway.

My last piece of luck came in that somehow even after all the flooding there was enough of the original utility marking paint to see the marked line and a measurement from the edge of that line to the nearest edge of the pipe was two feet two inches. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Mike

 

[wejones]

Fctadam. I work for a water utility and a we have one employee who does nothing but locate the water lines to prevent the guys from Verizon and the power company from digging into them. Over the years we have seen phone lines installed in almost any configuration and depth. Most phone companies subcontract the installation of phone lines and the MO is to jam the line in the ground as quick as possible and where ever it is easy to drive the equipment. I have seen two hundred feet of line laid to cover 100 fett of distance many times by some of the contractors for verizon who are in a hurry.

If your friend did not call the locating service he may be in for a very expensive time. I am not certain the home owners policy would cover him. Here in Virginia state law is very strict on this and even though it is a hassle, the program does work and saves all undergrond utility operators a lot of money when followed correctly,not to mention homeowners. Your friend was lucky he did not hit a power line. As it is if the phone company has to replace as much line as you suggest, he may be looking at a couple of thousand dollars of repair cost. Keep us posted on the outcome. Willie Jones

 

[PineRidge]

Excuse me I need to laugh out loud here. Last year I needed to trench in a drain under my gravel drive so I called the number to have all underground utilities marked. The telephone and electric were marked without incident, but the natural gas folks put the entrance line on the wrong side of the house. I called the gas utility and told them to send out a supervisor with the tech that had marked the line. Turns out the tech had dead batteries in the device that he was supposed to use to check for the tracer wire. Never mind the fact that the gas meter was mounted on the opposite side of my home. The supervisor straightened out the mix up real quick but had I gone by their original information there may have been a serious problem with the dig.....

 

[fctadam]

Well, I guess I have gotten mixed answers and it will depend on what and how Verizon feels. Some of you say it is covered and others it's not. One thing is for sure, that he did not call anyone. The span of the line they were thinking of replacing is only 150 to 200 ft at the most. Couple thousand dollars, that stinks. I hope it works out.

 

[Tractors4u]

A few years back I was putting in a drain pipe and called Line Locator, told where I was planning on digging. They came out and left a big OK sprayed on the grass with orange paint. I commenced to digging and dug up my neighbors phone line on a Friday afternoon and they didn't get it fixed until the following Monday. They had checked in close proximity to the road. What had happened was the phone company had the line buried on the right of way and then went off on about a 45 degree angle across my yard. I dug it up no where near the road or where they had marked. I never heard from them. Funny thing is when it went back about a week later to put a little more depth to my drain I snagged my neighbors phone line again. I spliced the line together myself, stuffed the splice into a pill bottle and shot the bottle full of silicone. I promptly when in and called my neighbors to check to see if their phone worked. Luckily they weren't at home and I got their answering machine.