How not to install a culvert

   / How not to install a culvert #1  

OkeeDon

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2003
Messages
1,790
My driveway culvert was delivered this morning. County specified a 40', 15" diameter, mitered ends. Over the weekend, I used my automatic level and set the elevations, used the box blade to prepare a really nice bed for it. When the truck and semi-flat bed trailer arrived this morning, we just rolled it off the side of the trailer, and it rolled nicely down the swale, and even ended up with the miters facing up!

Boy, I just knew this was going to go very well.

In this county, the road department wants to inspect the pipe before it's covered, so I called them, and there was a road dept. employee only a block away. He came over, gave me a compliment for how well it was positioned, and passed it.

I had made a prior arrangement with a dump truck service, so as soon as I had the official OK, I chirped them (Nextel is great!), and they had the first load of shell rock on the way within minutes.

This was looking better and better!

When the truck arrived, the driver (a really nice lady named Theresa) told me that when she dumped, it might move the pipe a little. I thought, how much could it move? "Go ahead", I said, "I'll watch it."

Well, watch it, I did. I watched it move out of the bottom of the swale about a foot, raise up, get crooked, and roll around so the miter was cockeyed. I watched it as 18 yards of wet shell rock (about 22 tons) landed on top of it, so it couldn't be shoved back into position.

About 4 hours later, as I was still moving shell rock out of the way so I could finish digging it by hand, to get back to the groove where I had it earlier, a neighbor stopped to chat. "Same thing almost happened to me when I put in my culvert," he said, "but I figured it would move, so I put my bucket against it on the other side when they dumped." "Thanks a lot," I said, "where the heck were you about 4 hours ago?"

My son-in-law got home about then, and we kindly popped the whole dang 40' pipe out of the swale, ran the tractor in as much as we could to clean out the bottom. It has been raining a lot, the swale had water in it, and I really pumped it into soup with the tractor tires. We ended up having to put some shell in the bottom to stabilize it, and still had some hand digging to do to get it right.

It was nearly dark when we finally rolled the pipe back into place. It looks pretty good, it looks like one end is a little lower than the other, but tomorrow I'll use the level again to make sure before I start to cover it. I surely don't want to have to dig it out again! When Theresa came back with the second load, I had her dump it a safe distance from the pipe, even though it has to be moved further. Instead of moving 36 yards, I'll be moving 54 - because I already moved the first 18 and have to move it again.

I didn't feel like taking any pictures, and besides, it was dark. Down in another forum section, Henro said that people with white hair got that way because they use their brains more. I sure proved him wrong today. One tiny little burst of inspiration - would that have been too much to ask? Nope, I had to go and get over confident. By the way, digging out all that shell rock on a fairly steep swale wasn't the safest thing I ever did with the tractor, either. Fortunately, I took it real slow and don't have any other stupidity to report... /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

PS - for you Notherners who don't know what shell rock is, it's small chunks of limestone and limestone dust with liberal amounts of sea shells in it. Seems many eons ago, all of Florida except the central ridge was covered by the ocean, and the shells - a lot of them! - are still there, in the limestone sediment. The pit where we get the shell rock is about 60' deep to get to it. When it's compacted and dries, it's almost as hard as concrete.
 
   / How not to install a culvert #2  
You're not the first one to do that /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif Now the rock gets dumped in a pile and I use the tractor to place the material in the trench. This way it's easier to make corrections to a culvert that has a mind of it's own /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
   / How not to install a culvert #3  
Don- I had a somewhat similar experience a few years ago. Even though I am near the top of the hill, I was required to put in a 24" culvert. I thought there can't be that much water come down that short distance. I had the culvert dropped in place and had two loads of heavy clay type soil dropped on it. Leveled it out. I still needed a couple more loads since my ditch is quite wide with a lot of slope to fill in for a level drive. Well before I could get the rest of the fill, it came a really hard rain. Since the dirt was not yet well packed around the culvert, some of the water began going under and down the side the culvert, between it and the dirt. It ended up lifting the culvert up and washing out a lot of the dirt. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif Just like you, I had to lift it out, clean it out, reset it, and recover and pack it. Turned a relatively easy task into a major undertaking. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
   / How not to install a culvert #4  
Don't feel to bad, it seems every one of my projects involves a certain amount of do-over work before I get it right. It comes with the DIY territory...if you were doing it for a living you would have made the mistake once and after about the 10th culvert job, you would be an expert. Wife tells me the first time she bakes anything new it's a disaster.

At least you can take satisfaction out of helping others to avoid making the same mistake...thanks for the lesson!''
 
   / How not to install a culvert #5  
Yep -- Had the same problem when I was trying to install some french drains, using perforated plastic pipe. When I dumped the gravel in with my FEL, the rocks hitting the pipe caused the pipe to float to the top, rather than being buried -- had to dig the gravel out by hand and place the gravel with a shovel -- at least enough to hold the pipe in place. (My hair is white, too, and has been for several years, but it didn't help /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif)
 
   / How not to install a culvert #6  
Don, Don, Don.....

Some people will do anything to get seat time! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
 
   / How not to install a culvert #7  
<font color="blue"> Down in another forum section, Henro said that people with white hair got that way because they use their brains more. I sure proved him wrong today. </font>

Don...I think I said my wife said that!

After all, she is the expert on these matters...been watching me all these years... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Glad you are back on track with that culvert pipe...
 
   / How not to install a culvert
  • Thread Starter
#8  
Yeah, I'm around 218 hours -but despite what anyone says, it's not true that I have done a 1 hour job 218 times... /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
   / How not to install a culvert #9  
OkeeDon,

Thanks for the timely reminder. I'm going to move my driveway this weekend and will have to dig out and re-bury my culvert. Your posting probably just save me a bunch of time and aggravation! If I ever get back over your way (from Sarasota) I'll stop and buy you a beer.

Thanks.
 
   / How not to install a culvert #10  
Don i have customer that i cant tell him how a culvert gets its strength. I gave him a galvanized dust pipe off a dust system i tore off a factory. He said it wasnt thick enough t drive his dozer over and bent it. He didnt packe the dirt. I gave him another that i mitered the ends for him and he did the same. I helped him dig it out with my backhoe and i sent him to rent me a plate compactor Id put in 3 inche s of fill and tamp both sides and repeated till it was full then drove a D9Cat over it. He couldnt believe it. Usually If i put a culvert in for a person and cant hold the pipe Ill cut a hole in each end in the bottom and drive 1 inch diameter spikes to hold them .
The worst culvert ive put in was one when i worked in Alabama for a Missouri company. It was on a TVA job, on a Rail Road, with county and state jurisdiction. TVA wanted it 75 feet from one marker but that put it in the Ballast of the Rail Road which I knew was a no no. Later thecontywanted it 25 feet from the center of the road the state wanted it 21 feet from the center line. I dug it out so many times I told my laborer to leave the choker on it so we could hook to it if i had to dig it up again. We finally got it all worked out in a big pow wow.
 

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