Home Improvement Stack Exchange
Home Improvement Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [trench]

37 questions
27
votes
16 answers

How to dig a trench for a cable for a garden office

I'm trying to dig a trench for the electrical cable for a shed/office I'm building in my back garden. This is about 7 m long and should be 0.5 m deep. My soil seems to be about 5 cm of soil/turf and then soil which is full of gravel, stones and…
Matthew Dresser
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13
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8 answers

How do I place electrical conduit under a creek?

Short version: I need to run 4" PVC electrical conduit under a 4' wide creek where the water is usually 1-4" deep. Code in this area requires cable in conduit to be 18" deep. I do want to keep it that deep or, if I can manage it, maybe 24" deep so…
Tango
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11
votes
3 answers

Does it matter if my underground conduit overlaps or crosses over existing conduits?

I'm planning on digging a trench for underground electrical conduit. I recently called my state "call before you dig" underground locating service. They finished marking the locations of underground utilities. They all overlap, perpendicular, to my…
Andrew
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7
votes
6 answers

What do I use for backfilling septic pipe leaving my home?

I have a 4" PVC septic pipe leaving my house on the cinder block wall about 4 feet below my house. There was a crack inside of the part where it leaves the house and I need to replace it (from settling/35 years old). I am going to do the digging…
math314
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6
votes
3 answers

Has anyone here ever rented a trencher? What was your experience?

I need to dig a 2 feet deep trench, about 100 feet long. Has anyone used one of these trenchers? The first one in particular? http://rentalsunlimited.com/catalog/trenchers/trenchers.html What was your experience? Any alternatives? Does Home Depot…
Peter Q
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6
votes
3 answers

How to cover drainage ditch while retaining function

My property has an above ground, water drainage channel running thru the middle of my back yard. During a rain event, this channel carries water from my neighbors property (seen top right in my first photo) across to the other (low) side of my…
Morgan March
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6
votes
4 answers

Can you bury coax internet cables above power cables?

I am looking to bury both my main power line and my ethernet lines. I already started the process on both. When I purchased my home, the meter was in the back of the house with overhead lines, but I wanted to move the meter to the side of my home…
myermian
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6
votes
3 answers

Does a water-filled trench protect against freezing?

This is a strange question, but I have a trench with a water line (HDPE poly pipe) in it from my new well to my house that I haven't yet buried. There's a cold snap coming where we'll see temps drop to around 10F for 4 nights or so. The trench is…
atanamir
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4
votes
5 answers

How do I dig a 3 foot deep narrow trench in soft clay

I need to dig a 3 foot trench in soft clay to put in a new water pipe. If I use I drain spade to dig it about 16cm ( 6 inches) wide will I have enough space to do the digger? Is there a better type of spade to use? About what length of trench can…
Walker
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votes
1 answer

Should I rent a trencher, or hire it out?

I need a straight 100', 18" deep trench to run power from my house to a workshop. Though I've never used a trencher before, I'm more than willing to give it a go. That said, when I needed to have a stump ground recently, I found out that it cost…
mmcc73
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3
votes
2 answers

Running fiber between buildings. How to enter enter/exit building with proper bend radius?

I'm looking at running some OM3 fiber (outdoor, armored), 6 strand between two residential buildings (think from a house to a garage for example). It's about 150ft total. I do not want to run copper (ground loop concerns, grounding in general,…
Jonathan
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3
votes
2 answers

How to backfill trench under slab in Los Angeles

I am converting my music studio, with no utilities, to a studio apartment. With that said I am having to cut the slab to install the sewer. I am in Los Angeles and am wondering what is the correct procedure to backfill the trench to avoid settling…
Matt
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2
votes
2 answers

What extra conduit should I include in a utility trench?

I'm putting in a trench with electricity + water + phone from the street to a future house site. The trench will be around 150' long. The electricity and phone will each be in their own conduit, probably 2". A friend suggested I install an extra 4"…
Jay Bazuzi
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3 answers

Code requirements for running water, power and sprinkler wire in same trench?

I am having a trench dug that passes through our asphalt driveway (previously a public county road). I am running power to a pump house on the far side and want to run two water lines and sprinkler wire back to the main power side. The feeder wires…
cjc
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2
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2 answers

Appropriate conduit for several data cables underground over 300' run

I have done some searching around but have not found anything definitive, and/or my background is weak in this area and I may be understanding poorly. I will have 2-4 PoE cables that will be run underground a distance of up to 300ft. There will be…
user98368
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