Home Improvement Stack Exchange
Home Improvement Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [trench]

31 questions
24
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
votes
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
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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
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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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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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2
votes
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
2
votes
3 answers

Clarifying separation of ethernet cables from cables running power (underground)

I have seen a few questions regarding how close ethernet cables can be to power cables without a significant impact on the data. For example: Can I run CAT5/6 cables parallel to electrical cables? Is "don't mix data and power cables" and "don't loop…
user98368
2
votes
3 answers

Easiest way to dig trench along existing fence

My friend cannot currently allow his dogs in his backyard because they dig under his privacy fence. I wanted to fix it for him and just planned on digging a trench (8-10inches deep, 6-8inches wide) and burying chicken wire. Then covering the chicken…
Dylan Buth
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2
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0 answers

Spacing of underground pipes with differing freezing points

I need to run a variety of electrical and plumbing from my house several hundred feet to the site of my future pool and pool shed. Included in this is geothermal piping, connecting my house geothermal system to the pool heater, and potable water,…
David Pfeffer
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