Once the magic smoke comes out, things don't work any more.
John Kasunich
jmkasunich@fastmail.fm
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Wed, 05 Sep 2007
The backhoe showed up today, and digging started in earnest. As I mentioned yesterday the broken spot is under the front porch. That means tunneling about 7-8 feet, in addition to the trench through the yard to the cleanouts near the sidewalk.
We discovered that the main water supply line is:
1) above the sewer lines, and thus in the way during digging
2) made of lead
So, I'm going to be getting a new $upply line too.
The storm sewer line is also above the sanitary line, so it is being replaced as well. That's not so bad - plastic drain pipe is much cheaper than copper supply pipe. The only consolation that ripping all the lines out at once minimizes labor (less hand digging around the fragile supply line) and I should never have to do this again.
Although the backhoe is doing the bulk of the work out in the yard, the digging under the porch is entirely by hand, and is not easy - the fill in the old trench is a mix of large rocks and heavy sticky clay.
The plumbers are convinced that if Hogan's Heros were imprisoned in my house, there's no way they would have been able to tunnel out.
(posted: 05 Sep 2007 22:38) (permalink)