Posted: 4/4/2009 4:22:31 PM EDT
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I had "call before you dig" come out and mark my yard since I'm planning to put a privacy fence up. I was a bit disappointed to see the markings left in the yard on the furthest fence from the house (which is apparently a hub for all kinds of shit for the houses around it).
I mowed after they sprayed, so I used photoshop to show were some lines cross the fence line. The rest speak for themselves. I planned to use an auger with an 18" bit, for what it's worth. I'm wondering if I'll even be able to run a privacy fence down the back of my yard. Notice the BS tree in the very corner of the yard, right where I'd need to put a post (neighbor's tree, mostly comes through to my yard). I suppose I could just to the fence down the two full sides, the two fractional sides next to the house, and put up some sort of tactical shrubbery on the back. The house behind me sits on a double lot, and the part directly behind my property is more or less empty. 
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| I dont know exactly what your question is if it whether or not you can put a fence over the locates, yes you can, just be sure to locate the utilities/telecommunications before you auger your holes for the post's or make sure your 18" away from the locators marks. Its a pain in the ass for the URD guys and tele comm guys but nothings saying you can't. |
| Red marks are electric those will typically be 24"-30" down, Cable orange god knows I've seen them 1" - 20" down just be careful and locate them all 1 by 1 and dig slow no stabbing with a shovel common sense stuff, really what your dealing with isn't that bad, you should see the spaghetti we have to locate in backyards in the city some times to set poles. Depths are typical not the rule, maybe they had tough digging, installed the cables in the winter when there was frost, etc so just again dig slowy and locate all your marks. Honestly by the peds I'd hand dig the hole, it'll be alot less dinkin around. |
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OUTLAW beat me too it. Pull the chainlink pole and puth the wooden pole in the same hole.
The orange paint are telephone lines. The red paint is power. I don't see any markings for the cable TV coming out of the pedestal behind the phone ped. The lines are "more or less" where the paint is. Locating is not an "accurate science." 
Power should be at least 3ft deep. The phone lines are usually anywhere from just under the sod to 18 inches for a drop and 2-5ft for a main cable. Carefully hand dig in the areas where you may be close to the paint. If you do cut a drop dig it back at least 18 inches on both sides and leave the ends sticking straight up so the repairman can find them. If I have to get the locator out to find them or do a bunch of digging you will get billed and it ain't cheap. 
I kid, but be careful and you should be OK. We see lots of this in areas where the city either has no code or does not enforce right of way and alley boundries. Drop contractors get paid by the foot and the job. They tend to take the path of least resistance from point A to B so things tend to end up like what you have there. |
| I'm a drilling contractor, meaning I drill for fences, retaining walls, light poles etc... If I where to go and look at your job I'd tell you your going to have to hand dig that by hand. The gas and electric should be 3ft but I assure you this is not always the case. The most I would drill is 18in very slowly if you see sand stop then hand dig the rest. Good Luck, |
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Hand dig by the marks. Call the utilities for approximate depth, but remember that means the depth the day they buried it.
Typically power pedestals and trasnsformers will tell you how much clearance they need with a sign on the unit itself. Sometimes the power guys will need to use a certain length insulated pole to energize/de-engergize the circuit. Phone guys need enough room to lift the access door and see what they're doing. Same with CATV. If they ever need to, they'd remove your fence. (They have an easement. Honest. That's job #1 for the companies before they lay down wire.) Red = Power Orange = Phone/Cable Yellow = Gas Blue = Water Green = Sewer Purple = Reclaimed Water White = Intended Route of Work |
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Quoted:
Hand dig by the marks. Call the utilities for approximate depth, but remember that means the depth the day they buried it. Typically power pedestals and trasnsformers will tell you how much clearance they need with a sign on the unit itself. Sometimes the power guys will need to use a certain length insulated pole to energize/de-engergize the circuit.Phone guys need enough room to lift the access door and see what they're doing. Same with CATV. If they ever need to, they'd remove your fence. (They have an easement. Honest. That's job #1 for the companies before they lay down wire.) Red = Power Orange = Phone/Cable Yellow = Gas Blue = Water Green = Sewer Purple = Reclaimed Water White = Intended Route of Work Thats just a secondary pedestal not an underground transformer so all thats needed is enough room to access it theres already fences there so its a non-issue, as far as taking the fence down, if they have to dig underneath it or do work around it they'll just take a section down and put it back up when there done. |
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Hopefully they marked them all. When I put in my fence, they marked everything except MY NEIGHBOR'S PHONE LINE which crossed over into my yard and then back again. Of course the very first post hole dug cut their line. We had to get the phone company out to repair it, and re-route it. But at least they didn't charge us, since it wasn't marked. |
Yeah, well I had them mark the yard back in November but I decided to wait until spring to build the fence. There was half the markings then that there is now. 
Poor guy. I felt bad, I hadn't been able to clean up all the dog shit in my yard for quite some time. It was like a mine field out there. 45 minutes of my time and 30 lbs of shit later, my backyard is clean again. 
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Quoted:
Hand dig by the marks. Call the utilities for approximate depth, but remember that means the depth the day they buried it. Typically power pedestals and trasnsformers will tell you how much clearance they need with a sign on the unit itself. Sometimes the power guys will need to use a certain length insulated pole to energize/de-engergize the circuit. Phone guys need enough room to lift the access door and see what they're doing. Same with CATV. If they ever need to, they'd remove your fence. (They have an easement. Honest. That's job #1 for the companies before they lay down wire.) Red = Power Orange = Phone/Cable Yellow = Gas Blue = Water Green = Sewer Purple = Reclaimed Water White = Intended Route of Work This. Just be careful about the depths. I was on a job a few years ago and we were just scraping the topsoil off in a spot where we to put in the parking lot for a building and we uncovered 3 Phone/Data Cables buried less than 6" underground. |
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Here in Kansas, you are required by law to hand dig within 24" of any marked buried facility. You should also know that you are going to be placing fence in an easement. The various utility companies can and will tear your fence down if it's necessary to repair an underground facility. You will have to repair the fence at your expense. That's why they have an easement. I work outside for a major utility and I have personally torn down fences, landscaping, sheds etc. I always go out of my way to avoid tearing anything up, but sometimes it's unavoidable. We usually try to repair what we break but sometimes we just leave it for the customer to fix. This is especially true if they are the cause of the repair in the first place. By all means build your fence, but hand dig around any marks. Also, if you do accidentally damage a line call the utility right away. I almost never bill for damaged drops if the person calls and leaves the damage exposed so it's easy to fix. We can find exactly where you damaged it, even after you bury it.
I.C. |