had a crappy week with the kubotas.
Sewer line job was supposed to be 6 feet deep. Got out a tape measure and it was 8' plus. No big deal right? Wrong! The new gas line was installed directly on top of the sewer line.
That creates a real problem. I couldn't bench the right side of the trench and had limited room on the left side due to the water service. I knew we were in trouble and suggested we don't even start and just get a larger machine.
Well, we were encouraged to try. Started digging and found this lovely mess. It was completely covered by ground (the cap you see was our plug we used when we uncovered it.) Yes, the black line you see directly behind the risers is the gas line and yellow trace.
I kept digging (cautiously) and we had shoring in place to make the connection at the house foundation. We were going to skirt the new line out and then back in to the connection at the curb to try to get away from the gas line. The cast iron trap had an additional abandoned sewer connection as well as a very old rain leader. Evidently, they ran them as a common when the house was built. We didn't get very far the first day.
Second day, the guys were working at the foundation (inside the shoring) while I continued to dig with the U-27. The right side of the trench caved in. Almost took the new gas meter with it.
It happened in a millisecond without warning. The guys were safe but we all were shaken up. That was it for me.
We backfilled the entire trench, covered it with heavy mil plastic, then threw the dirt mats over top in order to try to keep everything dry. Will be back at it next week with the large rented mule and trench boxes.
To add insult to (non) injury, the last bit of concrete and trap got stuck in my truck bed while I was dumping it out....GRRRRR
the next morning, I was on to another job to re-route some sump and rain leaders...I was the only one that showed up. No one let me know that the job had been re-scheduled. GRRRRRRRRR
