How deep are the services buried in my garden?

[goodtyneguy]

I want to erect some sort of partition at the edge of my garden where it adjoins the public footpath. It is simply laid to lawn and there is nothing in it to nick. It is on a corner of quite a busy part of the estate as far as foot traffic is concerned and some people use it as a shortcut across the corner. To be fair, as it is not delineated it could easily be taken for a piece of council grass and in any case some of the youngsters around here walk about as if they are not conscious.

I was thinking of knocking a few posts into the ground and stringing a chain across them, that should do the trick and if I see them stepping over it I will have an excuse to get my 12 bore out and shoot them..... only joking folks

Travis Perkins do some metposts with a spike which can be driven 600mm into the ground. The post has a 75mm square housing to accommodate for wood posts of that size. Water, gas and electric service pipes and cables are probably under the areas in which I wish to drive the posts hence the title of this post.

1) Is there a chance of hitting them and
2) anyone got any better ideas to achieve what I want to do, nothing fancy (another word for expensive) required?

Thanks for reading this far and thank you in anticipation of some helpful replies

 

[blup]

1. Yes, my gas supply was a spades depth under the grass surface on the front lawn, 600mm is within the kind of the depth that any services could be buried

2. Professional detectors can be hired to give an idea of location and depth, this might help

Blup

 

[goodtyneguy]

Thanks Blup, google's my friend then!

 

[bobasd]

locate service utility covers on the pavement or just over the garden wall an eyeball a straight line from them to the house or where yousee utilities enterin the house.

water is supposed to be at 750mm min.
gas at 375mm min.
an elec at 500mm min.
they should be covered with warnin tapes at about 100mm-150mm.

in practice they could be laid at any epth with no tape, so be dead careful an dig out test holes very careful.
dont use a pick or a fork.

 

[Mike10]

I did a fence a few weeks ago and the water supply to the house was about 6 inches below ground, just missed it luckily. Dig carefully.

 

[goodtyneguy]

Thanks for the great info bobasd, especially the depths.

The eyeballing technique you describe may not be as effective for me as I live in a purpose-built first-floor maisonette in a development of four identical ones. Two on the ground and two on the first floor. My neighbour has the garden at the rear of one half of the building i.e the width of his property and similarly, I have the garden at the front of half of the building. Never the less I appreciate your input. It would appear that the water supply pipes run from the street under my garden and under the building into my downstairs neighbours garden where there are two underground taps. The ones covered by the small square metal covers, one is mine and one is his. I'm probably wrong and perhaps they run around the side of the building and then into his garden. I can't imagine any utility pipes or cable running under the foundations.

 

[goodtyneguy]

I'm now looking at these guys. The 270 mm spiked post after using a utility pipe detector seems to be the easiest way to go. The ground socked type would be better as I the posts can easily be removed for grass cutting etc. Also, I could remove one if I ever need to park up on my grass because on occasions there is no place to park on the street. However, I have n't got the right spade for digging the hole required for the ground socket type and don't want to be messing around with cement.

 

[lonner]

A lot safer to dig and set in concrete.

If you were really unlucky and damaged a fiber optic cable you could get an enormous bill..
Most modern houses tend to have a 1.8-2 metre service strip but you would be aware when you bought the house,
They are usually denoted by a break at 2 meters on the drive, edging kerb and usually a different tarmac or surface..

I've found cables and services in concrete paths when removing old drives and paths.
Cable TV is a usual.

 

[scbk]

Around here SSE will come out (for free) and help locate the electricity supply. They have maps available, although can't be guaranteed as accurate.

The chance of hitting services is slim, and with hand tools hopefully no damage - an excavator would go right through a cable/pipe without feeling it

 

[Ian H]

Dig the posts and set them in concrete.

 

[JohnD]

Around here SSE will come out (for free) and help locate the electricity supply. They have maps available, although can't be guaranteed as accurate.

I don't know if Utilities will usually do that. I hope so. It's certainly in their interest. The time to look at a dozen sites is a lot less than the time, and inconvenience, when a service is damaged.