Noseall, Woody...........Anyone

[staningrimsby]

Guys i have a slight predicamnet,

The extension i have been droning on about for ages has now finally started, and to all those of you out there who dig footings out for a living i have one word for you all....Respect.

Anyway now the problem, started digging the footings out today and have currently reached a depth of 750mm but will be going down to 1200mm (cheers for that Anglian Water),when i reach this old pipe as seen in the pictures, it was complete but with very slight contact fractured and broke up instantly. Now this pipe does not show up on any council 'digdat' drawings or on the 'Ordanance Survey Map' and when it broke was full of clay.

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To the right of the footings approx 500mm away is an Anglian Water pipe in which i have entered into a build near agreement (at a cost of £262)and they never mentioned the pipe either and also said that they did not have to impose any special requirements to protect the main sewer pipe.

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In your professional opinion is this just a stagnent pipe that hasn't been used for ages, and do you rekon it would be ok for me to cut it out and ignore it ???, or should i be honest leave it and mention it to the BCO next week ???

Cheers for any advice in advance,

Stan.

 

[noseall]

if the joints are simply 'butted' and are not male-female interlocking with tarred rope and mortar, then it is likely to be a redundant land drain.

are the sections rather short and are they just butted together?

 

[staningrimsby]

Yes it does look that way Noseall, when the section you can see in the picture broke up it did leave a clean finish on both pipes so i presume they were butted up against each other.

I have followed the angle that the pipe goes as it goes under the house and i do have a man-hole in the drive but this pipe does not go to the man-hole either.

 

[noseall]

it certainly looks as though it has had its day anyhow!

there would be no point trying to re-instate this drain as it is completely silted-up.

dig it out and carry on.

good look - happy digging.

have you never seen one of these,

 

[staningrimsby]

I certainly have my friend but there aint enough room to get one in, so its back to the shovel and wheel barrow im afraid.

 

[noseall]

you need to get yourself a good navvying fork with a metal shaft.

and a pick (ouch!) too.

 

[staningrimsby]

Today i have dug down to just over 1mtr in depth and 600mm wide, been out for a couple of hours and appear to have a small puddle of water in the bottom of the hole, is this normal ???

 

[noseall]

in clay, are you joking!

we have returned to a 1m deep trench after the weekend to find it 3/4 full.

a puddle pump is the best device if the trench becomes flooded.

only problem though is a saturated trench means more cave-ins.

all the soggy stuff needs removing before the pour.

 

[staningrimsby]

What could be causing it then Noseall, is it just coming up from the soil ???

 

[Thermo]

you need to get yourself a good navvying fork with a metal shaft.

and a pick (ouch!) too.

and a hard hat!

 

[chessspy]

BTW, Itv is possible to get little diggers that will fit through a standard doorway, (No really!)
I think they are made by TONKA.

 

[noseall]

What could be causing it then Noseall, is it just coming up from the soil ???

yup.

for those of you who don't know, (or even give a cahoots) i had a fight with a pick axe once......

 

[noseall]

chessspy is right, a micro digger has a hydraulic track shift mechanism that allows you to move them in and out.

when fully retracted the machine will fit through a 30" opening.

you must then fully extend the tracks or else the machine will easily tip over.

 

[staningrimsby]

Diggings not the prob really, thats all done now, just cant understand why there is a puddle there and were its come from.

 

[chessspy]

Ok Stan,
just to check that I'm getting this right.
you are on a (home) building site, right?
you've dug down over a meter into clay, right?
and you're bothered because there's a piddling little puddle in the ...king footings, sitting on the impervious (waterproof) clay subsoil, (is the 'water' yellow BTW?, (just a guess)).
I mean, put me right if I'm way off line here.....