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DAE check their post holes by hand after a near miss at the Lakewood job site
Honestly I almost learned this the hard way last month on a job off 6th Ave in Lakewood. We were setting 8 foot cedar posts for a backyard privacy run, and the auger hit an old sprinkler line the homeowner never mentioned. Water started shooting up through the hole and the walls went soft on one side. I dropped a tape in there and the hole was 14 inches deeper than my mark because the dirt just washed out. If I had set that post and walked away, that section would have leaned within a season. Now I stick a steel rod down every hole and feel for soft spots before I pour any concrete. Takes me maybe 5 extra minutes per post but I will never skip it again. Has anyone else run into buried irrigation on a residential dig, and do you probe or just trust the depth on the auger?
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cora_west51d ago
A steel rod down every hole seems like overkill when a lot of these washouts show up right at the top 6 inches where you can just eyeball them. On the last three decks I dug, I ran the auger and then set a marked stake flush to grade, so any soft wall or cave in shows up as a gap you can see and feel without extra tools. The sprinkler line thing is real though, and a probe won't tell you it's a live line until water is already in the hole. I call 811 before every dig and still keep a shutoff wrench handy, that has saved me more than probing ever would.
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