On 20 Jun 2006 11:56:35 -0700, wrote:

My next door neighbor and I want to put in some 3 or 4 inch PVC pipe
into the ground to carry away rainwater from the gutters away from the
back of the property to the front lawn where it can find it's way to
the driveway & street sewers.

It's about 100 foot length and for most of it the pipe woud be just
under the surface.
for the last 30 feet or so the ground rises so that would require
deeper digging.
I don't think the depth would get over a foot at the steepest part of
the lawn.
We'd then angle the pipe downhill until it emerged from the ground
again (my street is sloped)

Would the trencher Home Depot rents be sufficient for this - anybody
have experience with it or are there other types of trenchers to rent
from other stores that would be better suited.
I could always go the shovel & pick route or try to hire someone, but
am interested in anybody's personal experience and/or knowledge. thanks

The "use a shovel" guys make good points, but to answer your original
question:

I'm not familiar with which type of trencher HD rents, but I've used a
walk behind unit several times, and I suspect that's the type of unit
they rent. The other common type is a rider or an attachment for a
backhoe.

The walkbehind unit is easy to use, cuts about a 6 inch wide trench,
and will go down to about 18-24 inches. The depth is easily
adjustable. As someone mentioned, it does shred the turf and mixes it
in with the dirt, which is piled mostly to one side of the trench.

The only trouble I ever had with it was hittling big rocks and buried
pieces of concrete (don't ask, what some folks use for backfill is
unbelievable!). Of course, those would be problems for hand digging
too. If you hit a buried boulder, you just retrace and go around.
You know if you hit something too big for it to handle because it
bucks like a bronco. Smaller stones and rocks are no problem. If you
have reasonable soil and/or clay, it's a breeze, especially if you do
it a day or two after a good rain.

Backfilling after you've placed the pipe and got the slope right is
just a matter of pushing the soil back in the trench. It will be
mounded up of course, and you can either wait for rain and nature to
takes its course, or use a plate compactor or jumping jack to tamp it
down. Or you can drive a tractor or car over it. Then replant the
grass.

So...if you have a nice pristine lawn and don't want to tear it up,
and don't mind the physical labor, grab your favorite shovel and have
at it. If your lawn's like mine and you just want the job done quick
so you can do something more important/fun, and you enjoy big noisy
machines...trench away.

Regardless of your choice, call the toll free "Before you dig" number
to get any buried utility lines marked. There is no charge. Utilities
get really bent out of shape when you cut one of their lines or pipes.
They are supposed to be deeper, but %$&#* happens.

HTH,

Paul