On Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:03:02 +0000 (UTC), Chuck Banshee
wrote:

On Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:56:28 -0800, Bob F wrote:
If they are subject to freezing temps,
you will have to take that into account.

It's the Silicon Valley, so, it doesn't really get to freezing
temperatures (all that much). The house is 30 years old so I assume the
pipes never froze before.

Yes, but now you've removed 2 or 3 inches of dirt, as you say below.
How much were you planning to re-cover it with?

They seem to also have a buried wire (looks like low voltage but I'm not
sure) next to them. (Too dark now but I'll snap a closeup tomorrow.)

They were covered with sod which I dug up to in the process of digging a
couple of inches down to start putting the flagstone walkway in.

I'm surprised they had no cover on top; just sod.

Did you actually walk on them before? Or just next to them?

I guess I 'could' just put a flatstone on top of them - but that seems
not to be the right way to do it.

I'm gonna look for a double-width irrigation box - but I wonder if there

That they are irriigation pipes doesn't mean you have to use an
irrigation box. Anything that will spread out the weight of what is
on top of them, and will last a long time, is okay. Make sure the
dirt around t he pipes won't wash away, so that it's supportig your
cover, so your cover isn't supported only by t he top pipe.

is something made for this. There are no valves, so I don't really need
access to it. They're just PVC water pipes which were about 2 inches or 3
inches below the top of the sod.