I had my yard marked for utilities and of course, my PRIME spot for a
flowerbed is littered with gas and power.

How deep do they lay those lines?

Can I get away with digging 6 inches? 12 inches?

Maybe build the bed higher than normal behind a retaining wall?

"plasma800" wrote in message
ps.com...
I had my yard marked for utilities and of course, my PRIME spot for a
flowerbed is littered with gas and power.

How deep do they lay those lines?

Can I get away with digging 6 inches? 12 inches?

Maybe build the bed higher than normal behind a retaining wall?

IIRC, the minimum is 12", but in some areas where the ground is prone to
frost heaves, they can go as far as 48". You should have no problem with
going 6" with flowers.

On Wed, 15 Nov 2006 18:39:42 GMT, "Edwin Pawlowski"
wrote:


"plasma800" wrote in message
ups.com...
I had my yard marked for utilities and of course, my PRIME spot for a
flowerbed is littered with gas and power.

How deep do they lay those lines?

Can I get away with digging 6 inches? 12 inches?

Maybe build the bed higher than normal behind a retaining wall?

IIRC, the minimum is 12", but in some areas where the ground is prone to
frost heaves, they can go as far as 48". You should have no problem with
going 6" with flowers.


With HAND tools, not including a crowbar or spade...
Don't go over the area with a freaking gas-powered
rototiller to dig up the bed. And don't plant
any tree, or any perennial with a significant
root system. Especially don't plant wisteria.

You might find your phone or cable TV line only a few inches below the
surface but I think they're a little more careful with power or gas.
Since you know where they are just dig carefully.

-rev



plasma800 wrote:
I had my yard marked for utilities and of course, my PRIME spot for a
flowerbed is littered with gas and power.

How deep do they lay those lines?

Can I get away with digging 6 inches? 12 inches?

Maybe build the bed higher than normal behind a retaining wall?

Agreed.

I did want to plant two foundation shrubs that might reach 10 or 15'
for privacy.

My power line is 10" form the fence line 100% of the short fence and
the majority of the gas line is our side the flowerbed line but dips in
where it tee's.

So with that in mind, I wonder how far on either side of the power line
I could plant any shrub that loves zone 10 and partial shade. Or if it
all!

My power is buried 36" deep, the phone is in the same trench, at 24" deep.
You should be fine going 6", but do it by hand!



"plasma800" wrote in message
ps.com...
I had my yard marked for utilities and of course, my PRIME spot for a
flowerbed is littered with gas and power.

How deep do they lay those lines?

Can I get away with digging 6 inches? 12 inches?

Maybe build the bed higher than normal behind a retaining wall?

J.A. Michel wrote:
My power is buried 36" deep, the phone is in the same trench, at 24" deep.
You should be fine going 6", but do it by hand!



"plasma800" wrote in message
ps.com...
I had my yard marked for utilities and of course, my PRIME spot for a
flowerbed is littered with gas and power.

How deep do they lay those lines?

Can I get away with digging 6 inches? 12 inches?

Maybe build the bed higher than normal behind a retaining wall?


I probably should call the company and ask them to tell me how deep the
stuff is

In article . com,
"plasma800" wrote:

I probably should call the company and ask them to tell me how deep the
stuff is

If they are like most locating companies, they will REFUSE to tell you the
depth. Common, good locating equipment does very well laterally but not so
well with depth.

Over the years, a line is unlikely to move SIDEWAYS - short of a 6.5 Richter
event.

Depth, however, can and does change. In my service area, we have a cable that
is 11-feet deep. We didn't place it that deep. Rather, we buried it
30-inches deep and, later, FILL was added atop.

Conversely, something that was placed 3-feet deep is only 6-INCHES deep after
they scrape off most of the cover.

Generally, you are required to carefully HAND DIG within 18-inches of either
side of the locate mark. Either dig as deep as you'll be going OR expose the
buried line before proceeding mechanically.
--

JR

In article om,
plasma800 wrote:
I had my yard marked for utilities and of course, my PRIME spot for a
flowerbed is littered with gas and power.

How deep do they lay those lines?

Can I get away with digging 6 inches? 12 inches?

Maybe build the bed higher than normal behind a retaining wall?


The minimum depth is generally based on the local frostline and will
vary from one area to another. You can ask your localutilit companies
but I can't imagine that 12" for a flower bed would be a problem
anywhere for gas or power lines. Now, if you have buried television
cable or phone lines, all bets are off.


--
A man who throws dirt loses ground.

Larry Wasserman - Baltimore Maryland -

had a fella do 'dirt work' on my folks' yard back in 2001. He hit the
cable line about 10 places, but didn't hit gas or electric... I'd
imagine that guy knew exactly how deep they were and didn't worry in
the slightest.

He ran a tiller box too... and those dig fairly deep.

CALL YOUR ELECTRIC COMPANY. Why do you want to DIY something that
could make you RIP? Everyone needs a little help sometimes. This is
one of those cases.

wrote:
had a fella do 'dirt work' on my folks' yard back in 2001. He hit the
cable line about 10 places, but didn't hit gas or electric... I'd
imagine that guy knew exactly how deep they were and didn't worry in
the slightest.

He ran a tiller box too... and those dig fairly deep.

CALL YOUR ELECTRIC COMPANY. Why do you want to DIY something that
could make you RIP? Everyone needs a little help sometimes. This is
one of those cases.

Agreed,

Im also considering utilizing LARGE pots and containers for a lot of
the area over the power line. It kinda sucks that the best part of my
yard is littered with gas, cable, power and phone!

Im going to cook up a little drawing for some help planning.

I figure though if I follow this idea. 6" deep in the ground, 2 to 3
foot retaining wall, large containers for large shrubs and smaller
plants in the soil for cover and maybe even ground cover like asian
jasamine, mixed with a small pond built above ground, it could turn out
real nice.

plasma800 wrote:
I had my yard marked for utilities and of course, my PRIME spot for a
flowerbed is littered with gas and power.

How deep do they lay those lines?

Can I get away with digging 6 inches? 12 inches?

Maybe build the bed higher than normal behind a retaining wall?

Ok check out

http://www.ttechnologyinc.com/backyard.png

On the drawing, to the right side, you will see my bed layout and line
layout.
The only thing right now that actually exists is the porch and the bed
to the left of the porch and the shed.

The green circles in the corner are where i would like to have tall
shrubs for privacy. If I have to use large containers, I will.

plasma800 ) said...

I had my yard marked for utilities and of course, my PRIME spot for a
flowerbed is littered with gas and power.

How deep do they lay those lines?

If you have them come out to mark it, did they not provide a report on
a sheet of paper that outlines the marking AND shows the depth?

I had to have this done a few times on our property and each time the
report shows these details.

--
Calvin Henry-Cotnam
"I really think Canada should get over to Iraq as quickly as possible"
- Paul Martin - April 30, 2003
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Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

On 11/15/2006 11:57 AM or thereabouts, plasma800 appears, somewhat
unbelievably, to have opined:

I had my yard marked for utilities and of course, my PRIME spot for a
flowerbed is littered with gas and power.

How deep do they lay those lines?

Can I get away with digging 6 inches? 12 inches?

Maybe build the bed higher than normal behind a retaining wall?


In my area code requires a minimum of 18 inches. That may not be the
same in your area. My phone and cable, on the other hand, were basically
laid on the ground and had a little soil raked over them.

--
As a child, my parents thought I was an idiot-savant.
Now, however, it is rather clear that I'm simply an idiot.

In article , e
says...
On 11/15/2006 11:57 AM or thereabouts, plasma800 appears, somewhat
unbelievably, to have opined:

I had my yard marked for utilities and of course, my PRIME spot for a
flowerbed is littered with gas and power.

How deep do they lay those lines?

Can I get away with digging 6 inches? 12 inches?

Maybe build the bed higher than normal behind a retaining wall?


In my area code requires a minimum of 18 inches. That may not be the
same in your area. My phone and cable, on the other hand, were basically
laid on the ground and had a little soil raked over them.

I think (but not sure) my power cables are quite a bit lower than
this (the extreme cold tends to shift the ground visibly). For the
cable and phone lines they use a tool that slits the sod and stuffs
the cable underneath. Then they just walk back over it to compress
everything back together.

--
Keith