Digging post holes ? What did I hit ?

[Jberger93]

I’ve been digging holes for my fence and yesterday I was about 2 ft down and I’m hitting something hollow . It sounds like a pipe? Maybe ? I called 811 two weeks ago and they marked my gas line coming from my road , but never marked my water line . But this is behind my house and behind my garage . There is a dark behind me tho that has a little house on it , but why wouldn’t they have marked this pipe if it is on my property ?

 

[Hilltopmasonry]

Utility marking companies are not always 100% accurate

There is always the chance of finding surprises


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[BillK]

You are just going to have to dig out around it and find out Might be buried treasure.

 

[jbwilkins]

Utility marking companies are not always 100% accurate

There is always the chance of finding surprises


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The also can only mark what they know about.....

 

[pbon]

In my area we have rocks. Some so big you better move your hole. Most you can dig out.

 

[Hephaestus29]

In Indianapolis, the utility companies
are only responsible for areas in the
front yard If I’m not mistaken.

There could be an old cistern and clay
tile septic lines in your back yard, I fell
in an old cistern in my back yard when
I was digging up an old slab with a
backhoe, I had to dip the water out
with the bucket hoe before filling it in.
Then I also found the clay tiles later
when I was using a trencher and running
electrical for my garage.

 

[Jberger93]

In my area we have rocks. Some so big you better move your hole. Most you can dig out.

Definitely not a rock ! It’s hollow . But it really doesn’t make too much sense as to why there would be a pipe way in my backyard coming from the farm that’s directly behind it ? The farm behind me has its own private road so I would expect their utilities to come from there

 

[Jberger93]

The also can only mark what they know about.....

I agree , however if it’s a water or gas lines I would think they should know about it ? And nobody has even marked my water line . Either way tho I’m not sure why it would be either if it is way further than from the road to my house . It’s probably 150’ past the house

 

[BillK]

I agree , however if it’s a water or gas lines I would think they should know about it ?

Not if it was something that was put in legally or before records were kept.

And nobody has even marked my water line .

Well or city water ? If its well I doubt that they would mark it. They should definitely have marked for city water lines.

 

[BD1]

It's pretty common by me to have natural gas piping running through farm fields.
That seems pretty shallow.


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[Jberger93]

Not if it was something that was put in legally or before records were kept.



Well or city water ? If its well I doubt that they would mark it. They should definitely have marked for city water lines.

It’s city water .

 

[Jberger93]

It's pretty common by me to have natural gas piping running through farm fields.
That seems pretty shallow.


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This was my thought as well, what makes it stranger is I’m digging holes for the fence on a man made gully . This was just put there 3 years ago to divert water from running off the field and into the back wall of my garage . So really whatever I’m hitting is about a foot down from the actual ground level

 

[TractorJeff]

Problem with Pennsylvania is a LOT of OLD pipelines buried during the First Oil Boom! Standard Oil ran a lot of pipelines from Northwest PA to Eastern PA/NJ/NY. Later National Transit buried pipelines often only 12 to 16 inches deep through the same areas. Dig around to see if it is a piece of junk buried or truly a pipe?

 

[mike93lx]

2' is plenty for a single fence post. I would put it in and move onto the next

 

[Kaizen]

Might be clay pipe from old cesspool from before city water and sewer was installed. Found mine when a fell in it. Scared the **** out of me. Heh [emoji57]


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[Falcon67]

If you were on Oak Island...

 

[nadogail]

Who Knows, keep us posted.

 

[PugetDude]

Unexploded WWII ordnance. Be careful...

 

[MarlynOC]

I have a culvert and 6' drainage line in my back yard the the township said did not exist until I challenged the Inspector to prove me wrong. They have since come out and added it to their development plot map.

 

[greg13]

Drum of toxic waste.

 

[gnpenning]

If you would of spent the same amount of time digging around it to find out, as you have posting you would know.

Why would anyone think some people on the internet would know with as little information as you have given????

Space shuttle

 

[Jim_No_Garage]

Drum of toxic waste.

Jimmy Hoffa?

 

[Rewind97]

The lost treasure of Oak Island!!!!

 

[CoogarXR]

How far from the street? How far from the house?

My house was built around 1860, and there was something strange going on with my kitchen plumbing when I moved here. When I would run the dishwasher, water would come in through the gaps in the bricks of the basement wall. Figure that one out. The drain ran out in the back yard somewhere and leaked against the foundation. I think what it was, was they tied the kitchen drain into an old gutter collection pipe that must run along the foundation.

Anyway, my point is, you may have a storm-water pipe that goes out to the street. From your gutters? Maybe?

 

[pmiranda]

Which reminds me, I was digging a trench to run power to my gate opener and hit a weird red-and-black cable.

After some very careful excavation with a hand trowel, it turns out it was just a weird tree root!?

 

[wssix99]

Interesting root.

 

[jhelrey]

Locating companies don't find private lines either... ask the home owner who got their gas line augered through for their pool! Good thing it says in the contract, not responsible for hitting stuff under ground.

 

[harley jim]

You said there was a farm back there.
Years ago farmers put clay drainage tiles in the fields where water commonly didnt drain well to dry out the wet spots.
I know a man who's basement would flood so they dug out the dirt to water proof the wall. He found several runs of tile that ran across his yard. All of the water up hill ran straight to his basement. They pumped concrete into them to seal them,

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[nimrag]

I live in Central Phoenix. There is a 3 acre property behind my property where they are doing a new development. There were some apartments there that were built in the mid 50s that had to be torn down first. Once they had all the buildings gone they had to excavate down about 4 feet deep, and then bring soil in and compacted in foot by foot. In that process they came across six holes, that were about 2 to 3 feet wide and 70 to 80 feet deep. They were lined with red brick and mortar. They filled each one in with slurry from concrete trucks and they each took about 1 1/2 truck loads of slurry to fill them in. I have lived in this house for 49 years, one of the holes was about 15 feet from my back fence.

 

[Arne73]

Coffin

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[Jberger93]

I guess it’s time to give you guys an update ! I went home and dig my hole a foot wider to figure out what this was ... unfortunately all it ended up being was a gigantic piece of coal ... I never knew coal sounded hollow