Find buried footing drain or forget it?
Got a load of topsoil delivered. Guy driving the truck says “oh yeah, we put in this lawn back in 1999. You know, we accidentally buried the outlet of the footing drain and boy was the builder pissed! He was out here with a pick trying to find it.”
Of course, it’s 2003 and the end of the pipe is nowhere to be found. I have a rough idea of where it is from the plans. Unfortunately, the cable, electrical service, and telephone are also in the same area. I’m the second owner of the house.
So far there hasn’t been a drop of water in the basement. According to the plan, there’s at least 75′ of pipe from the house to the outlet, so it may be that any water collects in the pipe and gradually seeps out.
Any ideas on how I can find it without digging up my cable? Should I bother?
Replies
House is four years old and no signs of water seeping into basement. My advice, don't be looking for trouble when there isn't any. Forget about it. Enjoy.
Davo
I'd find the thing. No sense waiting for the next set of flooding rains like 1993, then desperately trying to find it while you have a foot of water in your basement.
Most (if not all) have a free utility locating service. You could call them ahead of time to get the phone lines & such marked.
I don't know how to tell you to find it offhand. The only idea that comes to mind would be to let a garden hose run into the footing drains for an hour or 2, and see if you can find a wet spot on the ground. But that assumes you have a way to get water INTO the footing drains, and of course you may not.
One of life's mysteries is how a 2 pound box of candy can make a woman gain 5 pounds
Try the utilities to locate it for you, as Boss Hog says. Also known as "Miss Utility" or "One Call". Usually seen with stickers saying "Call before you dig." In CT, try
For other states, look here: http://www.mail-house.com/utility.htm
Hand digging around utilities is recommended, and required around gas lines.
Also: I may be mistaken, but I think when cables are buried, there's supposed to be some kind of warning tape placed above the cable/conduit. Theory being that as next person (you) comes along to dig , you hit the warning tape before you hit the cable. I would think 1999 construction would have had to meet this requirement, if in fact it is a requirement. This assumes that the original contractor did it correctly, and the tape is there. I'm not sure of any particulars (i.e., if the tape as to be 2 inches or two feet above pipe, if it only applies to some uilities and not others, if CT uses the requirement) Can anyone else educate us?
If everything seems to be going well, you've obviously overlooked something.
I'm not too worried about the electrical service, but I suspect the phone and the cable are not very deep. The pipe and all the wires are in a corridor about 6 feet wide. Guess I'm just going to have to dig carefully.
Pete
I'm with Boss on this one. I'd even go a step farther and dig down to the drain nearer to the house to get a hose in. If you let it run long enough, it should become obvious.
As for relying on the plan, it was just a plan! I hesitant to trust as-builts!
A wise friend says: No plan survives first contact!
It doesn't matter how fast you get there, it just matters that you go in the right direction.
If you can get into the drain near the house, try this. I found the end of a drain by using one of the devices that goes on the end of the hose, expands under water pressure to fill the pipe, and then allows water to go through under pressure after the seal is made. After about two hours of looking off and on where I though the pipe exited, I saw a small amount of water. Took the shovel and barely touched the ground, and the water under pressure poured out, revealing the end of the pipe and carrying out the dirt that had stopped it up. I then cleaned up around the end, extended the pipe to sure enough daylight, and no more problems. Prior owner had put up with basement filling several inches with water and installed a sump pump. I bet on the old house having a drain to daylight that had been stopped up.
Part of the the plan was to rotoroot the pipe. This did not open it up, but we could feel the vibration of the end of the rooter when it hit dirt, and then knew about where the end of the pipe could be found.
We were able to get access to one end of the pipe through the basement floor drain.l
It would depend somewhat on where you are, the climate and the soils type that is native to the lot, but given that you haven't a problem yet, the worst I would do is to go dowsing after a heavy rain.
Excellence is its own reward!
A plumber who has one of those sewer inspection camera systems may be able to help you, but it won't be cheap. By counting fittings and sections of pipe, as seen from the inside, you may be able to get a reasonable idea of where to dig.
-- J.S.
I saw a plumber that had a small electronic transmitter on the end of a snake. He pushed the snake through a sewer pipe and could follow along with a detector exactly where it ran below ground. Cool stuff!
Harpo had it right. Try calling you local septic sysyem contractor. They usually have the tool since they use them for certifying the lenght of leech lines.