Fact, and the point of Mr. Miller's post, is that there is no simple solution here. Get busy and clear and probe the area. I'm guessing that the installation of the utilities that you mention have obliterated the monument you seek long ago. But maybe not, so get digging. Just be careful about it.?ÿ
Call for locates. If you get locates and damage a utility line at only a foot or two of depth it is going to be on them to fix the damage, not you. At least that is how it is in my state.?ÿ
Bummer.?ÿ I don't think a cat would be all that interested... 😉
This has always worked well for me in tight spots...
I'm pretty sure that utility depth here is 18".?ÿ ?ÿAnything much deeper than that and the hole you dug starts to fill with water.
Lots of smart people still have landlines.?ÿ Even me.
Have two cells phone and a land line plus the wife's cell phone.?ÿ When I can't get away from someone on the cell while at my desk I can grab the other cell phone, call the landline, wait for it to start ringing three feet from the cell phone I'm on, then tell the caller I absolutely have to get the other phone, then politely hang up.?ÿ Works like a charm.
Besides, my internet service is through my landline provider and will be for far into the future now that they are laying fiberoptic cable to my house.
Lots of smart people still have landlines.?ÿ Even me.
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I do too; 1 at the house and 2 here at the office; and my 2 cell phone bills take care of 8 lines...
My communication/internet bill runs about $1K every month.
Call 811. Get the lines marked. Tell them you are digging in the area. If needed, you could get a private locate. That would help know what you are standing over. (And it helps with the aftermath when you hit the gas line they didn't mark.)
Also, get a pin locator that indicates polarity.?ÿ
In those instances, I often go back to a rebar over and over just to hear the particular sound I am looking for. It seems to help in the clutter.
In those instances, I often go back to a rebar over and over just to hear the particular sound I am looking for. It seems to help in the clutter.
Good advice.?ÿ?ÿ Also, when there is only one obvious obstacle, like a t-post that might be near the rebar, run the locator around the post at a constant radius while set for a medium tone and listen for any change in the sound.
It's unlikely that the monument you seek would be any deeper than that.
I'm pretty sure that utility depth here is 18".?ÿ
See my comment above about the gas line just below the paving, and of course, correspondingly shallow under the lawns.
telephone line
I know of a fiber optic line so important the signs warn you that even after getting a locate, they require you to pay a phone company crew to stand by while you dig.?ÿ If the bench mark is there, I'm not going to be the one to find it.
telephone line
I know of a fiber optic line so important the signs warn you that even after getting a locate, they require you to pay a phone company crew to stand by while you dig.?ÿ If the bench mark is there, I'm not going to be the one to find it.
Pipeline companies around here sometimes act like railroad companies when it comes to activity within the limits of their easements.?ÿ They are constantly mistaking the nature of their easement with fee simple.
Never use the local code as a guide to somethings depth or you will end up hitting a lot of things. I know on a small job it is not worth it but if the job is a little more complicated you can rent a trailer compressor (they are really not that big anymore) and rent an air knife to blast the soil, it works on 85% of all soils and turns hard pan to fluffy dirt that is then scooped out with ease, and you feel utilities with the nozzle. Big operations need a Vac truck to suck it out but on smaller jobs a lid from a 5 gallon bucket works as a great deflector to keep things on the ground so no vac truck is needed. So it's not for every job but once you use the set up you won't want to dig any other way when around unknown lines.
