Hit a drainage pipe and it took 3 hours to fix

I was working on a retaining wall last Thursday and my shovel went straight through a buried PVC drain pipe. Nobody had marked it because it was from an old downspout that was supposed to be gone. I spent almost 3 hours digging it out, cutting a new piece, and gluing couplings on. The homeowner came out and asked why I wasn't laying brick yet. Has anyone else had a hidden pipe totally kill their time estimate?

3 comments

3 Comments

wilson.joseph28d ago

Took 3 hours to fix that pipe" is exactly the kind of job that makes you wonder why we don't just bury everything in concrete. I've noticed this pattern with a lot of older homes where previous owners just ran pipes wherever they wanted with no plans. It's like they thought nobody would ever dig there again. The worst part is these pipes always show up at the worst possible time, like when you're already running late on a project.

elliot_gibson2728d ago

Pipes always show up at the worst possible time" hits close to home for me. I swear some folks just ran those lines through the yard like they were laying out a garden hose and called it a day. Have you ever had to tear up part of a driveway to get to one of those surprise pipes?

jamie94028d ago

My last house had a pipe that ran right under the driveway too. Took me a weekend with a jackhammer and a lot of bad words to get to it. Guess they just figured nobody would ever need to dig there.