Construction Halted

[AllisonK]

DH was digging the trench for the hardware cloth and we found a wire. I checked the website for my state and it said you did not need to call if you were not digging deeper than 12 inches. So we did not call. Scary since we have absolutely no idea what it is. Also scary considering there is a wire that close to the surface, my kids love digging holes in the yard. Have not measured but we are right at about 12 inches maybe 13. So now we have to wait till Thursday am when our time is up and have all the utilities marked. I should have done this to begin with but I thought if they say 12 inches then we will be fine. And we are getting chickens on Tuesday so I have to figure out how to house them for two days and the landlord said they cannot be in the house or garage at all! I am bummed.

 

[WriterofWords]

I'm just glad you found it without getting hurt.

 

[FisherMOM]

I wonder if it is from an old Invisible Fence for a dog?

 

[Dawn419]

I've read your circumstances and don't know what to reply BUT you could just lay the wire right on top of the ground. That's what we do here, since the red clay is like concrete by mid-May and there's no digging.

We use either half-inch hardware cloth or 1" chicken wire as a "skirt" along the perimeter of our runs and haven't had a problem. "Staple" the wire using landscape stakes bought from the stor or made using old wire coat hangers.

Hope this helps!


Dawn

 

[AllisonK]

Laying the wire like that is not an option. Well it is but I don't like the idea. The coop is in our backyard and my kids are young, 7, 5, 2, and 3 months. I would not want them to get poked or run into it. We will just wait and see what it is. We know the previous tenants (or someone) ran illegal cable here. We have direct TV but if you unhook it Comcast cable still comes in. Maybe it is that. Only 5 utilities are on the list to come and mark their lines. So if its not one of those then we would have to pay a private party to figure it out. I am so not about to do that. So we will wait and see and figure something else out if we can't bury it.

I am so thankful DH was not hurt. Or the kids cause my 5 and 2 year old were helping him dig earlier today. He has one side almost dug and was working on the second side when he found the wire.

 

[Bird Hearder]

Pix of wire and where would be great. I'm an Electrician and may be able to help. Your service is normaly 24-36" down. The wire used is bigger than your thumb and there's 3 of them twisted together, So it's pretty big!!

If you were to do the skirt like shown and throw some grass seed down, The grass will grow up thru and cover the mesh and lock it in at the same time.

 

[yellowdragon]

This happened to us. We were tilling soil for a garden and choped the line. It was a great thing my dad put the outside plug end with a circute triper( not sure what to call it). It triped the plug-end breaker and no one got hurt. Good luck

 

[Rhett&SarahsMom]

Quote:
that is what we have to do. There is now way I can dig all the way around the run and coop with the amount of trees and rocks ect here.

 

[Grass]

i've cut my back neighbors phoneline a couple different times putting in 4" drain pipes for water drainage. it's no deeper than 12" in the ground

 

[KrisRose]

I do the "skirt" or "apron" that Dawn 419 showed in her pictures. Ground is pure clay and I ain't as young as I used to be. The grass grows up through the hardware cloth and you don't know its there. Can throw some dirt and grass seed on top if you want. Won't hurt the kids.