Construction Halted

[tomdeggeater]

You can use a compass to see if the line is powered. Just hold it level and find north, then move over the wire. If the needle swings then there's current going through the wire.
You could also "guesstimate the direction its going to, and if it goes towards a house or outbuilding, try to find where it enters inside the basement wall and if it goes to a power source.
You might get an idea about what its purpose was and be able to disconnect it and leave it safely in the ground, saving a lot of digging.

 

[AllisonK]

Quote:
It is just a single black wire a tiny bit bigger than a cable cord. It is running east and west in the spot we dug up. So towards our house and towards the neighbor behind our house. We have already dug the top layer of grass up all the way around the coop and were working on getting it deeper to bury it when we found it. I really don't want to tell DH that I am changing plans unless I have to. He is not so happy to be out there digging in the first place. I think we will wait and see what happens then decide what to do. I can at least get the coop finished and the walls to the run just not put it together yet.

 

[AllisonK]

Update its a phone line! The guy said just cut a slit in the wire and go around it. Will this spot thats cut be okay in terms of predators? There will be two slits on each end of the coop. Still waiting on water and sewer there is no power or cable in that section.

 

[pbjmaker]

Quote:
Heh - at first when I read this I thought you meant to put a slit in the phone wire...
I'm guessing you meant the fence wire:|

 

[AllisonK]

Quote:
Heh - at first when I read this I thought you meant to put a slit in the phone wire...
I'm guessing you meant the fence wire:|

yeah the fence wire.

 

[Grass]

i kind of figured it was a phoneline when you said how shallow it was in the ground

 

[Firefyter-Emt]

I have a similar problem, my coop is around a lot of roots... big ones too! What really stinks is I have one of the best roto-tillers ever made and save for the roots, I could of dug that ground up around the coop to the point I could of dug the dirt out by hand!

I was thinking about edging the ground like I would for a garden, maybe 4" deep. Then placing the HW cloth just like the ones above ground. Then instead of mulch, I plan to pour a couple bags of ready-mix over it followed by some trap rock. This would also act to stop the rain splash where the roof run off hits the ground. I debated gutters, but it seems like a waste. The trap rock seems like it may work very well, plus make it a bit harder to dig thru.

Any thoughts about this plan?