Trench for Garage Electric
2007.05.29
To save money on some new electrical work, I agreed to dig a trench myself in order to run a line out to the garage. It will run from the back corner of the house to the back corner of the garage, about 25 feet.
Before digging the trench, I first had to break up some concrete sidewalk. Some of this concrete is probably as old as the house, and some is fairly new. I’ve smashed up sidewalks before, so I know the routine. I got started after work this evening.
After about an hour and a half, I’d made some progress.
2007.05.30
I continued breaking concrete after work this evening, and cleared out enough to start digging the trench.
Digging where the sidewalk had been was not too bad, mostly moist clay. Past the sidewalk there is an area where at some point they put down black plastic covered with red volcanic gravel. (Technically this material is called scoria, and is a type of glass formed out of basaltic magma.) Over the years, soil and weeds have filled in, so that the gravel and plastic are mostly buried two or three inches down. This took some effort to dig through, but once below that layer, again the clay was relatively soft.
However, as I’ve come to expect digging in my yard, there was the occasional broken brick, river rock, pottery shard… perhaps ritual offerings for the buried indian warrior I found last summer.
After another hour and half of work, I had about ten feet of trench finished, to a depth of approximately 16 inches.
2007.06.02
I continued working on the trench today. Of course it had to be unseasonably warm and sunny this week, in the 80’s. So I took lots of breaks in the shade, and slowly chugged along.
Eventually I got close to the fence next to the garage, and had to stop to take off some of the fence boards so I could continue the trench on the other side. When they put in the wood fence, rather than connect the south side and west back behind the garage, they just angled the fence in at the corners of the garage. Last summer I tore down the other angled section to clear out the jungle of blackberries and other weeds.
After removing enough boards to get through, I continued digging the trench to the corner of the garage.
2007.06.03
Went back through this morning and dug a little deeper in the middle of the trench with a narrow trenching shovel. Although I only had to dig the trench 12 inches deep, I’ll feel better about getting the electrical line down below normal rototiller level. It is now around 18 inches deep.
Nate came by and we went to buy some fence materials, as well as a piece of plywood to temporarily cover the trench, since some rain is expected this week.
I ripped the plywood into three pieces, which mostly covered the trench. Nate then amused himself with writing on the plywood such witty gems as this one:
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