While digging along a foundation to build a flagstone walkway, these pipes popped up out of the ground (so to speak!):
What would YOU suggest I buy to protect the pipes?
It's the Silicon Valley, so, it doesn't really get to freezing temperatures (all that much). The house is 30 years old so I assume the pipes never froze before.
They seem to also have a buried wire (looks like low voltage but I'm not sure) next to them. (Too dark now but I'll snap a closeup tomorrow.)
They were covered with sod which I dug up to in the process of digging a couple of inches down to start putting the flagstone walkway in.
I'm surprised they had no cover on top; just sod.
I guess I 'could' just put a flatstone on top of them - but that seems not to be the right way to do it.
I'm gonna look for a double-width irrigation box - but I wonder if there is something made for this. There are no valves, so I don't really need access to it. They're just PVC water pipes which were about 2 inches or 3 inches below the top of the sod.
I would look at something in the commercial metallic cover type sort of thing to cover those pipes... That plastic irrigation cover will look very out of place with flagstone pavers surrounding it...
You are going to have to do a lot of work to properly set an access panel cover -- your walkway will probably have to be up higher than you are anticipating as you have to dig up around the pipes to set it in place and the ring/support for the lid has to be above the level of the pipes...
Plastic just doesn't strike me as standing the test of time nor the weight of the flagstone pavers and the concrete you will set them in...
~~ Evan
Try an industrial supply house (Global, others) for heavy plastic storage containers. Not too pricey, lots of options.
Joe
I'm heading off to Home Depot tomorrow morning. I'll see what they have.
The interesting thing was these plastic pipes were merely buried in the sod, and not protected. I guess nobody figured I'd put a walkway there so I might have to re-think where I put the walkway.
One problem is the pipes seem to go down at an angle so I'd have to extensively modify any box I buy ... but I'll see what Home Depot has.
Thanks. I'll let you know what I come up with.
Or you would have to purchase a LARGER metal or fiberglass access panel and frame... But to do it right the finished surface has to up higher than the pipes -- you wouldn't build it so that the cover would almost be touching the pipes...
~~ Evan
Some thoughts:
Why would you put a walkway right up against the foundation of the house? People need clearance to walk by, don't they? With the walkway where you say you're putting it, you'd have your shoulders right next to the wall. Normally that area would be used for an area a few feet wide with plants of some type and the walkway next to that.
If you insist on putting it there, the walkway is going to have to be a few inches higher for room for base/sand plus the stone. I'm assuming the pipes are irrigation. Can't tell the size from the pics, but the smallest one looks too small for irrigation and the largest looks to large for a home system. And whatever you put on top of the pipes to try to protect them may not be much better than just a flagstone properly set. The problem is without a support structure on either side to hold a protection plate of some kind, the weight from people walking is still going to be presenting a shear force down on the plastic pipes.
Three pipes. Underground fuel tank supply, return, and vent?
With PVC pipe? I think not
Good question.
It's not really the 'foundation' of the house - it's the foundation of a three foot high (or so) structure that holds lots of plants next to the house.
My wife wants to put potted plants on that flagstone right next to the foundation - but the foundation is only a few feet high so you 'can' walk on it. Plus, I didn't know what to call it since a 'potted plant flagstone path' wouldn't make much sense.
This is what I just bought from Home Depot:
Yes, but now you've removed 2 or 3 inches of dirt, as you say below. How much were you planning to re-cover it with?
Did you actually walk on them before? Or just next to them?
That they are irriigation pipes doesn't mean you have to use an irrigation box. Anything that will spread out the weight of what is on top of them, and will last a long time, is okay. Make sure the dirt around t he pipes won't wash away, so that it's supportig your cover, so your cover isn't supported only by t he top pipe.
I'm not wholly sure what is what, but, there are plenty of irrigation boxes around so the small pipe, I suspect, is irrigation.
The two larger pipes are almost certainly for the existing water features in the foundation-like structure above because there is a 1.75 horsepower pool pump (which is broken as I have to fix that next) nearby which runs the water features.
Why there is a black wire along the pipes confounds me though.
Here is a closeup picture taken just now:
Good point.
I was planning on covering it only with the irrigation box.
White PVC? Not likely..... but who can tell?
Hey, OP? Got fuel oil?
Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus
Three pipes. Underground fuel tank supply, return, and vent?
You mentioned using a flagstone. Is that what you will be using for the entire walkway? If so, I would just fill in and around the pipes with gravel, perhaps with some bricks or blocks at the periphery, and lay the flagstone on top. Maybe not the best way, but at least with the kind of soil in my own yard, I'd be pretty confident it would hold up OK. Taking you on your word that freezing is not an issue in your locale.
Heater tape?
Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus
Why there is a black wire along the pipes confounds me though.
Here is a closeup picture taken just now:
Propane. From a tank. On the other side of the house.
Chuck Banshee wrote in news:jfqc8m$ogu$ snipped-for-privacy@speranza.aioe.org:
Flagstone around it, and a steel plate to protect them?
Black wire could be for loe-voltage wiring, or maybe a relay control lead to turn the pump on and off for the waterfall.
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