New water main instalation

Why don't you just buy a spade, and Dig It Yourself?

Some people I know here in Reading had a main replaced which ran along the backs of the houses in their terrace. The contractors used a mole to drive the new pipe under the soil from next door to their house, a distance of only a few metres but difficult access. They paid about £750 I think. That included terminating in a new MDPE stopcock and connecting that into the house's CW pipework.

At 750mm depth in clay - don't fancy digging it myself

In my case there is good clear access, they could even use a mini-digger

the easiest way is to get a local moling contractor to quote should be under GBP100

|> Why don't you just buy a spade, and Dig It Yourself? | |At 750mm depth in clay - don't fancy digging it myself

Hire a mini digger? It would be good practice for bigger jobs. Today a pipe tomorrow the World ;-)

So not soft ground then:)

I did all 24 meters of my trench by hand. I had to dig though a selection of clay, coal (the seam is on records), concrete paths, builders mess from when the foundations were dug out (the 60 year old chisel I found was a little rusted) and right in the middle of the lawn was a massive sandstone boulder that I hit at about 8 inches down and then had to smash down to 750mm.

It is good for keeping you fit and it builds your muscles up. If you do not fancy DIY then buy a spade and find a local non working 20 year old thug down at the local and pay him cash in hand. Watch out for water drains, sewage pipes and gas pipes. I had to dig under all these.

Adam

A local non working 20 year old thug - that idea has got me thinking. How long did it take you to complete the 24m trench?

Tomorrow the World - wasnt that an album by the Bee Gees!

The message from "ARWadsworth" contains these words:

Clay can be an utter utter bastard to dig in. I ended up using a mattock as an adze and planing the surface off.

I did the 24m trench myself over a weekend and a couple of evenings (with a little help from a Makita 3000 on the sandstone boulder and concrete path). I found the thug later to dig my Dads drainage trenches for his extension. About £30 of beer tokens got a good days digging out of him. You then have to wait until they are spent before you get another days work out of him.

Adam

I've just got a moling quote for a replacement (so old pipe has to be capped), slightly shorter total distance but 2 runs with a right angle between. All three holes through concrete or tarmac. £450 plus vat