# How do you mark underground lines?



## jcatblum (Dec 15, 2009)

When we bought our place many of the lines water lines were marked with sucker rod (oil pipe). However not all lines were marked & some places we had sucker rod, dug down & no water lines.

With the new build we have lines underground all around the house it seems. (honestly not happy about it, but to late now). We have 5 wells for the geothermal, septic, electric (buried), propane, dish & water lines. Right now we know where all the lines are & I want them marked. For the moment I am marking the lines with t-post. But would like a long term solution that won't be an eye sore. Am I asking for too much? 
So far I thought perhaps some bird houses & feeders. Any other ideas? There is seriously something buried off every wall of the house!


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## GunMonkeyIntl (May 13, 2013)

I had my utilities marked shortly after I bought the place and fenced the back yard. I took careful measurments of the marks and transfered them to a carefully scaled printout from our GIS website.

I know it is not exact, but it will get me back to within a foot or two of where they are.


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## Bret (Oct 3, 2003)

I have thought about making little concrete plugs in six inch plastic pipe forms--cut and taped back together. I have imagined putting a v-groove in one end. I have imagined putting them in the ground around the yard and barn yard like stepping stones here and their with the v-groove aligned with direction of travel of the lines buried beneath. Painted blue for water. I imagine that I will do this some day but this is project 647. 

I did take the time to tape and paint on the bottom of a gate where a water line entered the coral underground. I am not imagining that.


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Maybe some rebar buried shallow and horizontally over the lines so yo could come back with a metal detector if need be and locate them quickly? Say maybe one or two foot pieces spaced like a dashed line above the lines..


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## davel745 (Feb 2, 2009)

bury wire about a foot down in the trench before it is back filled then a metal detector wand can locate the wire.


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## jcatblum (Dec 15, 2009)

The geothermal guys buried a metal tape to make sure the lines were easy to locate with a metal detector. Our water & septic are the only thing metal detector wont find. I would really love something that at a glance DH would know to not dig & destroy. He gets a tad destructive at times. Think he has hit our old water lines at least 4 times in 2 yrs. Plus he a friend drive over our lateral line towing the tractor. Out of sight out of mind is our motto.


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## Nimrod (Jun 8, 2010)

In MN you can call and they will come out for free and mark the power lines and gas lines that are buried. Don't know about rural water lines but they do mark the ones that hook up to the city water. 

Buried metal that you can find with a metal detector is a good idea. Another is to bury a strip of the yellow "caution" tape about a foot down over the run of pipe or whatever. Then you will uncover it while digging before you get deep enough to damage anything.


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## Jm101 (May 20, 2012)

I work with a heavy equiptment operator, and I have a couple thoughts. First, any decent equipment operater should put locater tape in the trench during backfilling so the underground work may be easily located later on. This may already be done at your site; it would be worth asking your underground contractor, or taking a metal detector out and see if it beeps.
If the area is not already landscaped -meaning bare dirt- it might be worth having somebody come out and install locater tape.
My property is criss-crossed with underground telephone lines. I used logs placed with an excavator out in the field and stepping stones near areas where logs would be an "eyesore". We have one line that runs through our orchard and down by our garden winding through a grove of oaks along the way. We placed stepping stones where the phone company marked so we knew the approximate location of the lines, and created a winding path down to the garden. We also ran a large drip line along side this path and covered it with tree chip mulch, so between, stepping stones, mulch mounds, and logs our lines are well marked.
Hope that helped


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## wannabechef (Nov 20, 2012)

They should come out anytime and locate for free.

http://www.callokie.com/ free service


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## jcatblum (Dec 15, 2009)

Thanks for the thoughts. We will continue to brain storm what will work for us. 

Call Okie did come out for the geothermal guys & came out for the septic but when we have called them in the past for dish they never showed after MANY phone calls. 

I really want something dummy proof, we have about 250 ft of water & power underground both in different locations & that is a lot of place for error. I know it isn't every day that someone is digging that deep underground. Just thinking a little creative above ground line marking could save a BUNCH of headache.


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## notthereyet (Nov 17, 2011)

Miss Utility (or whatever it's called in your state), will come out for free to mark all public/commercial underground facilities. They will not, however, come out and mark your private stuff (well, septic, geothermal, underground power to outbuildings, etc...).

Most underground utility contractors will have a locator equipment. One piece attaches to a tracer wire or tape and generates an RF signal. A second device senses that signal and tells the operator where the lines are so they can mark it with some paint. The margin of error is about 2 feet (at least that's what's generally allowed).

When burying your own utilities, ask your contractor to also make sure there's a tracer in the ground, and find one with locate equipment that you can call out for a nominal fee to mark your lines when/if needed.

If your water and geothermal is already buried with plastic and no tracer, I'm not sure what the best way to locate it is. Divining rod maybe?

Always call before you dig. You never know where you might find buried utilities, your back 40 could very well have a gas pipeline buried and you would never know it until the backhoe hit it. Then again, you still might not know it even when you did hit it.


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

There is a pretty basic technique for lot sized situations that you can use if you spend a bit of time initially.

Contact the service that locates underground lines and have them paint the ground as usual.

Erect two or three bird feeders or light poles in places where they will remain without being disturbed.

Measure the exact distances from a paint mark on the ground to at least two of the poles and write that down. Repeat for all critical points.

Using graph paper, you can now make a survey map of your property, color coding the various underground utilities. Keep the exact measurement data with the map. When it comes time to dig, you can rough in where things are using the map, then do an exact location by remeasuring and re-marking.

Also - photos can help. Keep them with the map and measurements.


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## TnAndy (Sep 15, 2005)

wannabechef said:


> They should come out anytime and locate for free.
> 
> http://www.callokie.com/ free service


They who ?

I've got thousands of feet of buried water lines, more thousands of buried electric lines, then drainage lines, Cat5 cable, fiber optic cable, yard hydrants and water cutoffs, and water line T points, and such. 

I have a map that now runs to 5 large poster boards, w/photos of many of the critical points, and such. Many of the water connections that are covered over with dirt or gravel ( shut off valve is 3' in the ground ), I have measurement points......so many feet from a nail w/washer on it on the side of a building or tree, to a rebar pin, then another line to form an "X", where the buried valve box is in the center of the X.

My wife has instructions that if she is the one to sell the place after I'm gone, the map is $5,000 extra......and $10,000 if they come to buy it down the road once they figure out how bad they need it.


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## seven7seven (Apr 29, 2013)

I love the idea of a marker of some sort, ie., the concrete marker, attractive bird house or stone. For private utilities in my industry we are required to record an asbuilt, with a combination of both techniques above you should never lose site of what's beneath you.


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## Dr_aplet (Mar 31, 2013)

we used burried wire and red crushed volcanic rock around the pipes so if you get close you will see the red sand come up with the bucket or trencher chain.


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## hammer37 (Aug 16, 2013)

Why not gps certain points. Let's say at starting point, mid point, or elbows and tees if the pipes make a turn. Now you can have a schematic drawn to keep up with where they are buried.


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## wannabechef (Nov 20, 2012)

hammer37 said:


> Why not gps certain points. Let's say at starting point, mid point, or elbows and tees if the pipes make a turn. Now you can have a schematic drawn to keep up with where they are buried.


Unless its rtk gps it could be off as much as 30 meters. You'd be better to use a tape measure.

http://science.opposingviews.com/di...vers-surveying-grade-gps-receivers-17869.html

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Tab 2


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