Excavation Progress

I’ve started digging the trenches required for my project to run water to the guest house. The first step has been to hand excavate sensitive areas that I can’t use a powered trencher to dig, primarily around the propane lines that carry LP from the tank to the main house and the guest house, and around the well. By far the most nerve wracking part was locating the propane lines. I had them well marked, but they are relatively small, thin metal lines that are significantly less deep underground than you might think. I used a small hand trowel to locate them, and then marked them with bright orange spray paint so I make sure to steer clear of them in the future.

I monitored my tank pressure for 24 hours after digging, and made sure that the pressure held. If I had damaged one of the lines, it wouldn’t have been a massive safety hazard (the gas would have just dissipated slowly into the atmosphere), but the tank would slowly have emptied, which would have been an expensive mistake. Thankfully, there were no issues.

My next step was to dig around the well, where the supply lines will eventually be hooked up by a professional plumber.

After this, the last of the manual digging I have to do before the first round of trenching is next to the foundation of the guest house. I may take a short break while I deal with moving into the lake house over the next couple of weeks, but soon the trenching process will begin!