Excavation/sewer diversion for swimming pool.

Hi all,

I am planning to put in a swimming pool at my house and contacted dial-before-you-dig/SA Water, and got myself a sewer plan. I am having a little trouble interpreting the plans but it seems to suggest that there may be an underlying sewage pipe either right under, or very close to where I am going to place the pool.


My questions are:
1. Can anyone tell me what the standard depth (if there is a standard) of the main sewer pipe leading out to the street? The pool people will probably need to dig to a depth of 3m - is this likely to damage the sewer pipe?

2. On the plans provided by SA Water, there is a pipework diagram with letters eg. IP, L, J and T, followed by numbers eg 3/6, 4/6, 4/9. What do these mean eg. L 4/6. Do they provide any information about the location of the pipes?

3. What is the cheapest way to go about diverting the pipework, should I need to? The pool installers suggest that I have a plumber "on-standby" while they do the excavation, so that the sewer can be repaired and diverted should it be broken. It seems like a silly exercise just to call a plumber out to stand around while they dig a big hole that may or may not involve the sewer. Should I get someone out to definitively locate the pipework first? Who is the best to do this, an excavator, or a plumber?


4. Anyone have experience with dial-a-digger in Adelaide? They seem to provide a comprehensive service according to their website, from underground pipe location, to excavation and concrete cutting? What do people think about their pricing/service? In addition to potentially diverting the sewage pipe, I will need to remove a concrete driveway, a section of brick wall, and level the site. Can anyone recommend any other service provider/contractors for the job?

Any input appreciated.:U

I recently ran a new sewer and the at the deepest point near the front boundary it was 2.32m deep. I am in an old near city area. Your 3 metre excavation will surely be an issue.

I would be getting a master plumber in first to suss the whole lot out and tell you what the situation is and the options before you let any pool installer do anything.

Cheers

I think you will find that the sewer will have to be moved regardless of the depth, my understanding is you cannot build over a sewer, some one my be better informed than I am, but this what I believe to be the case

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ZoomJC

Hi all,

I am planning to put in a swimming pool at my house and contacted dial-before-you-dig/SA Water, and got myself a sewer plan. I am having a little trouble interpreting the plans but it seems to suggest that there may be an underlying sewage pipe either right under, or very close to where I am going to place the pool.


My questions are:
1. Can anyone tell me what the standard depth (if there is a standard) of the main sewer pipe leading out to the street? The pool people will probably need to dig to a depth of 3m - is this likely to damage the sewer pipe?
Standard depth is 1.5m but can vary quite a bit depending on a number of factors so there is no standard really. You need to find some IP's and take the lids off and measure how deep it is with a tape measure. IMHO your drain will be affected by the pool if its anywhere near it. As a rule if the drain is 1m deep and the pool is less than 1m away you will have trouble.
Ratio of 1:1 is absolute minimum, the further the better.
You should really consider the depth of the pool though, if the pool is 3m deep and the drain is 1m deep then you want the pool about 2m away, again more is better.

2. On the plans provided by SA Water, there is a pipework diagram with letters eg. IP, L, J and T, followed by numbers eg 3/6, 4/6, 4/9. What do these mean eg. L 4/6. Do they provide any information about the location of the pipes?
Ip=inspection point usually signalled with a dot, a dot with a circle around ussually meaans IP is raised to ground level and is visible
L=line of drain
J=junction from drain
T?=maybe means trap but not sure
the numbers are measurements in feet and inches ie; 3/6 = 3feet 6 inches
so L3/6 = line of drain is 3 feet 6 inches away.


3. What is the cheapest way to go about diverting the pipework, should I need to? The pool installers suggest that I have a plumber "on-standby" while they do the excavation, so that the sewer can be repaired and diverted should it be broken. It seems like a silly exercise just to call a plumber out to stand around while they dig a big hole that may or may not involve the sewer. Should I get someone out to definitively locate the pipework first? Who is the best to do this, an excavator, or a plumber?

I would be telling the pool company to be handling the whole lot, otherwise they go in with no responsibility and can smash anything they want regardless of cost. If they break it then they fix it I would say.
I really should be their responsibility. The cost for you could be up more than $4-10.000 if they break things.
You could pot hole the drain at a few locations to find it exactly by yourself. Just dig down to the top of the drain at 1-3m intervals along the drain.

4. Anyone have experience with dial-a-digger in Adelaide? They seem to provide a comprehensive service according to their website, from underground pipe location, to excavation and concrete cutting? What do people think about their pricing/service? In addition to potentially diverting the sewage pipe, I will need to remove a concrete driveway, a section of brick wall, and level the site. Can anyone recommend any other service provider/contractors for the job?
Dial a digger use contractors mainly, so sometimes it's a bit of a lottery, but you are backed up by dial a diggers big company of service so there is less risk. However I have had some bad drivers from them before.
Any input appreciated.:U

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Cheers

Had exactly the same issue when we put out pool in - the sewer ran through the end of where the excavation was going.
I confirmed this by spot digging to locate the pipe work.

I let the excavator break into the sewer line and complete the excavation, however had a plumber scheduled for the next day to re-route and join the pipes.
He came out before the dig to inspect the sewer plans and to make sure he had all the bits and pieces he needed to re-connect the sewer. We got the excavator to also trench for the re-routed pipework - saved on having to dig it by hand...

Personally I wouldn't leave this to the pool company - all the ones I dealt with had no plumbers - in fact just about every quote we looked at specifically excluded any work required by a plumber or any damage to any utilities upon excavation.

Get a plumber in to check it out and give you a quote to re-route it. Keep the pool company informed of where the sewer line is and your plans to re-route it.

Thanks for all your thoughts.

I will probably ring around for someone to come locate the pipework for me. I can't seem to find any of the inspection points or I would have done some spot digging myself.

Where did my posts go?

Is there a problem with the forum at the moment:?

Dont let the pool blokes do it, they're worse than landscapers!! And besides it wouldnt be legal.