I had the trench dug this week to lay the electrical wires between the house and the workshop. The “Call-before-you-dig” people have come twice to our house to mark where the electrical lines and such are located. As it turns out, they got it wrong both times. When we were digging the trench we found electrical cables. I assumed they were old and not being used since the live wires were supposedly somewhere else. But I had the electric company come out to look at it, and they surprised me by saying these were live. Thankfully the person I hired used a backhoe instead of a trencher or he would have cut right through it. Thankfully also he was experienced enough to sense the cable and back off. I had the electric company check it out to make sure there was no damage.
I put the cable inside a conduit, and, after asking the inspector, covered up all of it but the ends. I’ll cover the rest after the inspection.
The lights and outlets on the inside are all done. I also have a light on the outside as well as an outlet. Next weekend the electrician will connect the workshop to the house.
Digging the Trench
The backhoe
The conduit in the uncovered part of the trench
The covered trench
The covered trench
Looking at the workshop
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow! Sounds like a lot of near misses. Glad things are moving forward. Thanks for sharing the pics.
That will be great to be able to use your tools out there!
It all looks good. Is there a reason that some wires underground were missed by the call before you dig people? Dad
“Call Before You Dig” is supposed to be informed by all the utility companies. They are supposed to have the correct information. They didn’t tell me why the error occurred. They did tell me that if the power line had been broken, it wouldn’t have been my fault, since I did what I was supposed to do. Somewhere along the line there is a problem in the system.
We did break the fiber optics cable for the internet. It went by there also, and was a lot more shallow than the power cable. But the electric company (who supplies the fiber optic internet) had it fixed within a couple of hours.
Lots of work! It looks nice and inconspicuous, compared to what it was 😀
I’m glad it worked out. It will be nice to have your workshop usable.