Backfilling a wet trench

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ultimatehandyman
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Backfilling a wet trench

Post by ultimatehandyman »

I started to replace a lead water pipe a few days ago following on from this thread lead pipe replacement . The trench has been dug and the pipe laid and insulated through the duct and is ready to be inspected by United Utilities but yesterday and today it has chucked it down and the trench was full of 12 inches of water today and some of the trench has collapsed.
The water was pumped out, (but is filling again) the trench has been shored up and the clay that was removed is sodden. The inspector comes in the morning, I am intending getting there early and will pump out the majority of the water.


Has anyone done this before in such wet conditions?



I'm unsure if it is a good idea to backfill the trench with the sodden clay, but then I don't have many other options do I?
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tomplum
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Re: Backfilling a wet trench

Post by tomplum »

the inspector would't expect you to go to such lengths Chez, he'll just want to see the depth, and he can do that be sinking his tape down there, then he'd want to see a duct from the trench up unto the house and insulation round the pipe in the duct, which he could view from inside, he would't expect you to hold back the force of nature, but 10/10 for effort, :thumbright:

p.s did you dig it ? that is hard work :shock:
since uncovering a wasps nest in a bathroom refit and getting everyone out , I became an unstung hero,
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ultimatehandyman
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Re: Backfilling a wet trench

Post by ultimatehandyman »

Nice one :thumbright:

No, I did not dig it.

It's my late mum's old house, I'm renovating it over the next few weeks/months. The kitchen etc. has not been touched since the last time I did it when I was about 16. I have done the ducting and insulation etc. ready for the inspector tomorrow.

I had a couple of builders that were straightening the stones around the top front window as they had moved over the years and it was raining one day which stopped them doing the pointing, so one of them assembled some kitchen units for me and the other donned his waterproofs and wellies and dug the trench for me, then it stopped raining and they then went and did the pointing :thumbright:

When the trench was first dug it looked like this-
trench1.jpg
trench1.jpg (98.3 KiB) Viewed 3285 times

But part of it collapsed and so did some of the small garden wall-
trench-collapse.jpg
trench-collapse.jpg (82.75 KiB) Viewed 3285 times
This is inside of the property-
stopcock.jpg
stopcock.jpg (50.35 KiB) Viewed 3285 times
And this is the ducting (which has the insulation inside)
duct.jpg
duct.jpg (59.21 KiB) Viewed 3285 times
Luckily I have a mate helping me, he is only about 8 stone and so he donned the waterproofs and wellies today and we got a tarpaulin over the top and managed to pump out some water, he also shored it up to prevent further collapse.

The sooner it is passed by the inspector the better as I have 12 sheets of plasterboard arriving on wednesday and wanted to bring them in the back way :shock:
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Re: Backfilling a wet trench

Post by thescruff »

He'll probably want to see sand under and over the pipe.
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Re: Backfilling a wet trench

Post by ultimatehandyman »

The inspector came today and passed it :thumbright:

I asked if I should put anything down after pumping out the water and he suggested sand, so I went and bought 10 bags and filled the first few inches with that, then put the soaking clay back in :thumbright:

Got a load of clay to get rid of now though, unless it settles before I get it re-flagged :lol:
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Re: Backfilling a wet trench

Post by thescruff »

Always a good feeling as they ride off into the sunset.
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