A Valuable New Service to Prevent Interruption of Your Home's Utility Services

With the end of the summer season I decided to correct a situation that always presents drainage problems on the back side of my house during the winter months. The problem is the result of downward sloping lot that causes winter rains and snow to accumulate against the foundation of my house. This, in turn, allows water to seep into my crawl space creating potentially damaging moisture problems as water droplets accumulate on my floor joists and the insulation between joists.

My plan was to dig a drainage ditch some 30 feet in length that would channel the water away from my foundation to a point at which gravity would carry the water to a curbside drain. The drainage ditch would require me to dig a trench 8 inches wide and 8 inches in depth. Into this trench I would place a perforated drainage pipe which would be covered with a two inch layer of pea gravel. Once completed this would allow flowing water to filter down through the gravel and into the perforated pipe which in turn would carry the water away from the foundation of my house.

Laying out a 30 foot long string to mark the desired path of my trench I began digging. I immediately encountered small rocks and various size tree roots, which I proceeded to cut through using the lead edge of my shovel. If the roots were too thick I used a hand axe to cut these.

I had completed about half of the trench when my wife appeared at the door and informed me that the telephone was no longer working. Sure enough there was dead silence on the line.

After checking all of the inside lines I decided to check the incoming circuit box located on the back side of the house. It was then that I noticed that the line coming into the box ran down the foundation wall and into the ground. Ooops! It never occurred to me that my telephone line, like my electric service line, was buried underground.

As it turned out one of the tree roots I worked so hard to cut was, in fact, the underground telephone line..

Once the line was repaired the technician making the repair informed me that a relatively new service was available nationwide that could help prevent accidents such as this. A customer "hotline" was now available to customers that would allow customers to request the marking of all underground lines for any and all of the utilities coming into your home. This request could be made by dialing "811" . The central call receiving operator will then arrange for all of the utility companies serving your home to mark designated buried line placements within 48 to 72 hours of receiving the call.

This is a very helpful and convenient free service that can prevent many unplanned interruptions of utility services but, more importantly may well save lives.