locating gas and water main - new driveway

jp1181

I am going to be digging up the front garden to lay a new driveway to allow a second car to be stored off road, and am wondering if anyone can give me some advice about finding where the gas and water mains enter the house, so I can avoid us digging through them!

Are there tell tale things to look for to give an idea where the pipes run and where they enter the house? should it be on our deeds? will the utility company tell me (will they charge? and turn it round in a few days?)

thanks

Stooby2

http://www.hss.com/g/49514/Detector.html

I hired one of these and it was pretty accurate. The grey box in the background has a lead and crocodile clip that you clip onto the main in the house. It sends out a signal along the pipe the detector can find. HSS seems a bit pricey - mine was about £40 for both units for half a day, which is really all you'll need.

Whilst some utilities will run in a straight line from the meter / stopcock to the stopcock in the street - they don't all do it and you can use this to find them - and the detector alone to find any others along the line you want to dig up.

Leif

Are there any regs as to how deep they have to be buried? I have a house built in 1969, and I would like to know how deep I can safely dig in the front garden.

Ebe_Scrooge

It always used to be the case that water pipes had to be 2' underground - which is far far deeper than you'll be needing to dig for a driveway ( I know, I've replaced a water main, it's a bu**ger of a deep trench !! ). Are you digging by hand ? If so, I shouldn't worry, you're not going to do much damage with a spade, you'll feel it if you should happen to hit any underground pipes..

Stooby2

My gas main was about a foot down. The digger driver found it with his bucket and pulled the gas meter almost out from under the stairs. Even though I'd marked where the mains were. Even the repair crew that came out were surprised at how shallow it was.