Help cable under drive

[rog107]

Hi Guys.

I have a new build house that has an undated Tarmac driveway. I have put up two street lights opposite and now need to get a cable over to them. I was planning on getting a man with a mole in but he cant mole it as it turns out the Electric supply is under the drive (we dont know how deep).

Ive see a few video's of Americans water jetting under a drive, anyone ever tried it in the UK? Does it work on our heavy clay soils?

My last resort is to cut a channel across the drive to drop the cable into. I just cant work out how to finish it. If I try and patch it presumably it will look like a patch. Was thinking about a line of granite setts laid into it hiding it.

Anyone got any ideas?

Thanks for you help

rog

[Bob_A]

Could you use a cat and genny to detect the electricity supply and then chose a route to avoid it?

My last resort is to cut a channel across the drive to drop the cable into
Rather than go straight across can't you go around the perimeter it'll be easier to disguise.

[Tony McC]

The water-jet method is a bit hit-and-miss. I remember watching trials with the Gas Board 30-odd years ago in Blackpool and they had no control compared with the accuracy that was being achieved with the pneumatic mole....and that was in fairly simple soils!


A clever 'trick' for just this sort of problem is to cut an accurate trench, say, for arguments sake, 250mm in width, right across the ex. blacktop, drop in a duct, thread through your cable and a draw rope, and then backfill with lean-mix concrete.

When you get to the surface, top it off with a particular block paver that is, as luck would have it, 240mm in width, and the whole job looks like a deliberate decorative band across the surfacing rather than an awkward imperfectly reinstated trench!

[rog107]

Thanks Guys.

Unfortunately I can’t go around the perimeter it’s too far and would go onto my neighbour propriety. I can’t reroute either as the cable runs the length of the drive I need to cross.

I thought about a row of pavers set into the drive. Could look ok. My latest thought was to cut a narrow channel say 30mm wide. Put the cable through a 22mm plastic pipe. Top it with concrete and then finish the joint with something! If it looks poor I can still cut the channel wider and put a paver in etc in the summer.

Any ideas on what to fill a narrow channel with? Some sort of hot pour tar? Cold kind of sealant?

I was trying to add a photo but can’t work out how to do it.

[Tony McC]

30mm of hot-melt pitch or cold-pour sealant will be too soft. If the width of the cut channel is an issue, cut it at 50mm and embed slices of PCC flag or edging kerb on a mortar or concrete bed, but, TBH, the wider block paver methjod is the simplest, easiest and most effective method I've either seen or used.