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burying 4" drain pipe but hit a rock

Doc

Bottoms Up
Staff member
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I rented a ditch witch for last Saturday and dug a trench for burying 70' of 4" drain pipe. But I hit a rock about two inches down in the middle of my trenching.

So, I moved over 3.5 to 4' and tried again. Hit the rock again. Arrrrgggg. Now I'm looking for ideas on how to run the drain pipe anyway.

Possible solutions I have checked on: a jack hammer. A bit much for me to handle I'm afraid ...and it would cost me a couple hundred. So, if paying out that much I prefer to rent a small track hoe with a jack hammer implement on it to pulverize the rock. That will cost 300 to 400, depending on a few variables.

Anyone have a better way to take care of this pesky rock?
 

bczoom

Super Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
I rented a ditch witch for last Saturday and dug a trench for burying 70' of 4" drain pipe. But I hit a rock about two inches down in the middle of my trenching.

So, I moved over 3.5 to 4' and tried again. Hit the rock again. Arrrrgggg. Now I'm looking for ideas on how to run the drain pipe anyway.

Possible solutions I have checked on: a jack hammer. A bit much for me to handle I'm afraid ...and it would cost me a couple hundred. So, if paying out that much I prefer to rent a small track hoe with a jack hammer implement on it to pulverize the rock. That will cost 300 to 400, depending on a few variables.

Anyone have a better way to take care of this pesky rock?
Sounds like a big rock...

I normally get a skid-steer with a backhoe to remove the rock but this one may be too big.

Can you move your pipe over any further to get around it? Are you using sched-40, S&D or black flex pipe?
 

Doc

Bottoms Up
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
I'm using black flex drain pipe.
I've moved the location all I could. going to one side is a hill where as I'd have to dig way to deep to keep the flex flowing ....and on the other side is the septic drain pipe. Septic tank is 15 ft away so I'm leary of the mini blasting to bust up the rock.

I have considered sizing the rock by getting one of the probes septic folks use to find the septic. Skinny rod they poke into the ground ... if dimensions were not to horrible I might be able to remove but, still thinking pulverizing it with a track hoe seems best option.
 

EastTexFrank

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
I know that this isn't going to be much help but I've always found that, "When all else fails, brute force and ignorance prevails". :bolt:
 

Doc

Bottoms Up
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
backed off track hoe and trying an electric jack hammer. Getting er done. Whew.
 

k-dog

Member
I’ve been removing a lot of rock and ai bought a cheap electric jackhammer from a harbor Freight along with a SDS max rotary hammer, then added 1.5” drill bit and get Dexpan from Home Depot and it does quite well no matter how big the rocks are.
I drill rocks first and use Dexpan then clean it up as necessary with jackhammer. The Harbor Freight jackhammer has paid for itself as for the price I paid would have been about 3 Days rental. I’ve gotten that and more out of it.
As a side note, I’ve moved over 100 ton of rock this way.
 

Doc

Bottoms Up
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
I’ve been removing a lot of rock and ai bought a cheap electric jackhammer from a harbor Freight along with a SDS max rotary hammer, then added 1.5” drill bit and get Dexpan from Home Depot and it does quite well no matter how big the rocks are.
I drill rocks first and use Dexpan then clean it up as necessary with jackhammer. The Harbor Freight jackhammer has paid for itself as for the price I paid would have been about 3 Days rental. I’ve gotten that and more out of it.
As a side note, I’ve moved over 100 ton of rock this way.
Thx Kdog. I can see WV from my back door so I'd guess we have much the same type of rock. I was truly impressed with how well the electric rental jack hammer took care of the rock that was in the way of my drain. It took care of the job much easier than I ever expected.

If I find myself needing to do more of that type of work I will check out the harbor freight jack hammer. That would be better than paying another rental fee.
 
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