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This is the second part of my stormwater rectification. Now that the side of the house had been done and I could access it again I needed to redo the stormwater pipe to the front of my boundary. I had calculated that the trench would follow the red line up the block but made a call to follow the old pipe as then I would know where it went for sure. The ground was mostly solid clay and full of large rocks plus builders ruble. I knew that the NBN line in and the power for the lights plus where the sewage pipes were. so figured it wiser to be cautious.
100mm PVC DWV piping 4 of
PVC Glue
Various angled fittings.
Screw top T piece (Inspection point)
15 degree bends PVC pipe
1800mm crow bar (Fencing bar )
Shovel flat Long handled
Grinder
Mattock
The second half of the stormwater went straight through the patio area. I was intending to save the area as much as possible but as soon as I started work through it, well dodgy bro inc must have been putting it in is all I can say. The stormwater pipe kinked to the left so I though I wouldn't have to remove the posts to the path and then realised the path would have to come up (it was all broken from age and having a tree being chopped down fall on it in sections)
The shovel handle shows approximately where I though the pipe was heading... I had lined it up with the first foot/two foot of pipe I had unearthed...
This is the direction I thought the stormwater pipe would take.
Clean up of the patio area as I had to go through it.
Of course the pipe kinks lol Oh well. I was following the pipe anyway.
Looks like it will go between the posts or right under one...
The concrete area.... Not even true pavers. Just concrete dust scattered and hosed? I really don't know. I did pull them up reasonably carefully as I may reuse them.
The path, what is left of it after sewage work, tree coming down and age.
So much soil and coalwash fill
The pipe was flattened in sections, 90mm thin pvc pipe had been squashed to maybe 2cm in height.
Showing the squashed pipe
It took no effort to drive the crowbar down. this is how far it sank into the "fill" btw it is a 6 foot crow bar.
The old pipe was filled with clay and silt and squashed flat.
The pipe didn't look like it had been disturbed since it was installed.
You can see the "concrete" pavers that were used, they are reasonably fragile
Missed the post but sealed the fate of the "retaining wall" built out of pavers stacked on top of each other, no mortar other then the "header" kind of. (Another project lol)
I thought it would be an idea to did all the way then replace the lot instead of doing it in sections. This next part I had to be careful of the NBN, Power and Sewage. I figured I wouldn't have to worry about the water pipe as it is further to the left.
Found! The NBN line in
The old stormwater pipe was squashed every meter or so. Over time the clay has compacted the ground around the pipe. It had no chance.
I have a bade reputation to hitting pipes so was pretty happy I hadn't.
Power for the lights, also power for GPO's on the lights one day, and network to each light just in case. When I put them in I followed the edge of the path. This time the path is going as it was directly underneath it. You can see the sewage inspection point standing up. So all my services are ending up coming up the center of the yard.
There was something in the way, It ended up being three huge stones.
Finally through the old retaining wall area. (no foundation so it started leaning as soon as it was broken in the middle.)
This is why you don't let builders throw their waste into trenches as fill. The trench was a meter and a half deep at this point and when the excavator came on the block to dig the sewage pipes I suspect the weight compacted the soft clay and squashed the brick flat against the stormwater pipe and that was the final straw. (brick can be seen at top of pic)
Through the steps. No foundation other then the mortar for the bessa blocks.
Some of the rubble I have dug up.
Old steel stormwater pipe that use to go to stormwater pits within the yard. But who would run a new pvc pipe like that?
Dodgy bro inc again. To see a patch that you know hasn't been touchedin 12 years at least!
Almost there.
So the pipe goes straight into the terracotta pipe that goes across the footpath... Ok.
Pulling the old pipes out. These were stuck into the ground like glue (wet clay) and weighed a ton as they were full of wet clay.
I am surprised they worked even a little bit.
Chopped off the old steel pipe so I could run my new pipe straight.
The Terracotta pipe that goes to the gutter. It isnt sloped, in fact dips a little but is clean and empty. There is also a lining inside? I don't want to touch the footpath at all so will leave that in situ.
Time to put in the new piping and cover it with gravel. Really wanted to get it done as the project was taking forever to do. Tho once done then the next step would be replacing the retaining wall, ugh.
Large Gabion wall build and Small gabion retaining wall
Connecting the stormwater pit near the gate to the run to the street.
Following the trench. I had to use some 15 deg joins to get it around the bends in the trench. I could have dug a new section but was over digging trenches at this point.
The 6m lengths of pipe were a dream!
nice straight un straight down to the footpath.
The pipe had to be reduced a little to fit into the terracotta pipe (90mm inside width) also had to join the reducer, the T section and pipe all together and have it inside the terracotta pipe. I managed it but had to step it through in my mind before doing the job otherwise I would have run out of space. I used a threaded T piece as I want to be able to get a high pressure hose in there if needed (By the plumber) The 90mm pipe goes into the terracotta pipe by 500mm from memory.
Top down view
This is all the pipe I had left over from the stormwater run.
The pipe of gravel 5.5T all up. needed maybe 1/2 so my calculations were way off. I did use it all tho
Backfilling to cover the pipe by an inch. There is also an inch under the pipe at least.
It felt so good backfilling the trench with gravel.
Still not 100% sure on how to rectify this area but have some ideas.
I used the smaller concrete gravel as a top layer above the g8mm gravel just to use it up.
backfilled with the coalwash and then lay on top.
Was good to get the yard levelish again.
Backfilled and heaped to allow for settling.
Settling after 2 months.
So topsoiled it.
Worth it! After a storm I would run out to check to see if the pipe was working. No issues and no pooling happening anywhere!
Great work, @Dave-1! Certainly a decent amount of work, but like they say, better to do it right the first time.
Many thanks for sharing the detailed pictures and steps you took to complete this project.
I'll be looking forward to seeing what project you tackle next.
Mitchell
Thank you @MitchellMc
I do admit I take a fair few photos of projects :). Mostly in case I need to go back and see something or explain something to a third party. So many times it turns out none of the photos show the part of what I want to explain! lol
I have a few more to projects to post before I catch up with the one I am working on now (Courtyard privacy fence and gate build )
I do enjoy seeing peoples projects and how they work through them. It always gives me ideas.
Dave
Oh my goodness, I couldn't see how long ago your post was made @Dave-1 I just had to say, thank you for sharing.
I am in the process of selling my home and had some storm water pipes replace and then discovered my water wasn't going away very fast and during a rather heavy downpour, only to discover the council had cut through the stormwater pipes out on the nature strip, when install natural gas in our area years prior. AND to make it worse, there has been so much damage in my area, the council have now fobbed it off on to each in home owner to be responsible for such damage. So I started reading though the posts on this workshop, then I came across your post. OMG what a mammoth task you have shared with us.
I hope the water damage wasn't too bad to your homes footings? and the end outcome was only a positive one..
Thank you for sharing your amazing work..
Old~Gal
Evening @Old-gal24
Happy to say all the stormwater rectifiation work panned out The pipes do their jub plus the landscaping funnels the surface water around the yard
Foundations are all happy and a lot drier now.
Stormwater pipes I think by their very nature live a hard life Natural movement, tree roots, people driving over the footpath, and council digging parts up Keeping an eye on stuff helps determine when something is going wrong. It felt like a task and a half to start with but once I broke it down into stages it really started following along like building something with lego.
Dave
Thank you for sharing, and the feedback - work in progress. All I can say is glad it wasn't me..
I have an issue here with storm water draining away slowly. Got a plumber to come out as I couldn't even put the length of my crow bar up my storm water pipe, street end. He told me that 10 or so years ago, council/natural gas mob put lines in and hacked their way through most of the nature strips in the area. *(darn great NOT!) I was told it was councils responsibility, as the house side is all good... After weeks of chasing, Council finely got back to me, telling me that Council will not take responsibility for the issue and council have made it the responsibility of each and every individual home owner. Which is rather infuriating to be polite. So yet another job for me to tackle. Hence my search on here, that lead me to your post..
Which I have to say has given me inspiration.
Thank you
Old gal
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