Laying a pipe under a driveway

[Joel/ak]

My dad bought this house a couple years ago. Put in a new driveway last year. Had a flagpole put in last week. He wants a hardwired light system to light the the flag. Unfortunately the silly driveway is in the way.

What's the best DIY way to pound a pipe under the driveway? Is there a machine we can rent? Trying to save the old man money.

 

[paulsharvey]

Driveway material? Concrete, asphalt, gravel? Driveway width? Local soil type?

If the soil is right, a good air compressor, some fittings, narrow drive, and 3/4 or 1" pipe; dig down 30" on either side and work that pipe with air on. It's slow, but you can pass a 16 fr drive with the right soil conditions and 4 hours. Guys also use a garden hose instead, but you run a much greater risk of creating a void.

The 'correct' answer would be find a guy with a pneumatic missile; but that would be more than your wanting to spend.

 

[Joel/ak]

Sorry, it's asphalt.

He said he would rip up a small section, lay a pipe and repair the drive.

Hoping an easier way and save money. He's got it but gotta be a way.

 

[bmaverick]

My dad bought this house a couple years ago. Put in a new driveway last year. Had a flagpole put in last week. He wants a hardwired light system to light the the flag. Unfortunately the silly driveway is in the way.

What's the best DIY way to pound a pipe under the driveway? Is there a machine we can rent? Trying to save the old man money.

Does he own a tractor with a straight blade? I pawed and pawed the top several inches of gravel back, then used the garden walk-behind tiller to loosen the rest up, got down 24-inches in depth. Got the thickest wall PVC electrical pipe for the wire laid it all in the bottom, carefully got the soil back in, the rocks and then the gravel.

The electrical keeps working after 6 years.

My helpers.

 

[MapleLeafFarmer]

consider a different approach?

how about a solar flag pole/ flag light. cheap ones go for $25 and can get pretty good ones for as little as $100.

 

[Topzide]

Maybe this as an option; BorZit Systems.

 

[bmaverick]

Sorry, it's asphalt.

Sorry, it's asphalt.

I did this too for FIL. He had a long driveway with asphalt. We cut 16-inches wide, removed the asphalt. Then carefully went at it removing everything 24-inches down. Ran the electrical conduit. Wired in all of his driveway lights, pond lights and landscaping lights.

Placed all the soil & stone back. Then packed and pack and pack for about 30mins. Layered in hot-patch for the asphalt gap. You will need metal hand trowels to work it in and level it too. No humps nor bumps.

Ryobi angle grinder with diamond wheel.

sort of like the trowling tool used.

somewhat what we did, we went the entire way across.

 

[paulsharvey]

Sorry, it's asphalt.

He said he would rip up a small section, lay a pipe and repair the drive.

Hoping an easier way and save money. He's got it but gotta be a way.

The 'best' way is a pneumatic missile, and pull a 2" or 3" hdpe conduit. Can probably hire it for $15/lf (plus pipe), the issue would be Mobilization. Put, if his soil is pretty light sand/sandy-loam, air and 1" pvc will work. The Old Old school way was 4 ft sections of threaded galv pipe, a 2x4 and a sledge hammer. Doesn't work well, and it you would be surprised the ammount of grip sand will have on pipe.

If it was me; I would either A: try the air and pipe; B; saw cut a very thing area, just wide enough to get a narrow pick in, and lay wire, and then use a pourable sealant to repair; or C: call local plumbers/gas installers/irrigation guys, and see if any would missile it for cheap

 

[paulsharvey]

Oh, another approach, either instead of air, or in combination with air, for light soils; a shop vac on the end of a 1 or 2" conduit; not gonna work in clays or rock.

 

[Joel/ak]

It's more of a loamy soil. Mostly sand.

 

[paulsharvey]

It's more of a loamy soil. Mostly sand.

I would give the air and elbow grease approach a try. If you use water, you run a very real risk of getting carried away, and then you'll have a dip and cracks at the pipe crossing.

 

[ponytug]

My dad bought this house a couple years ago. Put in a new driveway last year. Had a flagpole put in last week. He wants a hardwired light system to light the the flag. Unfortunately the silly driveway is in the way.

What's the best DIY way to pound a pipe under the driveway? Is there a machine we can rent? Trying to save the old man money.

Have a chat with your local rental tool place and ask about "moles" and what they have to rent for getting conduit under a driveway. Around here, there are lots of choices.

You can get a 100' pipe cleaning snake from Amazon that fits onto a pressure washer. I have one that has four jets; one large one forward and three pointing in reverse, and it is quite good at pulling itself along pipe. Thread it through a 3/4 or 1" PVC and push it under, but you need a deep enough feeding pit to guide the pipe level and straight. Lots of videos on YouTube.

Ripping into asphalt would be really low on my personal list. I think that it never looks right again. I would put in some solar panels and a light first before tearing up asphalt.

Just my $0.02...

All the best,

Peter

 

[grsthegreat]

Maybe this as an option; BorZit Systems.

I have that unit, it works great….within reason. Large rocks or real long distances mess with it. Hard to prevent it from going too deep, but works ok.

 

[TN8Man]

Get a flag pole that has solar powered light on top.

 

[dougtrr2]

I had to replace a water line that crossed an asphalt driveway. I elected to route the line next to the garage door. That way I only had to make one cut. It also meant I didn't have a patch in the middle of the drive, which I figured would never be quite right. The patch I did make was the transition from the drive to the concrete garage floor.

Doug in SW IA

 

[Joel/ak]

I had to replace a water line that crossed an asphalt driveway. I elected to route the line next to the garage door. That way I only had to make one cut. It also meant I didn't have a patch in the middle of the drive, which I figured would never be quite right. The patch I did make was the transition from the drive to the concrete garage floor.

Doug in SW IA

That's an idea. Cut where the asphalt meets the concrete.

I tried to talk him into solar but all the ones he used before don't last long.

 

[ponytug]

That's an idea. Cut where the asphalt meets the concrete.

I tried to talk him into solar but all the ones he used before don't last long.

I would try a bigger set of panels and a large battery. Basically, I oversize the solar side of it to get through the inevitable ten days of grey weather. The cheap solar that I have seen use low efficiency/quality solar panels, low quality batteries, and yes, they don't last worth diddly. We run solar for a few things, and I have found that a 20-50W panel and an automotive battery in a case with the charger to be pretty solid, and low cost. You can use sealed lead acid or lithium, but they are more expensive. If it were me, I would start the plan from the wattage on the light, and your winter sun levels, available at PVWatts

If nothing else, it would buy you a few years to sort out the best route for you under the driveway.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Rockbadchild]

Cutting the asphalt and resurfacing it will never be the same, it will inevitably show, if there is a way around it or above it despite of the distance I would go with that... the slice in front of the garage or along the sealing of the house is a very good idea.

 

[JPRambo]

Dig a short trench on each side of the driveway. Hook a garden hose to a lenght of 3/4" pvc and turn water on. Push it under the driveway in trench on one side aiming to the trench on the other side.

 

[DarkBlack]

I second the vote for solar.
Not a little flagpole unit, but a setup like used for RV’s. They can be had for a couple hundred bucks. Clamp the panel to the pole, or a frame, and set a battery in a plastic battery box next to the pole.
You’ll spend almost that much just in wiring , conduit, not even factoring in the labor.
I’d take the solar, external battery route all day, every day over messing with digging trenches, and messing with a new driveway.