My New House & Workshop

[franklin2]

Once you get away from the meter with the pex, put some valves in the lines. The are not cheap, but they come in handy. If you have to do some work in the main house, you can turn the water off to the main house but still use the bathroom in the shop. Or the other way around. Or if down the road you have a mysterious leak, you can turn each branch off individually and see if the leak stops. Then you at least know where to start looking.

A 5 gallon bucket buried in the ground makes a cheap valve box.

 

[Jim Oaks]

I've dug just over 40-feet with another 30 feet to go.

I found a check valve on the 3/8" line that goes to the shop where it connects to the 3/4" line. You can see the 3/4" check valve in the libe right before all if this. Do I really need to have a check valve on this line going to the shop if I plan to replace it with a manual valve?

 

[sgtsandman]

I would say no on the check valve but I'm also not a professional plumber.

 

[ericbphoto]

Almost looks more like a regular valve with the handle missing. But, to answer your question, no. You don't need a check valve there. I would tee off the main and install a shutoff valve to the shop, tee off the main for the yard spigot, if you still want it.then install a shutoff valve going to the house. That way you can shut off the shop and still have water to the house and you can shut off the house and still have water to the shop.

And I really eny you having that nice rich easy to dig topsoil. Everything here is red clay and rock. And when red clay gets dry, it IS a rock. No fun to dig. It's either hard as rock or, when wet, it sticks to the shovel, pick, your boots, etc. Easy to pick up 2 or 3 pounds on each foot just from the clay stuck to the bottoms.

 

[RobbieD]

And when red clay gets dry, it IS a rock. No fun to dig.

Dynamite.

 

[Roert42]

And I really eny you having that nice rich easy to dig topsoil. Everything here is red clay and rock. And when red clay gets dry, it IS a rock. No fun to dig. It's either hard as rock or, when wet, it sticks to the shovel, pick, your boots, etc. Easy to pick up 2 or 3 pounds on each foot just from the clay stuck to the bottoms.

I also don’t see any significant size roots or rocks.

 

[Roert42]

For got you had that jaguar. Still cool.

 

[Shran]

Lucky, our water lines are buried like 8' deep and it's all rock hard brown clay and rocks around my place. It would have taken me a month to dig out as much as you did.

 

[Jim Oaks]

This ground gets pretty hard com3 summer time.

That 3/8" check valve was burried inside the bottom of that metal casing.

You can see I have two green valve boxes. The first one will have the check valve and then a T with a valve headed to the shop. The second one will have a T with the 45 degree fitting to connect to the white PEX line I already replaced going to the house, and then at the other end of the T will be a valve that goes to a spigot 4-5 feet past that. You can see where I dug out past the old spigot for the new one.

The new spigot will be an insulated PVC line that runs up through a 4-inch white vinyl post with a cap on it similar to this:

 

[Jim Oaks]

I've having to use the Mattock today. The dirt's to hard to shovel, plus I keep running in to roots.

 

[ericbphoto]

I've having to use the Mattock today. The dirt's to hard to shovel, plus I keep running in to roots.

Welcome to my world.

 

[sgtsandman]

Sharpening it will help some. Just run a file over the blade. It doesn't have to be knife sharp, plus you are chopping things in the dirt. So, less chance of damaging the blade.

I've done a lot of cutting of tree roots thanks to the maple in the back yard.

 

[Jim Oaks]

Those that came to Wellsville trail rides in the early 2000's have been to my house in Ohio. I built a patio on the back and surrounded it with vinyl fence for privacy. There was so much shale in the ground there that I was busting it up with a sledgehammer and chisel.

I finally finished digging out 75 feet of trench 20 inches deep.

​

I found (4) places in the old line where it's starting to leak.

Tomorrow I'll start installing the new waterline.

BTW, for those of you that know me and thought that I lost my marbles, I found them.

They somehow got burried in the back yard.

 

[Uncle Gump]

You've lost way more marbles then two...

I have a couple old tube socks and an old coffee can full of old marbles. Those were the days....

 

[Jim Oaks]

You've lost way more marbles then two...

I have a couple old tube socks and an old coffee can full of old marbles. Those were the days....

It's not that I lost them...

It's that they were taken from me.

And crushed.

At least these two are intact.