In Today's Views...

By LovePopcorn

Gas Line Repair

These are the hands of Roberto, the SDG&E (San Diego Gas & Electric) technician who came out to confirm our "dig alert" about our gas line.
He has just put tar primer and wrapped the special black tape around the section of line where the protective coating had been chipped off.

He was sent out at our request because I wanted to put cement patio tiles beyond the garage walk-in doorway because I was tired of dirt and weeds.
The "dig alert" arose because I needed to remove the old cement fence post foundation was still stuck in the dirt. We had moved the alleyway fence position further out from this location by the doorway to the property line because unknown people kept using that indented space for shelter and even charred part of the wooden fence with an illegal fire!
We had never gotten around to removing that cement foundation because our ground under the topsoil is hard clay. The only time you can easily dig is in the springtime when the ground is damp - otherwise it's like drying to dig through cement.
So there I was, busily using my special long screwdriver to dig in and around the cement and scooping the dirt to the side when I encountered something hard, that's NOT a rock. I switched sides and found another something hard, that's NOT a rock.
Now I'm getting worried because I know the gas line runs on that side of the property!
I carefully dug around the cement to verify my suspicions that the previous owners had dug down to the gas line and poured the fence post concrete right on TOP of the gas line! (exasperated sound)
We needed to remove that cement block from the gas line.
Not knowing how to do this without causing a rupture we called the SDG&E Dig Alert Hotline (811) and asked for a technician to come out and (1) verify it was the gas line and (2) give advice.
Roberto arrived (on time, too!), did the verification and told us HOW to knock the cement off with a sledgehammer.
Mr LovePopcorn did that straightaway. I dug out more dirt to allow wrapping room and Roberto finished sealing and wrapping the line!
Phew!
Now to fill the hole and get those patio blocks put into place!

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