Rant: a customer in Austin showed me why you should always check for old fence lines before you dig

We hit a buried concrete footing from a 1970s chain link setup that wasn't on any survey, and it bent a brand new auger bit. Anyone have a good method for scanning besides just poking around with a rebar stake?

4 comments

4 Comments

sagestone1mo ago

Been there, ruined a shovel on an old clothesline anchor. I ended up renting a pipe and cable locator from the big box store. It was cheaper than a new tool and found a bunch of buried junk wire. The basic model won't find pure concrete, but it'll often pick up the metal posts or any wire still attached.

sandra_lane61mo ago

Oh man, that's smart. I should have done that. I just kept hitting things with my shovel like a total caveman, @sagestone. I swear I bent the handle on what turned out to be a chunk of sidewalk from like 1970. Renting a locator is way smarter than my method of just guessing and getting mad. Next time I'm digging anywhere, I'm doing exactly what you did. My wallet and my tools will thank me.

robin_gibson1mo ago

Yeah, the caveman method is a classic. I've got a whole pile of bent shovels that agree with you. At this point, my yard is probably more old concrete and rusty metal than actual dirt. Renting that thing is basically paying for therapy, saves you from the blind rage of hitting another hidden slab.

grant.olivia16d ago

Honestly, how much damage are we really talking about here? A bent bit is annoying, but it's not the end of the world. Sandra_lane6, you sound like you're about to rent a satellite to find a lost spoon. Sometimes you just hit stuff and deal with it.