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We just moved into this house and are replacing the fence around the yard. The fence contractors have struck three (3!) sets of cables running down the property line along the side of the yard. These cables are all within inches of each other. We have a barn out back so I assume one set is for power down there, but have no clue what the others are for. How do we identify what's what and trace the lines? Help please!
Downer's Grove should have a call before you dig number. The contractor should have call this prior to digging the fence posts. The cables could be anything including telelphone lines.
Thanks for the reply!! We actually live in an unincorporated area and for whatever reason(s) the towns sort of treat us like step children and refer us back to the township. That office is kind of a part-time deal so they know even less. When we first moved in I called them to find out who picks up garbage and they suggested I ask one of my neighbors LOL!
We were in a total bind on this one. We ended up having an electrical contractor come out and test to see which were live. We also did some sleuthing and determined one was probably phone down to the barn. Cost us some $$. But the electrical contractor had to cut the wires anyway so the fence guys didn't fry. Then we had them re-connect when the fence was done. It all seems like it worked out well. We have a fence around the yard and lights in the barn! LOL!
You know it turned out to be a good thing. When the electrical guy came back out to check his work he found some issue with amperage - don't recall the specifics but too much juice flowing into the barn. Could have potentially burned it down at some point. Electrical work is definitely a hire-out job!
Minnesota has a "Gopher one call". If you don't call before you dig & hit something you are liable. Iowa has the same thing & I imagine other states do to.
A man near here was tilling his field & said no need to call, nothing here anyhow. It cost him his farm because he cut off a main optic telephone cable.
Call your local utility (phone, electrical, gas, etc) next time. Any of them should be able to tell you what number to call to get the local version of Call-before-you-dig. I should also be listed in the front of the local telephone book. If you have them out then it protects you from any liablility (as in repair cost) due to a line getting cut.
Our neighbors had some digging done and the Call-before-you-dig came out before hand and marked all the utilities. The company digging then hit a 500 or 1000 pair cable. We were told that the repair was going to run in the hundreds of thousands. If the digging company had not called then they would have been the ones paying the repair bill.
