When the pipe behind Ian’s block wall sprung a leak I went looking for Landlady’s hammer drill. Couldn’t find it anywhere. She said she brought it back to the city. So…
…Since we got Ian’s electrical working yesterday, I borrowed a neighbor’s electric jackhammer.
They’re heavy.
It’s not that I can’t pick it up, it’s not that heavy. It’s just that it keeps trying to pull my right shoulder, which hasn’t been the same since its dislocation almost exactly a year ago, out of its socket. This is how far I got before I gave up the first session. This is going to be a … process.
Went through a similar process recently…except I had to dig down about eighteen inches to access it. STRONGLY suggest you fill the resulting opening with expanding foam. I did.
Take a look at mine and Steve Walton’s comment on the previous post about the water pipe. It looks to me like my hypothesis on what caused the leak is likely true. There was no way for this pipe to move independently on the concrete, which probably worked stuff loose int he pipe over time.
There’s no reason for this spigot to even be there. It’s never been used and is in such an awkward location that it never will be used. There’s another one in a better location that I use all the time. Therefore if I can ever bore through enough material to fix the leak I intend to plug the pipe on the dirt side of the wall and then fill the hole with concrete – without making a big mess in some extremely clever way that hasn’t yet occurred to me. One insurmountable problem at a time.
That is really a nice jackhammer, but I would also like to have a hammer drill for that job. The idea is to patiently “Swiss cheese” the concrete that you want to remove. Then just a few minutes with the jackhammer will finish the job without beating you up so much.
A stupid question, because I’m sure you’ve already considered it, but…water has to go into that pipe somewhere, is there any way to trace it back to whatever/wherever that junction might be? If the spigot is never used then the pipe to it is unnecessary. Even if it’s under a slab, that’s easier jackhammer work than horizontal (although, if that’s the case, it’s better to make saw cuts first to limit how much concrete has to be broken up and contain the breakage).
Which begs the question – if you do have to continue on the horizontal, any advantage to making saw cuts there?
+1 on Goober and Walton’s sleeving comments – anything going through concrete needs to be sleeved (or for that matter, under it – ask old time Floridians about under-slab leaks in 30-year-old copper pipes….).
Never tried an electric, but I ran a 90-lb pneumatic when I was in my 20s, & that bastard was heavy. I was in outstanding shape then. Fat old busted-up 56-year-old me? Only if I had no other choice.
Cmdr. Zero linked to a video recently of some guy in GB tunneling around in his backyard. It’s worth the watch just for the ingenuity and offbeat – but if I recall correctly – that guy slung his tunneling apparatus from a frame and just directed it while it hung from a sling.
A couple of 2x frames and a wedge press – some bungee cords or such… Oughta’ make a hell of a blog post!
Here you go:
Harder Homes & Garden: Video- Digging a Secret Tunnel