Water and Sewer Taps for Our Not-So-Tiny House

We have taps! We can finally move forward!

We’ve been waiting for water and sewer taps. We applied when we started this whole thing. They let us pay for them on March 4. Finally, on May 1, they came out and put them in.  For months we have been just waiting (and paying for a Portajohn rental, which is a drop in the bucket in the overall costs of this but bothers me more than it should).

People came out and spray painted over and over. I thought they were marking where the taps would go, which seemed like some pretty vague instructions. But they were actually marking that they had checked and there was nothing in the way.

The city water pipe runs under the other side of our road. They dug and dug to reach it.

Once they found water, they used a pneumatic mole to get under the road. That’s the same tool they used to get the gas line to our house.

Bringing Natural Gas to the New House >

They used the level to make sure they didn’t go down at an angle and pierce the sewer pipe they went over or come up through the road.

This is a better look at the tool when it came out the other side.

GRUNDOMAT® Horizontal Boring Tool

Compressed air repeatedly propels the piston against the rear of the chisel head assembly of the piercing tool. This first compresses the pre-tensioned steel spring which forces the chisel head assembly forward independently of the main casing to provide a pilot bore. Then, the same continuous force thrusts the main casing ahead. With decades of proven performance, the Grundomat’s patented stepped-cone head consistently provides accurate moling results.

Grundomat Pneumatic Piercing Tools Trenchless Horizontal Boring Overview

They took the boring tool off the pneumatic hose and attached a water line to it. Then one guy pulled the hose back out, pulling the water line under the road.

This guy fed the water line through.  Can you see the wire? They put a wire next to the water line so they can find it again with a metal detector.

Once they got to the other side, they attached the water line to the main water pipe.

Look! Water! They attached this end of the water line to a water meter.

The water line connects to the water meter and a cut-off.

The meter can twists to the right height.

They assembled everything and put it in the hole by the road.

Here it is all finished. They buried it all ready for the plumbers to bring water to the cabin!

That trailer is the compressor for the pneumatic mole.

This is the waterline connection on the other side of the road before they buried it.

Sewer Connection

They started digging for the sewer pipe with the excavator, then finished uncovering it with a shovel. The sewer pipe is not very far down.

Once they dug up the sewer pipe, they wiped it off.

This guy measured the pipe with a strip of metal and put these bolts onto each end.

He folded the strip to the right length. I don’t know the name of this yet, but it holds the bolts that will hold the coupling from our sewer line to the sewer pipe.

Then they drilled an opening into the pipe.

One guy poured water as he drilled. The coupler goes over this hole and the bolts clamp it in place.

Once they had the coupler on there, they put on some PVC pieces.

They put on a surprisingly long piece of pipe.

What?

They scooped all of the soil back into the hole and covered it up. I gotta say, this does not look right to me. I’ve never seen something like this before. Maybe our plumber changes it?

Have you ever seen anything like this before?

Well, that’s because it was wrong. The older guy came back and they dug it back up and put this on instead. They spray-painted it green.

We have water and sewer taps! We can finally get moving again!