Yesterday the crew installing the main natural gas line down our street was at the house just east of ours, so we figured they would be at our house today.  Not long after we finished breakfast we heard the sound of trucks and checked to see where they were.  They were set up by the east end of our pull-through driveway pulling 2″ plastic pipe back through the tube they had just bored.  They then relocated their horizontal boring machine down by our third (west most) culvert that will eventually be the driveway for our bus barn.  From there they bored back towards the east following a track that was parallel to the road and about 30 feet to the north of the centerline.

We bought some marker flags at Lowe’s the other day.  I decided that this morning would be a good time to put them in the ground to mark the locations of the 240VAC/50A power lines, the propane line, the septic tank outlet to the drain field, and the drain pipe for the SE corner of the house.

The horizontal boring technology is fascinating and I got to chat with the crew chief while he worked.  He had what looked to be a fairly sophisticated measuring device that told him the current location and direction of travel of the drill head, which has electronics packaged with it that allow it to be tracked.  He relayed instructions via radio back to the operator of the Vermeer drilling rig who could then “steer” the drill head.  We also got to spend a little time by the horizontal boring machine and I tried to capture the essence of this very specialized piece of equipment.

Mel, who is one of the project supervisors, stopped to check on the crew.  I was able to get a few minutes of his time to explain our concern about how they plan to run the gas line to our house.  The diagram sent by Consumer’s Energy was not accurately drawn.  Mel called Phil, who handles the scheduling of the service drops, and had him make a note on the service card to check with us before finalizing their planned approach.  After inquiring about how many gas appliances we have, Mel said to make sure Phil gives us a 425 gas meter.

I spent the rest of the day and evening working at my computer.  I started by updating the online roster in the SLAARC/WP website.  I then selected and post-processed about 70 photos in two groups; one for the front sidewalk/stairs and one for the retaining walls and drain pipes, and created gallery posts for each project.  I will do similar gallery posts for the garage electrical/HVAC project and the natural gas project once they are completed.