# Some pics of what I do.



## Chris (Jun 3, 2014)

Figured some of you guys don't know me all that well. I have been floating around some of the forums for years now and Moderate and Admin on a few of them. I always get the question of what I do for a living? I am a General Engineering Contractor, I specialize in utility work for large commercial properties, distribution centers and street work. I think it is neat stuff so I figured I would share some pics of the work I've done and am currently doing.

So here goes. Ask if you have any questions on anything.


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## Chris (Jun 3, 2014)

More pics...........


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## nealtw (Jun 3, 2014)

Great stuff, I like the  compactor guy standing on air, we need him for framing roofs:banana:


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## Chris (Jun 3, 2014)

A few more for today.


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## Chris (Jun 3, 2014)

nealtw said:


> Great stuff, I like the  compactor guy standing on air, we need him for framing roofs:banana:



He sure is talented.


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## Chris (Jun 3, 2014)

Here is a manhole I installed on an existing 12" Sewer line that was 21 feet deep.


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## Wuzzat? (Jun 3, 2014)

I myself make adult films with attractive women; sorry, my contract does not allow me to post pics. . .


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## Chris (Jun 3, 2014)

Wuzzat? said:


> I myself make adult films with attractive women; sorry, my contract does not allow me to post pics. . .



Real men measure in 10th's.............


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## nealtw (Jun 3, 2014)

Chris said:


> Real men measure in 10th's.............



I guess that includes those who use metric measure.  :banana:


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## inspectorD (Jun 4, 2014)

Great pictures.... and good job!


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## Wuzzat? (Jun 4, 2014)

One time that I went into a hospital I slowly realized that my life is in the hands of people I've never met and don't know.

Your work is dangerous but at least you know the people you work with.  I hope they are competent, conscientious and not mad at you.  :hide:

BTW, 
I used to get mail offers from insurance companies showing their yearly premiums for insuring people in various trades against accidents.  
So, if you want to know how dangerous your work is relative to roofers, electricians, etc., you just look at what they want to insure you.
The ranking surprised me but these companies know way more about risk than I do.


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## Chris (Jun 4, 2014)

My insurance is generally higher than any other trade out there. I know my work comp is.


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## Chris (Jun 4, 2014)

More random pics.


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## Chris (Jun 4, 2014)

More nonsense.


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## oldognewtrick (Jun 4, 2014)

No pics of havasu pushing the broom?


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## Chris (Jun 4, 2014)

That slacker never shows up to work.


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## Jungle (Jun 5, 2014)

"Your work is dangerous but at least you know the people you work with. I hope they are competent, conscientious and not mad at you. "

Looks like a couple guys without ear protection in the photos.  Personally i prefer jobs were the biggest danger is getting a paper cut.


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## Chris (Jun 5, 2014)

It isn't loud enough for ear protection and it is nice when you can hear your spotter tell you if the earth is trying to eat you.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Repair


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## havasu (Jun 5, 2014)

He makes me crawl into the deep holes to inspect the soil to determine if the soil shore ups are really necessary.


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## Chris (Jun 5, 2014)

More stuff......




Sent from my iPhone using Home Repair


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## Chris (Aug 25, 2014)




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## Chris (Aug 25, 2014)

I need to take more pictures.


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## zannej (Aug 25, 2014)

Looks like the soil had a lot of clay in it there. 

Just out of curiosity, what is the ideal soil makeup for the jobs you do? I know the sandy stuff falls back in and rocky stuff can be hard to dig through.. Is clay on the better end?


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## inspectorD (Aug 28, 2014)

Alright... alright... what happened...


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## Chris (Aug 28, 2014)

I've always wanted to do that but can't bring myself to ruin a pair of boots.


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## zannej (Aug 29, 2014)

Chris said:


> I've always wanted to do that but can't bring myself to ruin a pair of boots.



LOL. That was just what I was thinking. I would hate to waste a good pair of boots. Now, if the boots were ruined and not usable.....


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## slownsteady (Aug 29, 2014)

Wanted to do something similar with a pair of sneakers, a couple of short cuts of wood, and and an old pair of jeans .... set'em up in a stall in the men's room. Preferably a one-seater.


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## Chris (Aug 30, 2014)

Just put tge sneakers and a pair of pants, that will confuse the hell out of people.


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## Chris (Sep 2, 2014)

Just got a call that someone hit a fire hydrant that I get to replace tomorrow.


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## zannej (Sep 2, 2014)

Ugh. I hate when people mess up fire hydrants. was it hit by a car or something?


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## nealtw (Sep 3, 2014)

OK, you deal with the water coming out of the ground, I'll deal with the water coming out of the sky. I guess summer is over.


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## Chris (Sep 3, 2014)

Got hit by a big rig. 

I wish we had water coming from the sky.


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## nealtw (Sep 3, 2014)

It get old real fast.


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## CallMeVilla (Sep 3, 2014)

Had a new electrician come out to fix a relatively minor commercial issue today.  I had red tagged one of the breakers due to a short I discovered.  While he was in the main, he reached for the tagged breaker.

"Don't turn it on," I said, "Its tagged."

He turned it on and the breaker popped.  The yelling from the other room was immediate.

He turned it on again!  The new yelling included the magic word "FIRE" ...  

...  which caused me to sprint to the other side of the building, grabbing a fire extinguisher, and waving my hands through the smoke.

"WHERE?", I yelled.

"There, in the wall!" came the reply.

Yes, there was a small yellow flame behind a double GFCI receptacle box.  It, thankfully, went out before I could unscrew the plate cover ... but it left a helluva black smoke and stink.

Electrician fired.  I dropped the ADA compliance issues which were my main deal of the day and finished the breaker change-out in the main, which was why we had him out to begin with.  Now we have to open the wall, chase the wiring and cap the circuit.

Guess Summer is over ...


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## nealtw (Sep 3, 2014)

He did find the problem.


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## zannej (Sep 3, 2014)

Man.. I think I would have hit that electrician upside the head with the fire extinguisher for that. Did he not hear you tell him not to turn it on? WTF? 
I hope that moron hasn't procreated.


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## oldognewtrick (Sep 3, 2014)

zannej said:


> Man.. I think I would have hit that electrician upside the head with the fire extinguisher for that. Did he not hear you tell him not to turn it on? WTF?
> I hope that moron hasn't procreated.




Dang zanne, did you eat a double dose of Wheaties today?


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## zannej (Sep 3, 2014)

Well, conceivably, the guy could have electrocuted someone or gotten people killed. So, Yeah, I would want to inflict bodily harm. LOL.

(Ok, I would not *actually* have hit the guy, but I would have wanted to. I probably would have chewed him out bigtime and told him he was paying for any damages).


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## CallMeVilla (Sep 4, 2014)

Over time, I have learned when to yell and when to speak calmly in the face of emergencies.  The knucklehead was right next to me as I pulled the receptacle cover off ... revealing a black as charcoal mess which used to be two GFCIs.

In front of the crew, I turned to look at him and calmly said: "That is why I told you not to turn on that breaker."

Sometimes, being shamed is as bad as being yelled at.


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## zannej (Sep 6, 2014)

CallMeVilla said:


> Over time, I have learned when to yell and when to speak calmly in the face of emergencies.  The knucklehead was right next to me as I pulled the receptacle cover off ... revealing a black as charcoal mess which used to be two GFCIs.
> 
> In front of the crew, I turned to look at him and calmly said: "That is why I told you not to turn on that breaker."
> 
> Sometimes, being shamed is as bad as being yelled at.



Yeah, that was probably the best way to handle it. 

My father used to terrify people without raising his voice. There were quite a few people who were intimidated by him-- which was hilarious to me because he was a big teddy bear. 

On a side note, did you get pics of the burned GFCIs?

I'll have to dig up the pics sometime-- but once when we were having concrete poured down at the workshop the guy driving the cement truck completely ignored the GC when he told him to back the truck in slowly. Instead he decided to barrel in forward full throttle and almost went in to the pond. When he realized there was a pond, he slammed on his brakes. The weight shifted and the front end of his truck slammed forward and downward right into the mud with such force that it broke the steps on the truck and wedged it down. They had to call for a huge towtruck. Which in turn got stuck in the mud while trying to tow the cement truck out so they had to call a second towtruck to try to pull them both out with a winch.

Meanwhile the owner of the cement company/truck got on the phone and started making threats to my father and telling him how he was going to bill us for the damage to the truck and if we didn't get his truck unstuck that he was going to charge us for every minute that it was out and blah blah. So my father calmly told him that he had been planning to try to get the truck dislodged, but now that the guy was being a jerk it was on him to get it out at his own expense because it was the fault of his driver. He also questioned the driver about his experience and he'd been driving large trucks for 2 years. That guy ended up shutting himself in the truck and sulking while the workers scrambled to actually get the cement out to pour it-- they had to jerryrig a chute system to get the stuff close enough to pour in to the frame. The GC told us he would take care of any charges they tried to tack on bc of the idiocy. He was a nice guy. It's a shame he passed away. 

I'll try to remember to find the pics when my internet isn't being retarded.


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## CallMeVilla (Sep 6, 2014)

The double gang box was full of black soot.  Managed to cap the wires and pulled the connection in the main panel too.  Sorry, the GFCIs got tossed but this photo is a close example of the before and after ...


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## zannej (Sep 6, 2014)

CallMeVilla said:


> The double gang box was full of black soot.  Managed to cap the wires and pulled the connection in the main panel too.  Sorry, the GFCIs got tossed but this photo is a close example of the before and after ...



Ouch.. The burnt one looks like a screaming/horrified face. LOL. (well, 2 screaming/horrified faces).

What caused the burn? Were they hooked to a breaker that was too high voltage or something? (Despite having taken electronics in high school over 20 years ago, I don't really know all that much about circuit breakers and such).


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## CallMeVilla (Sep 6, 2014)

We don't know what caused the short but I had discovered it previously and wanted to trace it.  The knucklehead electrician kinda eliminated that option by setting it on fire.  I was literally standing over his shoulder holding a flashlight when he reached for the breaker.  Told him "Don't turn it on" and he did it anyway.

Fortunately, the fire was small and contained in the receptacle box.  Scared the hell out of the staff!

In emergencies, it is often better to become deadly serious and calm.  Freaking out and getting emotional often leads to bad decisions.  You can get excited afterwards over beer ...


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## zannej (Sep 6, 2014)

Yeah. I'm glad that nobody got hurt.


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## Chris (Sep 12, 2014)

Today on the job.


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## nealtw (Sep 12, 2014)

Don't see any mud on your boot.


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## Chris (Sep 12, 2014)

I'm the boss.


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## zannej (Sep 13, 2014)

Cue the "Like A Boss" song from Lonely Island.


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## Chris (Oct 10, 2014)

Pics.............


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## zannej (Oct 22, 2014)

On a complete bizarre train of thought thing, my road was closed yesterday because they were digging a culvert. The equipment in the last pics reminded me of that for some reason. And it made me think it would be funny if they did a reality show about the people who do Chris' sort of work and called it "Culvert Operations"...

I have a very strange mind...


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## slownsteady (Oct 25, 2014)

> I have a very strange mind...



It's good to have different thinkers in every group. And a warped sense of humor is appreciated...:2cents:


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## slownsteady (Oct 25, 2014)

Hey, I think that show follows my favorite show about chicken farming in the frozen north:
 "Ice Road Pluckers"


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## oldognewtrick (Oct 25, 2014)

slownsteady said:


> Hey, I think that show follows my favorite show about chicken farming in the frozen north:
> "Ice Road Pluckers"



Uh......   Never mind ......


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## slownsteady (Oct 25, 2014)

Oh, come'on! what's your favorite show? It's not that video about prostitution in the frozen north,...is it?


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## oldognewtrick (Oct 25, 2014)

slownsteady said:


> Oh, come'on! what's your favorite show?



Here comes Honey Boo Boo and it's been canceled...


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## zannej (Oct 27, 2014)

I saw that about the Honey Boo Boo thing.. Canceled because of a _rumor_. That is just sad. Granted, its even sadder if the rumor turns out to be true.

I didn't watch the program but I think my mother did.

And this has gone so off-topic. lol.


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## oldognewtrick (Oct 27, 2014)

Most threads around here tend to jump the rail sooner or later... And no, I've never watched one second of that show.


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## Chris (Oct 27, 2014)

I like grape jelly!


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## nealtw (Oct 27, 2014)

interesting


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## Chris (Oct 28, 2014)

Yup......my shop.


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## Chris (Oct 29, 2014)

Started tearing up a Starbucks.


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## nealtw (Oct 29, 2014)

I don't like their coffee but isn't that a little extreme.


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## glock26USMC (Oct 29, 2014)

Incredible. ..... I actually like their coffee


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## Chris (Oct 29, 2014)

...................


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## Chris (Oct 29, 2014)

Almost shut down time.


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## Chris (Oct 29, 2014)

All this work to move a water meter three feet.


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## Chris (Oct 30, 2014)

11 pm and the valve won't shut down. I hate service work sometimes.


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## Chris (Oct 30, 2014)

Gave up at 12:20 when we couldn't get the valve to shut off even close enough to attempt to solder. It 1:40 am and I just got home, I'm going to bed. Goodnight!


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## zepper (Oct 30, 2014)

I'm no expert, but to me, you look like one of the courageous people who's out there Keeping The World Going.


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## Chris (Oct 31, 2014)

I hate working days and nights.


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## zannej (Nov 1, 2014)

I like grape jelly too! Love the garage pics. Nice boat!


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## frodo (Nov 1, 2014)

Bama Grape


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## Chris (Nov 2, 2014)

My work yesterday.


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## zannej (Nov 2, 2014)

Bama grape is delicious! 

Mmm. BBQ. Love the little sun behind the BBQ.


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## Chris (Nov 4, 2014)

A repair job we just did on a fire riser.


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## Chris (Dec 8, 2014)

Random pics of my work....
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Repair1418051701.437702.jpg

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Repair1418051725.762283.jpg

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Repair1418051743.851478.jpg


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## frodo (Dec 12, 2014)

Chris,  lemmie share a fire riser story with you.

many many years ago.  late 70's/early 80's.  Ronnie [my training plumber] and i
fixed a leak on a 3" fire riser main. it was all screw pipe. no vic pipe in them days.
when we got finished, and turned the water on.  no leaks. GOOD!  
but, when we turned on the jocky pump.  we would get a very small seepage where new tied into old.
so, we tore it apart,  redoped/  added teflon tape.  put it back.

damn thing leaked again,  again only when pump was turned on.
this time,  we tore it down, wire brushed the female end,  chased the threads male end, teflon tape and dope
 SOB still leaked.  
 the boss came by,  to see how we were doing,  and my plumber explained, it would barely seep only when pressuer up
above 70 psi
he handed us some lead wool, and a small blunt screwdriver.  we packed that joint.  problem solved


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## Chris (Dec 12, 2014)

I hate those type if leaks. We test to 200psi so when we get a leak at 190 it's frustrating because you know the system will never see that kind of pressure.


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## Chris (Apr 27, 2015)

Found this while digging today. Wonder where the rest is.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Repair1430179290.524383.jpg


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## slownsteady (Apr 27, 2015)

it's in there somewhere.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXixlEy5Gfc[/ame]


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## Chris (Jul 10, 2015)

Doing this today. New sewer manhole and lateral, nine feet deep in unstable beach sand.
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Repair1436548724.168294.jpg


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## havasu (Jul 10, 2015)

Can you see China from the bottom of the hole?


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## Chris (Jul 10, 2015)

Just about.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Repair1436560443.771800.jpg


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## oldognewtrick (Jul 10, 2015)

Find any water?


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## Chris (Jul 10, 2015)

No but I used a few thousand gallons backfilling.


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## slownsteady (Jul 10, 2015)

A contractor lost two workers here (a few towns over) last spring, when a ditch collapsed on them.


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## Chris (Jul 11, 2015)

It happens here occasionally as well. We like safety. Well I like safety better than losing an employee anyway.


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## zannej (Jul 11, 2015)

Yikes.. I think I'd be nervous climbing in to a hole dug in sand like that. Glad it went well.

And the mention of China made me think of China Beach. lol.

Sorry to hear about the two workers that got buried, slownsteady. That's always sad. :-(


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## slownsteady (Jul 12, 2015)

Those supports look like the Darth Vader's fighters from Star wars


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## nealtw (Jul 12, 2015)

I thought this might be interesting for people to see about trenching
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEz-Fvr1qhI[/ame]


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## havasu (Jul 12, 2015)

Shore 'nuff 

Hey Chris....who is your "competent" person?


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## Chris (Jul 13, 2015)

I am competent, confined space and Osha  certified for trenching and excavation and so is my foreman. Antonio is also competent and confined space trained.


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## havasu (Jul 13, 2015)

I thought maybe you needed someone not involved with the excavation. Yep, Antonio seems like a smart cookie.


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## Chris (Jul 13, 2015)

We have a top guy. He doesn't do much but coordinate what's going on and passed tools and whatnot. I don't like to be that guy so I usually operate when I'm on site. I get bored unless I'm in a tractor or in the trench. I'm not looking forward to 3am to go to Manhattan beach to keep digging in that sewer job.


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## doechsli (Jul 13, 2015)

I had a sewer line replaced a while back and the trench was 9 feet deep at one end and the plumber/excavator NEVER shored the walls.  I asked if that wasn't a bad idea and he said it wasn't required.  It scared me watching them......


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## Chris (Jul 13, 2015)

OSHA as of 2015 anything over 4' deep requires shoring.

Only exception is if it is the owner or licensed individual of a non incorporated company in the trench. You can not legally have a paid employee in the trench. They don't care if the owner wants to be stupid.


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## Chris (Jul 13, 2015)

Back at it today.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Repair1436815189.406155.jpg


View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Repair1436815201.188919.jpg


View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Repair1436815213.121933.jpg


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## nealtw (Jul 13, 2015)

The treches we worked in in the 60s, were scary and we never gave it a thought.


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## zannej (Jul 18, 2015)

Great pics, Chris. I think they would be cool on a houzz site or blog that shows how things *should* be done.

I'd love a closer shot of those metal things you're using to hold the boards in place. What are those?


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## Chris (Jul 18, 2015)

They are called Z shores. Hydraulic aluminum shoring that gets pumped up to hold the walls back.


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