# conduit under exsisting sidewalk



## myenergy (Jan 25, 2010)

Hi, Ive been a maintenace electrician for 15 years and two years ago I got my contractors license and insurance and started doing small jobs part time. it has been a good challenge and every once in a while I run across something I am not quite sure of. In this case it is the best way of getting a piece conduit under a slab a sidewalk without messing with the integrity of the slab. (with out it cracking when I am done) I know you can use water and jet it out but that seems like it could remove to much of the base.

any other suggestions.

Joe


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## RIVETER (Sep 26, 2009)

What about a hole dug on each side and then auger it?


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

I've sledgehammered up to an entire 10' piece under sidewalks and drives. Keep a level on it. If you have a backhoe on the site, you can push several pieces under sidewalks and drives. 

How big of an area do you need to cross?


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## william1978 (Sep 21, 2008)

I have seen a guy do some trick with a conduit and a water hose and sorta bore under a sidewalk.


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## Devin (Jan 12, 2010)

i heard somthing about digging a trench on both sides until you hit under the slab or 18". then cut the pvc at a 45 degree angle then hammer the other end periodicaloy clean that pvc of dirt and repeat untill you passed the sidewalk


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## egads (Sep 1, 2009)

Boring under a sidewalk at the 18" level will probably not effect it's integrity. Landscape guys do it all the time and they are never that deep. In the landscape section of a big box store you can get a set of 3/4 hose thread pieces made for this. (one male, one female) to the male end you screw on a jet fitting like the ones used for sweeping. The only time I would hesitate to bore under paving is when it is subject to vehicle traffic.


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## TOOL_5150 (Aug 27, 2007)

MDShunk said:


> I've sledgehammered up to an entire 10' piece under sidewalks and drives. Keep a level on it. If you have a backhoe on the site, you can push several pieces under sidewalks and drives.
> 
> How big of an area do you need to cross?


This is what I was goign to suggest. My way of doing it is on the threaded end: cut it at a 45 degree, the other end with the coupling [which you leave on] is the part that you hit with the sledge. Once your threw, cut the sharp edge off till you dont see dirt in the conduit and replace the coupling on the other side and you are ready to go. I prefer to run a fish threw the pipe before connecting it up to make sure its free of obsticles.

~Matt


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## myenergy (Jan 25, 2010)

thanks guys, all these Ideas sound good. I will just try the one thats makes the most sense for me.


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## AWKrueger (Aug 4, 2008)

When I worked for a landscaping company that did sprinkler systems we'd dig a hole on either side and then drive a piece of pipe beneath the slab.


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## Voltech (Nov 30, 2009)

william1978 said:


> I have seen a guy do some trick with a conduit and a water hose and sorta bore under a sidewalk.


 A Piece of EMT and a pressure washer work well too. Just have to let it drain and be sure to stop up the end that you put the PW into.


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## user438 (Jun 6, 2007)

I have this one, it works ok but is a pain to setup. I have used it to go under a 20' walkway

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4Dtv3KUXfY



I have been eyeballing this one though, it looks good for small jobs


http://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=SS-5740


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## william1978 (Sep 21, 2008)

Rich R said:


> I have this one, it works ok but is a pain to setup. I have used it to go under a 20' walkway
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4Dtv3KUXfY


That is a pretty neat tool.:thumbsup:


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## user438 (Jun 6, 2007)

william1978 said:


> That is a pretty neat tool.:thumbsup:


 
Yeah that one works great, the only problem is the setup, in the demo video the guy is only going down like 3 inches. The problem is when you have to go 18 inches you have to dig a trench about 5' long 20 inches deep and 2 feet wide or your dril will end up getting all full of mud etc. Which is no problem for a bigger job where it is worth it opposed to paying a sub to bore etc..

I was looking at this one for simple 4 foot wide walkways but have never tried it personally. Seems like it would work better than the old school beat a pipe under walkway which gets full of dirt and spend 2 hours messing with it.

http://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=SS-5740


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## wildleg (Apr 12, 2009)

well, actually the 'old school' way of beating a pipe under the walk involves crimping the end 1st, and after beating it through, cutting the end off. the method where you spend hours cleaning dirt out of the end of a pipe must be some youngster's method.

that borit looks interesting, but kinda gay like a diy tool. why not just rent a mole ? http://www.sunbeltrentals.com/equipment/category.aspx?id=s438


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## VersaJoe (Nov 19, 2009)

I use something called a Borzit tool.. http://www.borzit.com/

I was not convinced until I actually tried it. It is amazing. I drill under sidewalks and one time drilled about 20 feet across under a blacktopped driveway. The only thing that would keep you from using this tool is if you hit solid rock. In that case you would have to move to a different location and try again. For the price, you can't beat it!

Wildleg.... you should be a little more open minded about tools that really make our jobs easier....


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## Toronto Sparky (Apr 12, 2009)

http://bulletmole.com/video.html


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## jwjrw (Jan 14, 2010)

I did one last month, dug a hole on each side, used a sharp shooter to grt under it and drove the pipe thru the last 18 or so inches. The boring company forgot to get me to the other side so I had to do it that way


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## user438 (Jun 6, 2007)

wildleg said:


> well, actually the 'old school' way of beating a pipe under the walk involves crimping the end 1st, and after beating it through, cutting the end off. the method where you spend hours cleaning dirt out of the end of a pipe must be some youngster's method.
> 
> that borit looks interesting, but kinda gay like a diy tool. why not just rent a mole ? http://www.sunbeltrentals.com/equipment/category.aspx?id=s438


 
That is an interesting method, what do you use to crimp the end of Rigid conduit ? ( I'm assuming you mean Rigid, since EMT is not allowed underground and PVC would break) I want to try this on my next job. I have used a threaded coupling with a threaded seal but seems to make it too blunt to get through easily


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## wildleg (Apr 12, 2009)

you can use emt if you are running direct burial wire (not as a raceway). you can also use it to make the hole and run a smaller size pipe in it. if it was 1" or smaller, though, I suppose you could smash the end of the rigid with a sledge. (above 1 1/2" I dont think smashing it would be pretty,, but I gotta admit I've never really tried it)


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## user438 (Jun 6, 2007)

wildleg said:


> you can use emt if you are running direct burial wire (not as a raceway). you can also use it to make the hole and run a smaller size pipe in it. if it was 1" or smaller, though, I suppose you could smash the end of the rigid with a sledge. (above 1 1/2" I dont think smashing it would be pretty,, but I gotta admit I've never really tried it)


Yeah that's a good trick, don't know why I never thought of that. Use a 1" emt with smashed end, cut off and run a 1/2" pvc through it. Going to experiment my next walkwayway job


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## dowmace (Jan 16, 2008)

I've always just put a pipe cap on the end of the rigid that I was hammering under the sidewalk. Then when it's out the otherside simply remove the cap and your ready to go. Whats a 1" cap cost? under 3 bucks?


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## jking1967 (Mar 25, 2010)

We used to put a penny under a emt connector on one end and drive it under the sidewalk. This kept the dirt out of the pipe.


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## JoeKP (Nov 16, 2009)

egads said:


> The only time I would hesitate to bore under paving is when it is subject to vehicle traffic.


FINE THEN! i'll be the one that bores under the d*mn 5 lane freeway to run some landscape lights!:jester:


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## Voltech (Nov 30, 2009)

Toronto Sparky said:


> http://bulletmole.com/video.html


I would find a way to get that on the end of a small Hammer only drill..


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