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Gas companies are usually very friendly and informative with local residents, and you usually get a card once per year with a survey or letting you know how to report concerns. They don't want trouble with local municipalities (not that it matters), and they need residents' help to report small issues before they become big issues (broken and missing marker poles, etc).
Gas companies are usually very friendly and informative with local residents, and you usually get a card once per year with a survey or letting you know how to report concerns. They don't want trouble with local municipalities (not that it matters), and they need residents' help to report small issues before they become big issues (broken and missing marker poles, etc).
Oh, how I wish that were the case for us. A high-pressure gas line runs directly under the footers for our fence, and it’s only two feet under grade. It’s also eight feet from our dining room. All of this predates our ownership of this property by decades, btw. We did not discover the issue until we started the process of replacing our fence a few years ago. Because of a retaining wall, we cannot move the fence inside our property line off of the gas line, and clearly we cannot move the fence out either, as it would then extend beyond our property line. We can’t take it down completely either because we live in an HOA-governed neighborhood where privacy fences are required. It’s a right mess, and the utility company that laid the gas line was sold probably thirty years ago, and the “new” utility company acts as if they have no obligation to help us solve the problem. Wish we had thought to ask for the utilities to be marked before we made an offer. Buyer beware.
We need to remove the footers to replace the uprights, and the concrete was poured over the gas line. To be clear, the concrete for the footers is adhered to the gas line. I wish I was kidding. No fence company will touch the project because of it, and the utility company says, “Not our problem!”
We need to remove the footers to replace the uprights, and the concrete was poured over the gas line. To be clear, the concrete for the footers is adhered to the gas line. I wish I was kidding. No fence company will touch the project because of it, and the utility company says, “Not our problem!”
What about the neighbor on the other side of the fence? Seems like they should be involved in solving the problem since it would be in their interest as well. Doesn't seem like the HOA can enforce the rule if it can't be done safely.
What about the neighbor on the other side of the fence? Seems like they should be involved in solving the problem since it would be in their interest as well. Doesn't seem like the HOA can enforce the rule if it can't be done safely.
No neighbors on that side of the fence. Our property abuts a sidewalk and road where the gas line runs under the fence. We’re the only property affected. It’s complicated. We’re working through the process right now. Hopefully, we can find a solution that keeps everyone safe and gets a new fence up. Wish we had known about the issue before we made the offer to purchase the property. Would have made a hard pass, but now we own the problem.
Last edited by abbottkd71; 09-20-2020 at 08:12 AM..
No fence company will touch the project because of it, and the utility company says, “Not our problem!”
I suggest you contact your local municipality (city or county) to put pressure on the gas company. Most concrete pillars are usually only about 1 foot deep, but if it was done a long time ago, all bets are off.
No photos. Sorry. All you’d see now is a decrepit old fence with rotted posts. The gas company came out and inspected the line a couple of years ago where we had dug around the footers, confirmed that the concrete was adhered to the line and suggested we replace the soil and leave well enough alone, which is what we did. I’m not making this up. The gas company has thrown up its hands and confirmed that they’re not interested in moving the line; our HOA is uninterested in helping us to figure it out, although they are very insistent that we maintain a privacy fence; and we’re stuck with a 43-year-old fence that we don’t know how to replace safely.
To give a little background information, our neighborhood was platted about a decade before housing construction began. When the gas line was laid, it was six-feet under grade and ran along our property line, which sides to a major neighborhood thoroughfare. Our corner lot was placed on a natural swale about half-way up a hill. The builders regraded, scraping the front of the lot to make it flat and dividing our backyard by building a retaining wall between our house and the one behind us. The retaining wall runs parallel to the back of our house, about twenty feet from our patio with arms that extend along both sides of our lot. This is why we cannot move the fence in. The retaining wall abuts the fence. When the front of the lot was scraped to even it out, about four feet of topsoil was removed, reducing the depth of the gas line and putting it much closer to the surface. When the fence builder came through, it poured the footers directly on top of the gas line. The house behind us does not have a similar problem because his lot was not regraded. The gas line is sufficiently deep that it does not interfere with placement of the footers.
Sorry, OP. I did not mean to hijack your thread, but apparently my situation has sparked interest.
Last edited by abbottkd71; 09-21-2020 at 11:22 AM..
I suggest you contact your local municipality (city or county) to put pressure on the gas company. Most concrete pillars are usually only about 1 foot deep, but if it was done a long time ago, all bets are off.
Depending on how deep the frostline is. Around here 2 feet is the minimum for fences, 3 feet for decks and structures.
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