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Utility Line Awareness and Retaining Wall Footings

16:35
24:42
277.8K views

At 16:35 in

How to use a Rotary Laser (sponsored by Dewalt)

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What happens here

The presenter shares a real-world example where a phone and cable line were inadvertently cut during excavation because private utility lines from a house to an outbuilding (like a barn or garage) are typically not marked by utility companies. He then demonstrates how to repair a cut cast iron pipe using two Fernco couplings and a section of PVC pipe. He stresses the importance of performing repairs correctly, especially with critical infrastructure. He then moves to another job site where a retaining wall is being built, illustrating how to set the base by first laying down a gravel base (rock) 12 to 18 inches below the first block. The rotary laser, with the receiver attached to a wooden stick, is used to ensure each subsequent course of blocks is perfectly level across the entire length of the wall.

Goal: Understand the challenges of unmarked utility lines and learn how to use a rotary laser for precise retaining wall construction.

Tools and materials

  • Base Rock — Providing a stable foundation for the retaining wall
  • Concrete Saw Stihl — Cutting existing pipes
  • Cut Utility Line — Demonstration of a repair scenario
  • DeWalt Rotary Laser DeWalt — Maintaining level for retaining wall construction
  • Fernco Couplings Fernco — Connecting sections of pipe for repair
  • PVC Pipe — Replacement section for pipe repair
  • Receiver DeWalt — Detecting laser line on the wooden stick
  • Retaining Wall Blocks — Constructing the retaining wall
  • Shovel — Excavation and moving gravel
  • Wooden Stick — Acting as a makeshift grade rod with the receiver

What they say

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challenging job site I literally just snapped the bone and cable line running from the house up to the barn not now most of you guys probably normally get half Demark utilities before you start excavating but here's something that some of you may not know is the utility companies will only mark the lines that they is installed any private lines will not get marked that means that a line running from a house to a barn a garage or a shop installed by a homeowner or a different contractor won't be marked that's why these got hit here's another thing these are still hot even though it's a phone in a cable line if I touch these ends it'll wake me up all right so we're at the next jobsite all right so we're going to talk about digging footings now I'll plane you've already got this one set what I want to relate with these guys is how you establish the elevation because we've got almost an 18 inch deep trench in this [Music] well because the soil out here was a little on the soft side we talked of engineer and he said to go at least 12 to 8 feet inches the base underneath the first block usually we only go six inches to this good solid ground but in this case we went 18 it was really soft and we're down to about a foot a base under this look is the first block so no we want to go about a foot in front my footing behind okay so when we're actually setting up if you want to come in a little bit tighter what Blaine is doing right now is he's got enough dug out so that he can put his rock down in place and he's actually not using a real grade rod because you don't always need to have a grade rod when you're actually once you get your elevation set you can set the elevation on the stick and then you can just use the stick this gets a little bit more advanced because now you're really not reading numbers as much as you are understanding where the grade needs to be is that right that's correct so here's where Blaine's first block is but here's where he wants his elevation set is right here and if we flip it around he come in you can actually hear he's got this dead-on and instead of using a transit in this case he's actually just setting it up so he's got a mobile he's literally as he's building he's just going to be using the rotary laser down the line to continued establish so he knows that his rock is always going to be right here if you can look that means you got a at eight by any chance that's I figured he would have a tape he's got tape right there so if you look…

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