A few projects I have done recently

[CM1995]

Friday a week ago as the wife and I were heading to Atlanta I placed a bid on Ironplanet for a 2" submersible pump and a 3" gas powered trash pump. The listing stated the gas engine was seized. Placed the minimum bid of $150 and won.

The two pumps - the submersible looks brand new.



When the listing said the engine was "seized" I highly doubted it as it's a Honda and they have low oil shutoff. Low and behold after taking the pump apart, the pump itself was just froze with rust. Took about 10 min with PB Blaster and a scraper to clean it up.

Changed the oil, removed the carb bowl (which was spotless) and pulled the spark plug which looked new - pulled the cord and fired up the first time. Score!



One can see where the impeller shaft was froze with rust to the pump manifold.

 

[JNB]

Nice score CM. Gotta love some PB Blaster for sure .

 

[CM1995]

Nice score CM. Gotta love some PB Blaster for sure .

PB is the go to in my toolbox, that stuff will melt Styrofoam.:yup

The pumps were at Sunbelt in Decatur, AL about an hour north of my location, easy drive to pick them up. I love to bottom feed auctions and walk home with a gem.

Now that we have 2 - 3" gas powered pumps and 1 - 2" submersible - I hope I never need them again in my career.

Usually the only time we need pumps is when it's near freezing on the temp gauge and need to pump out an excavation so we can try to make forward progress.:bash

Alas I know they will be used in the future..

 

[dirty4fun]

I use P B blaster for the tougher ones I like Acetone and ATF fluid mixed fifty fifty. It eats on rust pretty good, best I have found to loosen rust.

 

[JDOFMEMI]

Looks like a good score CM

I like shopping like that at the auctions as well. You can find some real gems hiding amongst the trash people are throwing out.

 

[Landclearer]

For some reason I missed you post last week. Great deal on the pumps, I did a little bottom feeding myself this week and will post pics when it arrives.

I like the 321/sprinkler, I thought I was lazy Just kidding, dragging a fire hose around does suck some kinda bad. Looks like you are able to move right from job to the next, a sign of good planning and some good luck:thumbsup

 

[CM1995]

Started a little job downtown that involved demo'ing curb/gutter, asphalt and installing some storm drainage for the renovation of a building into new offices that is over 100 years old.

This area of downtown is under a major revival, there is $740M worth of work going. The apartment buildings in the background were just recently completed, the other side of the building overlooks the outfield at the new minor league baseball stadium.

Rented a 308 due to having to set the 4x4 knockout boxes. One box is all the 308 wants but it will pick and set it. I like that size machine but when I add another excavator it will probably be a 314 size for a little more ass.



Site was tight as all urban jobs go, luckily these two streets don't see too much traffic.



One of two new inlets, this one will get a 38x38 grate on top. The roof leaders for the front of the building will also tie into this box through the small cut in the knockout on the other side.

The paving averaged 14" thick with 4" of asphalt and 10-12" of concrete. The reason for the thick pavement is the poor soils in this part of the city. Nasty clay with all sorts of buried treasures from times gone past. We dug up old cross ties digging this inlet from the trolley system that criss crossed the city at the turn of the century.



Loading out some storm sewer spoils, you can see the "quality" of the dirt.



Loading out some asphalt and concrete. One of many new mid-rise buildings under construction in the area can be seen in the background. This building will be a new hotel.

 

[CM1995]

It's always "fun" digging downtown, like a line from a movie "it's like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get".

In addition to the high pressure gas main that goes on 2 sides of the building we're working on there is a cross country AT&T fiber line running across the street in addition to a Verizon and Windstream fiber line that ran through where we dug for the new storm line.

I did learn something from the AT&T guy that located their line - If the orange fiber marker has a world symbol on it then it is cross country and stupidly expensive if you hit it. This particular fiber line runs from Miami to NYC.

Sanitary sewer lateral for the building was laid right on top of the old 12" clay storm sewer we had to remove in order to install a new line. Found the sewer line and uncovered it. Since the old clay line was directly under it, we used a chipping hammer to break the clay pipe under and around the sewer line before digging it up.

If you've ever worked around the old clay pipes all you have to do to break it is look at it.



Connecting the new 12" A2000 plastic drain line to the existing storm manhole. There was a short section of 12" clay coming out of the old brick manhole so we got approval to leave that short section in and connect the A2000 to it instead of going into the old manhole. Used non-shrink grout to plug the gap.



Now for the exciting part, 8" high pressure gas main hit - no we didn't do it.:cool2

Plumbers were digging in order to tap an 8" ductile iron water main for the building service and hit the line. I was standing on the corner when I heard the tooth puncture the plastic line, there is no other sound like that. In a split second it sounds like a 55 gallon beer can under pressure with an old school pop top being pulled.

Needless to say it shut the job down. Police and fire responded before the gas company showed up and shut down all the streets coming in. Knowing the news crews were not far behind we decided it was best to go ahead and break for lunch.

I have no desire to be interviewed and be on the 6 o'clock news.

The gas blew dirt across the street into the parking garage for the apartments next door. BTW it did make the news..

Alagasco making the repair.



I thought this was a cool shot. On the GC's backhoe shuttling #57's to backfill the storm line, Children's Hospital is in the foreground.

 

[Landclearer]

Hey CM,

Neat job and something different and challenging for sure. We have the same deal in downtown Charleston up to 2 feet of asphalt and then anything and everything buried. When Charleston burned back in the day, they took all the garbage and filled marsh lands then built on top of it.

I learned something about the fiber as well thanks for sharing.

 

[CM1995]

Hey CM,

Neat job and something different and challenging for sure. We have the same deal in downtown Charleston up to 2 feet of asphalt and then anything and everything buried. When Charleston burned back in the day, they took all the garbage and filled marsh lands then built on top of it.

I learned something about the fiber as well thanks for sharing.

While I was digging for one new gutter inlet we ran across a 12" ductile line that wasn't marked. I poked a hole in it with the 308 and water trickled out with a faint smell of natural gas. Upon the initial investigation it wasn't spewing water so no live water line, it wasn't spewing gas so it wasn't a live gas line and the water was clear and didn't smell like **** so it wasn't a sewer line.

I called 811 and notified them that we hit an unmarked line and told the operator what I typed above and told her I think it's and abandoned line other than the **** part. Well the description didn't quite get transmitted to the emails sent out to the cross country fiber operators. The email sent was "an unmarked line has been hit and work is shut down", I later found out after I checked my emails.

Line locator showed up around 11 AM and immediately said that was the old gas line and it's abandoned so no problem and we went to lunch. While we were at lunch there were a fleet of AT&T, Verizon and Windstream personnel that showed up thinking one of their lines were cut. Assistant super told us it was a circus for a while until they determined nothing of theirs was damaged.

Never a dull moment.

Very good to hear you guys didn't get hit as bad as it could've been from the storm.:thumbsup

 

[Colorado Digger]

Wow, I bet you are keeping your gear locked up tight in that neck of the woods.

Take Care, CD

 

[hvy 1ton]

Fixed boom 7 ton's do a lot better at craning, but 13-14 ton would probably be better for most of your projects. Don't see 110's very often, very surprised a utility company would have one.

 

[CM1995]

Wow, I bet you are keeping your gear locked up tight in that neck of the woods.

Take Care, CD

Good to hear from you CD. How are things in high country?

This area of town isn't that bad. The GC had a locked site fence and all I had on the site of mine was the T250.

Fixed boom 7 ton's do a lot better at craning, but 13-14 ton would probably be better for most of your projects. Don't see 110's very often, very surprised a utility company would have one.

I agree but we needed the swing boom to work around the power pole, fire vault, building canopy and all the other things in our way.:bash

The 420 fills in for a 7 ton on most jobs with room. I am really liking the new 315FL.:naughty

 

[CM1995]

Not much in terms of major construction this week. Finishing up some jobs and bidding others.

Getting the auto parts store ready for a parking lot.



View from the side of the building.



The pervious concrete retention area of the parking lot. It took a beating after we installed it.

BTW - I love the 279.



We had to run sprinklers to get the moisture up for a proof roll as we are in a drought, no rain for 6 weeks which is tough for this part of the country. The landscape is powder dry and forest fires are a problem.



Scored some building materials. 3/4 plyform from the concrete guy, 6 21' long heavy gauge steel studs and 1.5" foam insulation board. All destined for construction of a new shop.

 

[Landclearer]

You guys can't win, you are either to wet or to dry.I guess dry is better because you can always add water. Is that parking lot going to get curb?

 

[CM1995]

You guys can't win, you are either to wet or to dry.I guess dry is better because you can always add water. Is that parking lot going to get curb?

We all had a laugh about it, too much in the beginning and not enough at the end.

The parking lot is all concrete with an integrated 12" curb. 8" of #57's and 5" of 4K concrete with #4 rebar on 4' centers. They spec their parking lots heavy.

 

[Landclearer]

I guess they want it to last. I assume you are going to grade it and place the 57s?

 

[CM1995]

I guess they want it to last. I assume you are going to grade it and place the 57s?

No the stone is in the concrete contractors scope, we just give a certified sub-grade. We'll come back and backfill curbs and final grade.

 

[90plow]

Cool work CM!

 

[Landclearer]

No the stone is in the concrete contractors scope, we just give a certified sub-grade. We'll come back and backfill curbs and final grade.

I wish our concrete guys would do there own grading

Won't be long and you will be out of there and onto the next one.