Used to bury coax lines 6 inches deep - now I dig 18 after a backhoe disaster

Back in 2018 I did a job for a new house on Elm Street and buried the cable at 6 inches like I always did. A month later a landscaping crew hit it with a tiller and I had to re-run 200 feet of coax. Now I call 811 before any dig and trench at 18 inches minimum. Any of you guys seen problems with shallow burial on new builds?

2 comments

2 Comments

kim_patel892d ago

Huh, 6 inches seems fine for most yards unless you're running it under driveways or common digging spots. 18 inches feels like overkill unless you're burying it next to a septic tank or something.

butler.abby2d ago

Whoa, hold on there. 6 inches is way too shallow for most places. I've seen people hit lines with just a garden shovel at that depth. Code in a lot of places actually calls for 18 inches for direct burial cable, especially if it's not in conduit. You gotta think about frost heave too, that can push lines right up to the surface. Better to dig a little deeper once than have to redo the whole damn thing after a fence post goes through it.