Getting the sprinkler pipe under the driveway turned out to be the most difficult task of the whole project. I came up with the idea to use a water jet nozzle on the end of a long length of pvc pipe to blast a tunnel under the driveway. I’d used this before going under a sidewalk, and thought it would work well under the driveway. Things started off well, with the pipe slowly going in, and digging a nice tunnel. However after about 6′ the pipe got stuck. I couldn’t get it to go any farther in, and even worse I couldn’t pull it back out either.
I tried to use my pressure wash to dig it out, but that didn’t work, so the only thing I could think of was to try again. I hooked up another pipe to the hose, and started digging in. I got to about 6′ without problem, but was unable to free the other pipe. So of course I just kept going. I got to about 8′ when low and behold the pipe got stuck. I was now out of pipe, and out of ideas, so I left it be for a few hours.
In my pondering I thing I figured out what happened, and that is, the sand that our concrete driveway is poured on, makes for a poor tunnel, and although the pipe had no problem digging through it, the tunnel would then collapse on the pipe, getting it firmly stuck. So I bought another section of pipe, and this time tried to go right underneath the concrete instead of about 6″ below it. This finally worked without a problem, and I was able to get the pipe all the way through.
Of course the other two pipes are still stuck there, and will remain that way until the end of time.
hi,
i did the same thing yesterday but just with one pipe. I was able to get the pipe all the way through but it ended up 4 ft down on the other side and can’t really get to it easily.
1. Any suggestions
2. How do I get a 3/4 pipe to go straight across? dig the trench farther out so i can push straight?
Thanks in advance.
Yep, I would dig the one side down farther and try to keep it straight, could also try and use a bigger or thicker pipe so it doesn’t droop as much.