Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Around The House). This thread is read-only.
The existing one car wide concrete driveway is being replaced / upgraded to two cars wide w/ Belgard Catalina Grana Pavers in 4×8, 8×8 and 8×12, using Pattern B, plus four matching patios wrapping around the house.
Prior to that installation I have been scrambling to bury / rip out / relocate deeper all the “speak now or forever hold your peace” stuff before it becomes impossible.
One aspect is that the wider driveway will now have the below surface water meter box surrounded by pavers (in the driveway) instead of surrounded by grass (in the yard). Here in southern Florida everything is just inches below the surface.
This is a waaay nice meter box and I didn’t want to risk the Bobcat guy breaking it during removal for relocation to a higher elevation, so I dug it up myself. I also exposed (dug up either side of the driveway) the water main and marked the driveway w/ spray paint so the Bobcat guy didn’t damage that shallow water pipe passing under the concrete driveway that was being ripped out, then excavated deeper for the compacted crushed limerock.
What I discovered when I removed the water meter box is that the 3/4″ soft copper tubing from the house to the water meter has a MPT fitting at the end. That is screwed into a 3/4″ galvanized steel 45° FPT fitting, then Schedule 40 PVC to the MPT on the water meter. All of that was concealed from view until I removed the box.
That 45° galvanized steel fitting was covered w/ surface rust. That fitting was about to be buried in 6″ compacted crushed Limerock, then 1″ sand, then 2-3/8″ (60mm) of pavers.
So the night before the excavation crew arrived I removed everything from the water meter to the 3/4″ copper, replacing it w/ a heavy duty Nibco NL950X8CL 3/4″ FPT ball valve and soldered Type L copper pipe. I wanted a regular ¼ turn valve instead of only having the ½ turn water meter shutoff valve.
Good thing I did this fix. Not only was the exterior of the galvanized steel fitting rusting, once it was removed I discovered that the interior was pinched down from rust, decreasing the water flow to the house. The two typical failures from galvanized steel is decreased flow and exterior leaks. This repair was about to become inaccessible.
Now the plumbing is solid, from the water meter to and through the house.
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FWIW, this galvanized steel / Schedule 40 PVC is not original to the 1963 construction, probably about 20 years old.
The water main feeding my meter apparently now comes from a branch feeding my neighbor’s meter.
That pit has a retired and uncapped copper feed to the street, ending in closed valve followed by a smooth hose barb. (That valve didn’t want to turn with a reasonable amount of effort, so unknown if still connected.)
My meter / 1/2 turn shutoff is fed by a buried flexible black plastic pipe heading off towards before my neighbor’s meter.