Hi,
I've just had underground soil pipes replaced beneath my driveway. They are modern PVC type material. Unfortunately near where they originate at the back of the house the builder could not lay them deep enough due to eventual shallow depth of septic tank (he said he wouldn't have had enough fall). So, at the start the pipes are only about 1-2 inches below the surface. The pipes are surrounded and covered with a pea gravel/soil/lime mixture and since the original pea gravel was used to fill the trenches the drive will eventually be recovered with a new layer (say 50mm deep) of some sort of gravel. I'm told that the original pipes were apparently the same depth but encased in concrete which was apparently why they'd cracked. After finishing the job the builder said we shouldn't drive over the new ones - VERY ANNOYING given that it's a driveway! Anyway, he's been paid now and I'm not very happy since I currently can't use the drive as we did in the past.
Two suggestions from friends so far have been to lay some steel mesh and encase in a "spreader layer" of concrete (say 600mm wide x 50mm thick), or, leave an inch of gravel over the pipes and then lay a steel plate (again, say 600mm wide) over the pipes.
If I went for the steel plate option what thickness would I need to support the weight of a car so that it was spread over the width of the plate instead of straight on to the pipe? Any other suggestions much appreciated.
Thanks.
I've just had underground soil pipes replaced beneath my driveway. They are modern PVC type material. Unfortunately near where they originate at the back of the house the builder could not lay them deep enough due to eventual shallow depth of septic tank (he said he wouldn't have had enough fall). So, at the start the pipes are only about 1-2 inches below the surface. The pipes are surrounded and covered with a pea gravel/soil/lime mixture and since the original pea gravel was used to fill the trenches the drive will eventually be recovered with a new layer (say 50mm deep) of some sort of gravel. I'm told that the original pipes were apparently the same depth but encased in concrete which was apparently why they'd cracked. After finishing the job the builder said we shouldn't drive over the new ones - VERY ANNOYING given that it's a driveway! Anyway, he's been paid now and I'm not very happy since I currently can't use the drive as we did in the past.
Two suggestions from friends so far have been to lay some steel mesh and encase in a "spreader layer" of concrete (say 600mm wide x 50mm thick), or, leave an inch of gravel over the pipes and then lay a steel plate (again, say 600mm wide) over the pipes.
If I went for the steel plate option what thickness would I need to support the weight of a car so that it was spread over the width of the plate instead of straight on to the pipe? Any other suggestions much appreciated.
Thanks.
