811 Call Before You Dig

One of the more common problems with cable in underground neighborhoods is damage to the buried cable. There are many reason for this but far and away the most common is something physically striking the cable. Perhaps you or one of your neighbors put a new fence in. Maybe an invisible fence was installed. New sidewalks, driveways or a myriad of things are common culprits. That is why there are programs in place for this very problem.

Call before you dig!

A good practice is to investigate the One Call Centers around the country. While researching this entry I found out something new. The 811 service. This is a handy way to find out contact information for your area. Here’s what happens.

You want to put three new trees in your yard across the frontage. There are no telephone poles but instead the utilities are in green (or something similar) boxes on the property. Even if you have telephone poles there are things like water and gas to consider. Now, you got a good price by using a small contractor local to your area. He employs local people and operates close to the cuff. Maybe he will take care of this for you, but quite likely, they won’t.

So, to make sure that your gas or water won’t be interrupted you check with 811. If you go online to do this you can get the call center phone number or website to make your request. Any utilities that could be affected will be contacted and one day when you come home from work there are paint marks on your lawn. These are the “locates” for buried utilities. These help the contractor digging to know that there is something there.

Simple really. Just a phone call and you don’t have your neighbors mad at you for cutting off their phone service. Or cable, or water, or gas.

You see where I’m going with this, right…