How deep is the wire?
If we ran our installation machine (as opposed to hand installation) the wire will most likely be three to six inches in depth. However it is shallower where we encountered tree roots or rocks. In areas where we knew or suspected there are phone lines, cable TV lines, outdoor lighting lines, drains, sprinkler control lines or sprinkler heads, your line is also much shallower so we could avoid damage to these facilities.
Over time, tree roots and erosion will expose or lift your wire out of the ground where they could become vulnerable to everyday activities and gnawing squirrels or chipmunks.
In mulched gardens or rock gardens or stone creek beds or stone drainage ways: the wire is usually stapled or placed under the mulch or laid under the stone, but on top of the soil. We do this so you can locate it easily before you commence future digging.
Your wire may not be deep enough to prevent damage from lawn aeration, yard maintenance equipment (lawn mowers are safe) or shovels. Even verti-cutting or cross-cutting for new seeding or de-thatching can be bad news for your wire where we are shallow around utilities or if we had to hand lay your wire under the sod, or if erosion has occurred or if tree roots have lifted your wire.
If you have intrusive yard work scheduled, such as new drains, phone line or cable line burial, outdoor lighting, aeration, re-edging gardens, new edging gardens, sprinkler system installation and repair, etc.. on your schedule, you are wise to ask us to locate where your wire is before the work. Call us for an appointment to mark your yard to prevent expensive repair work. We charge for this service, but it costs far less than replacing the line.
I am going to aerate my yard. Should I have the wire located or marked first?
Yes. And we do charge for this service. However, in the long run it costs much less to have us mark the wire than to repair it over and over again as knicks in the line corrode and create new breaks in the line in the future. Please call a few days in advance of your work so we have time to efficiently place you on the calendar and to insure we have time to make it to your home in plenty of time before your work is to be completed.
If you have us mark the yard, and the aeration company cuts or damages it, then you should hold them responsible for reimbursing you for our charges. Our marks on the yard do not guarantee that they will honor the marks, but it gives you the right to demand restitution from them if they screw it up.
We charge to mark your yard before aeration or any other kind of work on your yard. The price depends on the size of the yard (time and materials). In almost every instance it costs less to mark than to fix a fence. The minimum charge to fix a fence from aeration (1 cut, 30 minutes of time) is at least $135. (subject to change at anytime). The problem is, sometimes an aeration job will not cut it thru, but damage it in multiple places. These places will eventually fail in a cascading fashion over time. This type of failure ends up requiring multiple repair trips. Each trip will cost at least $135. Those multiple trips usually upset a customer and stresses our relationship with them. But we cannot find things that are not CUT all the way thru. Consequently, all we can do is respond to your next requests for service. We ask that you remain patient with us as we gradually work our way thru each repair until it finally quits breaking again someday.