Home Reno Problems: Hitting a Gas Main While Digging – Steps You Should Take

Home renovating projects can be tough, here’s what you need to know before excavating and what to do if you hit a gas main.

Photo: Vogue

Home building projects are common. People want more space in their home, or they want to add value to the property. It makes sense to use the outside space to help with this. It’s entirely possible to complete a building project, effectively and in a timely manner. But you need to have plans in place to make sure that this happens.

The less you plan, the more likely you are to experience problems, such as hitting a gas main or encountering underground structures. Let’s look at what you can do to avoid encountering unexpected obstacles and what you should do if you do hit a gas main.

How Planning Can Help

It’s unlikely that you are completely sure about what structures lie beneath the ground on your property when starting a home remodelling and renovation. This means that there is a chance that you could come across unexpected obstacles during your building project. Problems such as hitting a gas main can be costly and dangerous, so it makes sense to take actions to try and prevent them from occurring. Solutions such as 3d laser mapping can help as they enable you to see what lies beneath the ground. Having this information available to you means that you should be able to plan how to avoid any obstacles that are present.

Photo: Elle Decor

What if You Do Hit a Gas Main?

If you plan ahead, before renovating your home you should be able to avoid hitting a gas main during your building project. But, just in case, here are the actions you should take if you ever do hit a gas main while digging in your back yard.

• Get as far away from the gas main as possible. Gas is dangerous once it’s released. So, you do not want to remain anywhere near the gas main once you have hit it.
• Do not use your phone before you move away. It’s understandable that you should want to call for help as soon as possible, but you should never start to use your phone until you have distanced yourself from the damaged gas main. This is because using your phone can cause a spark that ignites the gas which is escaping.
• Use your phone to call the gas emergency service as soon as you are safely away from danger.

Photo: Freshideen

If you follow this advice you should be able to make sure that you remain safe while also alerting the gas emergency service to the problem, as soon as possible.

As you can see, hitting a gas main while digging can be dangerous, if you damage the gas main. There is also a good chance that you will be faced with a bill for the cost of repairing the damage. This is an extra expense that you do not want. This is why it makes sense to take precautions to try and prevent you from hitting a gas main in the first place. It’s worth spending some time and money doing this, to save you from having to deal with the consequences of a damaged gas main.