Strange Pretubereance

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

having the concrete smashed up that's been encasing the house for I don't know how long which has had the effect of raising the external ground levels by 4" above the internal floors, any house revealed is the remnants of the old brick path and this thing... my mind is telling me it could be something to do with water, but I'm not sure so if anyone can shed any light that'd be great.

 

[Anonymous]

For anyone interested, here's the remnants, not sure when it was laid but it'll probably need taking up and redoing.
I may well leave a gap between the house and the path and put some sort of drain in.

 

[Anonymous]

You can also see the height of the previous path by looking at the rainwater pipe in the middle of the house. Now were this pipe to actually be over the drain that'd be something !

 

[Feltwell]

Water or gas would be my bet - looks not too dissimilar to a redundant gas valve I found when doing my garage. Dig carefully around it would be my next step.

I called the Gas Board out to mine, they sent a service engineer who confirmed it was indeed a gas feed, but that I'd need the "specialist team" calling out to tell if it was live or not. The "specialist team" (that'll be 1 bloke on his own then!) came out, tried and failed to unscrew the valve with a big set of stillsons, then investigated it further using a hammer before pronouncing it dead - honestly, I'm surprised he didn't have a fag in his mouth whilst doing his "expert" investigation! Maybe they sent him because he was expendable.... :shock:

 

[Mickey]

old redundant earth wire?

Mickey

 

[Anonymous]

Oh I did laugh at your Gasman tale... very funny.. they are a funny bunch.
Fortunately, we don't have mains gas in the village so I can rule out gas... I like the idea of an earth only because the thing that looks like a twig coming out of it is actually cable..... well I think I might try and dig it up... keep an eye on the news for gas explosions in Dorset

 

[plasticpigeon]

Ha ha, the gasman cometh!

Nice blue brick path, leave it if you can! If the joints are not filled with cement it should offer good drainage. There will be some splash on the wall, but if the ground is sufficiently below floor level it shoudl be ok I'd have thought.

 

[plasticpigeon]

If it is an earth it will be a bastard to dig out. It will be very deep and have a cross piece somewhere deep under. If you really hate it you could cut it off, but if it isn't harming why not leave it?

 

[Anonymous]

Well, I might leave it or do something with it... it's sort of in an awkward place in the middle of the path... I'll review as you say it'll be easier to leave it where it is... and to be honest there's so much else to do... Steve the groundworker has filled a 6 cubic yard skip with the concrete that was covering the path... I was very impressed.

Unfortunately the path doesn't extend all the way around but I plan to perhaps recreate it using the old bricks as best I can.

 

[Zebra]

I suppose it could be the top of your earth rod, I would be inclined to dig around it a bit and see what's connected to it. If it is, don't dig it out!