Hi-Oh! Fellow Steemians and Homesteaders!

My wife and I decided to add-on to the current footprint of our cabin foundation so as to have a larger washroom/mudroom.

Living in a camper these past months has taught us the necessity of having enough space to take on and off our earth sodden shoes and boots as well as to store other such accouterments without having to constantly trip over them.

Since we're building our cabin on a post and beam style foundation, adding on to it is as easy as auguring some extra holes for the posts to go down into the ground. The only precaution I had to take was that I had previously buried a water line coming into cabin on the same side I am auguring the new post holes. I was pretty sure where the line's path traveled and mapped out my post placements accordingly.

Fortunately, I had avoided the water line that I had run to my cabin foundation on my first set of posts. On the second row of posts, however, I was not so fortunate. As I was digging the third hole I noticed the soil on the auger attachment turn wet. Much to my chagrin, I knew what that meant.

I quickly pulled the auger out of the hole and shut the skidsteer down. After the rumble of the 4bbt Cummins diesel engine ceased I could immediately hear the gurgling of the pressurized line and saw the newly drilled hole filling with water.

I jumped onto the 4-wheeler and drove up the 1300 feet of buried water line to where the main shut off valve had been placed. After removing the squirrel chewed cover and the insulation covering the valve I was able to stop the flow of water down to our cabin foundation as well as to our camper.

I drove the 4 wheeler back down to the hole and pulled the broken line out of the miry water so as to break any siphoning action that may occur, sucking mucky water back into the potable water line.

I next detached the water supply from our camper and opened the nearest yard hydrant so the water line could drain. It's quite remarkable how many gallons of water are stored in in 1300 feet of 1 inch water line. It must have continued to flow for 5 minutes, letting gravity empty the line out.

Thankfully, I had the proper fitting to create a cap onto the line I broke, so fixing the leak didn't take more than 5 minutes.

I drove back up, turned the water back on, replaced the insulation and cover and went back down to the camper to bleed the line. Sure enough, as the air bled out, and water came chugging out, it came out mixed with mud. After about 30 seconds of running the water it cleared and all traces of muck were gone. I then shut off the yard hydrant to depressurize the line going into the camper and reconnected the camper to the water line.

After turning the yard hydrant on we bled the lines in the camper and whalla! We were back in business, as if the water line break never happened.

The only thing left to do is shut the water off once more and make a repair coupling so that the cabin can have water once again. That, however, is another job for another day.

Thanks for Reading!