How do I bury a cable TV line under my driveway, and how deep do I bury it?

Answer 1

OK I would think if the cable is a new installation that the cable company would take care of installation, If the cable is already in the house it would be easier to run around the outside of the house or the attic, BUT I will assume you already have cable but for some reason you want to go somewhere with it that causes you to have to cross a drive. I will give you a couple of options. I hope you have a single width drive 8 to 10 feet wide. most concrete drives have expansion joints every 8 to 10 feet especially older ones. You might be able to pull out the joint material and lay the cable in the resulting space 3/4" wide and then replace the joint. If no expansion joint then you can push the cable under the drive. purchase some 3/4" pvc schedule 40 pipe put a glue on cap on one end and drill a couple of 1/8" holes in the cap, and fasten a garden hose to the other end. Dig a hole next to the drive where you want to cross and begin pushing the pipe under the drive. the water spray at the end will soften the soil and let you push the pipe thru the resulting mud. This will take a while but it will give you a conduit thru which you can push the cable, and it will have a little protection. the balance of the cable need only be a s deep as you are comfortable with. If no traffic in the area, I've seen the cable guys scratch a groove in the ground with a claw hammer and bury the cable. If you have underground utilities in your area there is a service listed in the yellow pages that will come out and locate the existing utilites and mark them. Just so you don't get into trouble with your digging especially if you have undergound electrical service. Be safe instead of sorry. There is a third option, but it involves renting a concrete saw, cutting a trench across the drive, breaking out the concrete, burrying the cable, and pouring a concrete patch back where you cut out the strip. Good Luck

Answer 2

Too many variables here, really. You don't say if the drive is paved or not, how wide it is, or how much abuse it gets. You also don't say if this is a permanent install or temporary. I've buried coax cables only a few inches deep, and never had problems. If the drive is paved and you have to bore a hole under the paving, then it can be right beneath. Unlike water pipes, you don't have to go below the frost line. And unlike electrical lines, you don't have to bury so deep that it won't be accidentally dug up. If the drive isn't paved, you really only need to scrape an inch-wide groove, 3 or 4 inches deep, and make sure the cable stays on the bottom when filiing it back in. Driving over it isn't going to affect or squash the cable, because that groove is too narrow for auto tires to sink into, and the ground on both sides is still hard. Use a length of iron or pvc pipe if you're really worried about that, but you still only need a couple inches of ground covering it.

Answer 3

yes although it is possible to tunnel under the drive with a hose and a pipe it can cause problems in the future. If you do it this way try to keep the bore pipe at least 16 inches below the drive. if you have an asphalt drive way I would recommend that you do not try this. the resulting difference in density if the subsoil will cause the drive to fail and crack. on a concrete drive it is possible but I have seen several cracks develop in these cases too. When the cable company does it the machine they use pounds its way through and the compacted soil around the hole will return to its prior state after a couple freeze thaw cycles. they usually go further below the drive so that the difference in compaction is spread out over a larger area. The pounding a pipe through with a sledge is the best answer for the DIYer be sure you start about 12" below the pavement bottom surface or it is possible to crack the drive. Call and have the utilitys marked so that you don't drive the pipe into the utility.

A note on the side: if the CONCRETE drive was placed on a good sand subsoil it is possible to use that area for easy passage. I would leave the end of the pipe open drive it through and then flush out the sand in the pipe with the hose.

Answer 4

Since a TV cable carries negligible voltage, the depth at which you bury it is not regulated by electrical building codes. Therefore you can bury it at any depth.

A good depth would be at least 12", to keep it from accidently being cut by someone digging with a shovel. An 18" depth would be even better. Or you could run it inside a piece of plastic PVC water pipe for protection.

Answer 5

Like the previous people mentioned, somewhere between 12 to 18 inches deep. Another thing I would do is run PVC pipe the length of the cable from the pole or roadside to the house and run the cable through the PVC pipe to decrease the chances of the cable insulation corroding.

Another recommendation, even though it may not make a difference, is run RG-6 cable instead of the RG-59. RG-6 has better insulation and protection against loss of signal.

Answer 6

Landscape & sprinkler companies have a horizontal auger that they use to dig under concrete. You might try a tool rental place and see if you can rent one. As far as the depth it doesn't have to be very deep because you are not concerned with the freeze depth since it will only have cables in it. We had a peice of PVC laid just under our circular drive when they poured it so that I could put an elecrtical cord out to the circle for Chrismas lights.

Answer 7

well if its a tv cable you dont have to bury it deep at all maybe half a foot to a foot

Answer 8

just dig a trench 18 inches deep and bury it

Answer 9

Call the cable company. They usually offer that service for free.

Answer 10

let cable company do it