March 23, 2006

Infrastructure Part 1

John’s perspective:

We know Madison Woods was developed in the 1970s, but we have not been able to locate the original blueprints. We had to find out how the utilities were laid out. Cable and streets lights were easy since they were on utility poles above ground. Water, sewer, electric, and telephone lines were buried underground. We needed to find the location of each utility and determine how it would be affected by the new configuration.

The first phone call was to a utilities locator. In most areas, this service is provided free of charge. The locator is a centralized agency that contacts all the utility companies and zoning departments. A locator employee came to the site and marked off the location of all the utilities using color coded paint and flags.

We met with our electrical contractor and a Georgia Power engineer to determine where to relocate the pedestals and reroute the underground wires. Fortunately, for this first pod it wasn’t necessary to move transformer or junction boxes, but this may be an issue we will face in future pod installations.

Dealing with the phones lines was simple. Telephone boxes scattered throughout the field, turned out to be inactive. The telephone company agreed to replace any lines that were disturbed when we are finished.

When Madison Woods was first developed, the city was responsible for the water and sewer systems. They maintained the pipes, read the meters and billed the home owners directly. Several years ago, a previous owner decided to take matters into his own hands and make water a profit center. Unbeknownst to the city, he drilled wells and created a private water system. It was eventually discovered and shut down. However, the city handed over responsibility of the system to the park owner. Now the city bills the park owner for total water usage. It is the owner’s responsibility to read the individual water meters and bill each residence. Our long term goal is to have the city resume responsibility for the system, so all the improvements we make will be to current city standards.

We were fortunate to find two city employees who worked on water and sewer lines years back when the city maintained them. They knew the history of the park and its water and sewer systems well. They were generous in sharing their expertise, and taught me how to literally read the ground for clues on the water systems.

The master water meter is at the entrance to the park and feeds a 6” iron water main that travels under the street and serves half of the circular drive. The other half of the circular drive is serviced by 3” PVC pipe. There are two side streets off the main circular drive, one with a 6” iron line, the other with 2” PVC pipe. The lines to the individual homes are 1” black plastic hose.

In order to bring the new DW homes into conformity with the city, we will run copper pipe from the main water line to the home. The old water meters will be replaced with the same digital, radio wave meters that the city uses.

Much of the park is serviced by the original 6” terra cotta sewer pipes, which are still functional. Some areas have newer spec 4” Schedule 40 PVC. The lots where the new DW homes are going to be placed have been vacant for some time. Before we could use these lines, we would need to examine it to determine its condition by probing with a camera. We opted instead to run new 4” Schedule 40 PVC sewer lines for this project. This will cost more initially, but in the long run be cost effective.

Everything was planned out. It’s time to start digging.
Posted 1 week, 5 days ago on March 23, 2006
The trackback url for this post is http://mobilehomeuniversity.com/blog1/bblog/trackback.php/9/
Great Info
John,

This is some great information. Many park owners never get a handle on the infrastructure. Having a blue print on this item will help down the road when you get ready to sell.
Posted 1 week, 4 days ago by Steve Case • @ • • Reply
Comment Trackback URL : http://mobilehomeuniversity.com/blog1/bblog/trackback.php/9/5/
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