I just had a my water service replaced on a rental home. The main goal was to increase water pressure in the house and it really did the job. The big problem I have now is a huge mound of dirt over the trench going through the front yard. This house is a rental and needs to be rented asap and I am afraid the ugliness of the dirt mound will deter renters. I was wondering if I could rent something or pay somebody to come in and compress the soil down flat? What would I use? Is it safe to do something like that over the water line? We used 3/4k copper for the water service.

 

Ideally compaction should be done as you are back filling the trench. I assume you don't have any equipment available like a tractor that you could drive along the trench.

 

The trench is already filled. The mound is over a foot 1/2 high in some places. I do not have any equipment. I would have to rent it or pay somebody.

 

I do have a 4wd F150 I could drive over it. Not sure that would be heavy enough though. LOL

 

Your truck would be heavy enough to do some compacting but I'm afraid the ground would be uneven and the compaction would leave a hard, compacted crust making it difficult to get grass to grow. You could drive over it with your truck then have a tractor with a box blade or pulverizer smooth things out and loosen the surface so you can plant grass.

 

Do you think this could damage the copper pipe?

 

I have had really good results laying a soaker hose, upside down over the trench. Turn the water on at a fairly low level and let it run for several hours. Gravity will do the rest. I don't know if you are located in a frozen ground region.

 

Will it hurt the pipe depends on how deep the pipe is laid and if it was laid properly. If the pipe is lying on the bottom of the trench and supported by firm/compacted soil without rocks it will be fine. If the trench was over dug and the pipe is lying on loose fill dirt then the pipe or fittings at the ends could be damaged, but if that is the case there is a chance it will be damaged in the future as the soil naturally settles.