09-06-94 CCM - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

-o t From: Jeffrey J Rondeau Aug 27, 1994 8819 36 St N Lake Elmo, MN 55042 To: City of Lake Elmo Re: History of water leak at 8879 36 St N and request for reimbursment of repair cost. About the beginning of July I began to hear the sound of water running when in the basement. The water meter wheel was not turning and when the water was turned off at the meter the sound of running water continued. I called Lake Ehno Public Works, they promptly sent out a man to investigate. He too heard the sound of running water in the basement even though the meter wheel was not turning. He then turned off the water at the street and the sound stopped. This caused us to suspect a leak between the street and the meter. Since there was no evidence of water on the ground outside he suggested waiting until then to dig and repair the leak. A couple of weeks passed and still there was no sign of water on the surface outside but the sound of running water was getting louder. On August 3rd I arrived home from work to find a note on my door from Dan Olinger of LE Public Works stating that he would dig the following morning at the valve by the street to repair the leak. That evening I decided to do some troubleshooting of my own to see if the leak was indeed at the valve. I dug with a posthole digger at the valve and by the house where the water enters at the foundation. I dug to a depth of 5 feet at both locations. At the valve the dirt was damp from about 6 inches all the way down to 5 feet (there'd been no rain in about two weeks). At the house the dirt was dry down to about 4 feet then it got very wet down to about 5 feet. Knowing that Dan was coming to dig at the valve the following morning I left him a note on the ground near the valve stating that I suspected the leak to be near the house. On arriving home from work on the August 4th I saw that no digging had taken place so I called Dan to find out why. He said that he could not dig near the house with his backhoe because it was too big to work between the the evergreens that are near the house. The evergreens were tied back just as. they were when the water was originally installed using a large backhoe on the back of a tractor. So, not wanting to have the water leaking nest to the foundation any longer, I decided to rent a backhoe and dig it myself. On Saturday, August 6th, I rented a small backhoe from Action Rental of Stillwater and dug near the house to reveal the water pipe. Right next to the house was a fitting that was leaking alot and about 4 feet from the house was another fitting which was leaking a little. I took apart the fitting near the house to find that the flare had been eroded away by the water on one side (flare is included with this letter). This fitting was also not very tight. With this fitting taken apart I was able to grip the pipe with my hand and turn it as the fitting that was 4 feet from the house was loose. I attempted a fix but was not successful so I called a plumber. Copies of all receipts are attached. Not included in the total is about 12 hours of my own time spent on digging, repairing, and filling in the hole. Bachhoe $117.15 Parts $29.99 Plumber $250.00 Total $397.14