Winter is Here, Happy Holidays!

The winter months are finally here. Over the last month, we’ve spent a lot of time preparing for what winter may bring us. We’ve changed attachments to all of our tractors. We have assembled plows, and performed routine maintenance to be sure all of our equipment runs properly through the storms. Also, we went to all of our plowing locations and made sure to install snow stakes, and stock bags of ice melt. During the last month, we’ve also been working on a piping job for Silver Spring Township. To begin this project, we started by excavating between two inlets on Bourbon Red Drive, in Mechanicsburg. After excavating several feet, we removed the existing pipe. Once everything was cleared, we added and tamped stone to allow the new pipe to sit on top. There was very little fall to be included so our measurements had to be very precise. Once the pipe was connected to both inlets, we added and tamped stone on top of the pipe periodically. The following day, we laid asphalt and covered the saw cuts with AC 20. After we added the new pipe along the road, we focused on the pipe that split the two houses. Instead of removing the old pipe that was linked to the outlet, we laid the new pipe next to it. According to the plan, we pumped the existing pipe with concrete. After the area was excavated and stone was at proper grade, we began laying the new pipe. The biggest challenge we faced was connecting the ‘sticks’ of pipe. Going into the project, we knew this was going to be one of the more difficult tasks. The most efficient way we discover was using a machine and wedging a 2 by 6 to leverage the pipes together. Once all the pipes were connected, we added the necessary stone and soil to cover the new pipe. To top everything off, we brought in some sifted topsoil and laid sod to make the work area look nice. Also during the project, we had to remove a couple sections of sidewalk. After the pipe work was completed, we poured new concrete sidewalks. All in all, it was a great project! It took us about five full workdays to complete everything. Here are a few pictures of what the process was like…