Sprinkler leak under pool deck

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Hey everybody, I could use some help. Today, while enjoying the pool, we had our lawn sprinklers running. I had to get something out of my shed and go through the sprinklers, nbd I was already wet. Well, I noticed that the ground was soaked where there was no sprinkler head. After some investigation, I found out the leak is coming from under the deck, but only when one specific irrigation zone is running. In the pic below, the leak is where the grass is pushed down in the middle of the deck - I could run my hand underneath the deck.

My question is, is it safe to dig under the deck to fix this! I live in NW Fl so it's all sand and easy to dig. The edge of the deck is about 8' from the edge of the pool.

http://www.customcutz.com/pool/1.jpg
http://www.customcutz.com/pool/2.jpg
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[gwegan]

If you could reach your hand under the deck there is a problem.

We don't know how long this leak has been there or how much it has under mined the deck.

A couple of thoughts. Can you determine now how much of the patio has been undermined? That may be the more serious question.

First, is it possible to abandon this stretch of line and reroute the irrigation? That would be my first choice. Where dose this line come out? is it a straight run under the slab? You might be able to pull the bad line out and replace with a the same or smaller diameter pipe. That usually only works on short runs.

Second if you want to dig realize you may have to go back a ways to reach the leak and that it is very difficult to compact the soil (especially most sand) under the slab. You can dig but understand you may only be creating a more serious problem. You want everything under the slab to be well compacted so there are no voids under the slab. The correct way to do it is to excavate a pit next to the slab and excavate back. That gives you working room.



Oh and just be thankful for your sand, I can't dig a hole for a rose without running into two rocks the size of a loaf of bread.

 

[danpik]

You should be able to dig under the deck with no problem. I've heard of plumbers who do that to slab houses in Florida to fix plumbing problems.

 

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Thanks for the opinions and information guys. There may be a way to use some additional PVC I had installed before they laid the deck, it's just a matter of finding the line coming from the pump.

I may dig a little and see what all I can see, but I'm not sure how far I'll go.

Well, I just looked at some pics my wife had takes during the install last year (I was out of town for the entire build) and it looks like it will take a lot to re-run the line... :grrrr: