Hi all,
As per title, I bought a lot in Piara Waters WA and didn't realise there's a manhole in front of my block (almost in the middle of the block)..ARGH!!. It's probably gonna be where the lawn is. Question is how can I cover it? I plan to lay artificial or buffalo lawn in the front(undecided).
So do they make some kind of grasstop manhole cover like what I seen upon googling here in Perth? Any other tips how to cover it up? Love to hear your advice.Ta!
Nice idea, but I would hate it if council people need to attend to something in the future. Did think of bird bath too, but scare it might be stolen, knowing how unsafe Perth has turned to. They're not that cheap too..
knowing how unsafe Perth has turned to
You bought in Piara Waters, safety obviously isn't your number one priority, then again people are getting shot in the face in Mosman Park.
@Droid11: sorry but no dumber than your comment about how "unsafe Perth has turned to". What are you basing this evidence on?
15 years in Gosnells without a single break in sounds fairly safe to me.
@Droid11: You are not getting it are you?
You are the one who said Perth has turned unsafe, but you fail to back that statement up and are infact making statements indicating the opposite.
WHAT MAKES YOU SAY PERTH HAS TURNED UNSAFE?
Droid11, so many negs on every comment :(
You are not the droid I'm looking for.
Couldn't you cut a circular section in the artificial turf to go over the manhole cover? Very cloak and dagger, having an escape route in your garden. :)
I guess I could…haven't gone to that option yet …basically just gutted it's probably just left me with artificial lawn option
Personally I'd be stoked… no lawn mowing, no watering!
But then you couldn't park a car on top of your artificial lawn..probably gonna ruin it fairly quick
That would be cool hey want to see my bunker!
Yeah, "hey want to see my manhole?" doesn't quite have the same ring to it.
(pardon the pun)
Yes, yes I do want to see your man hole ;)
Not a good line to use as an openening
Unless that's the kind of opening they're into.
If you put any landscaping or cover over it - you may be in breach of easements etc. Expect to find your front garden destroyed by your local utility provider when they "try to find the manhole"…
ah darn didn't think of that, maybe a hobbit type door with a big sign Bilbo Baggins lives here knock for a guided tour… sure the utility provider would knock first?
Yeah they'll do that and you'll have zero recourse.
A telstra tech who was hunting a fault a couple years ago dug up a specific area on my neighbor's front lawn which revealed a telecom pit I never knew existed. The tech then put the dug up turf back on top of the pit so there was a nice brown rectangle on his lawn for at least six months afterwards lol
Not sure what the manhole is for exactly (sewer?), but I can just imagine the poor tech or council worker who for some reason has to access it at 2AM.. hunting around for it from a not-so-accurate diagram whilst trying to be quiet and not cause any damage to the house's landscaping. I work for an energy distributor and sometimes have to access peoples meter boards at all hours.. I'd be pissed if someone covered/disguised it. I'd be checking for any regulations you have to abide by in regards to access/visibility.
Just leave it.
I can't!! it's already driving me crazy!! I probably wouldn't have picked the lot if i knew there's a manhole in the front..
Spray paint it green
still, there will be gap there ..definitely need to cover up with something
Is it a manhole or is it a soakwell? Sounds a bit odd to have a manhole on private property??
thought soakwell is not visible anyway? I meant I still need to install soakwell anyway. I would say it's 99% manhole..it had metal lid on top too..
I grow buffalo grass over a manhole. It takes a couple of months to grow back after it has been accessed, but since access is only required every couple of years I can live with it.
how do you do that? Just put a layer of dirt across the manhole cover?
before laying the buffalo grass on the manhole, place some wetting agent to assist the buffalo growing. something like this
or those water absorbing beads.
nah no need m8 the runners will be over it in 2-3 weeks in the warm weather ,in fact you'll loose track of it so remember where it is ——- I have solinoid boxes in my buffalo lawn, that if i dont spray with round- up they get over grown
wetting agent LOL on a manhole , no value whatsoever just let the runners ruuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnn
http://postimg.org/image/gi1yes2ux/
http://postimg.org/image/e4ctohe0r/
Just do a bit of manscaping around your manhole.
Not saying where I work but…30% of the Sewer Manholes are in peoples back yards here… We have no idea what condition they are in and most people inadvertently let the grass enclose them.. They will just tear the grass up to access if they need to access for that once a decade need to get in there…
Are you aloud to cover them?… not really.. but If we have to we have the legal right to rip in if need be..
In nsw it shouod be easily accessible. My parents have a garden around theirs in the front corner. Once your garden grows a bit you will forget its there.
We've got a Telstra pit cover on our naturestrip…we just built the soil bed higher than the cover and then just covered it with soil and the grass grew over it. Nobody knows it's there and I had to point it out for a few tradies and even a Telstra linesman. No issues.
Landscape away! We've got an easement in our backyard…hasn't been dug up or accessed in the 50 years it has been there.
Your not allowed to cover them up, just paint it the same colour as the grass…
Does your title have an easement on it for this manhole?. It was always the first thing i checked when looking at the section 32.
Presuming it does, i would not be covering it up, as they may have to dig around to find it. If you do make sure you mark it in some way.
Also remember that they are allwoed to access you property to get to the easement anytime they want.
Did you not check the title/section 32 (not sure what its called in WA)?
I had the same issue, AND it was raised. I ended up building linkwall around it, covered it dirt and put the grass on top
Originally they said cover it with plastic and put tanbark mulch on top, that way if they ever needed access its a simple matter of just moving the plastic.
As it was pretty much 1.5m away from the footpath (ie too big a garden bed) that wasnt an option.
They did threaten to demolish the whole thing IF they needed access…… As it really is just an inspection hole- they never needed access in the 12 years I was there.
The grass never did grow properly there (well - it looked even worse there than the rest of the yard LOL) - it was still possible to tell where it was ;)
We have one on our property in Brisbane. They told us they need access every few years, but they have not had any access to it in 6 years so far.
One big flower pot and few smaller ones circling ours and we forget its there.
THanks for all the ideas guys! I think I'll just gonna lay cut out an artificial to circular shape and just lay on top. At least the color will match the surrounding.. real lawn just too hard to maintain planted on top of the cover..
You are worrying far too early. Wait until the building is complete, and the garden design is set. Then you will be able to incorporate this feature into your yard effortlessly. A solution will be evident by then.
Yea I know it's probably too early to worry about it, but I'm just gutted I bought a lot without realising the downside of it. Truth is I could have bought the lot opposite mine. Although It has footpath, but at least no manhole. I guess I just wanna make me feel better first knowing I can do something about it..lol
I would say that you should be buying land that suits your house siting requirements best and not if there is/ is not a manhole. You need to look at the aspect of the house - summer breezes, winter sun entering etc etc. You house design may have the living areas at the back, in which case you want the block of land which takes advantage of this. So simply buying the block on the other side of the road may have come with a LOT more design challanges than this simple manhole!
well my current house facing north west, with living area on the left hand aside of the house….if you can imagine it.
I guess the opposite would have the north side facing the back huh.
As to how good it is…I really don't know..it's our first time building after all
@Droid11: Did you at least consult dome kind of 'architect'/ designer etc…. or did you just say "I'll just buy this block of land" and "I'll just build this standard design house on it"?
@Logical: something like that lol..told you I'm new to whole building thing..looks ok though for my layout..met the 6 stars energy requirement too
I had some "pretty cool" manhole covers at my place in the UK. Cool is the wrong word but they look far better than a plain metal top. One was in the middle of the path to my house and I walked over it everyday and it didn't bother me. So don't worry about it.
Before even attempting to describe it, I'll see if I can find a pic. It's sort of sunken in so you can fill it to blend in with the surroundings but access is easy.
Sort of what you've mentioned above but with easy access.
I can see there's plenty grasstop manhole cover sold online in UK, but can't seem to find any in Australia, not to mention in Perth. Wonder if they're expensive to be shipped over..
Probably cheaper to have one made up locally?
Found this - http://www.acoaus.com.au/access/urbanfil.htm
These guys appear to post to Oz at a very reasonable rate(?) http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/5-Tonne-Galvanised-Steel-Manhole-…
good find..might check them up later down the track
Funnily enough i don't have many pics of my manhole covers… however i did find one. This is a pic of the one in the back garden which isn't as sunken in but you get the idea. The front one was lower so i could cover the edges with stones. Under the black plastic on either side (held in with two screws) were "pop out handles". State of the art manhole cover.
I have one in my backyard that I covered with 3 feet of soil… That was 22 years ago!
If you have a manhole I would have thought you must have an easement on your land.
How can you buy land without noticing in the contract that there is an easement?
I share one edge of a manhole. My neighbour has concreted over the most of it with coloured concrete. To my amazement the water authorities were very understanding and although I want access - they don't want to bother her concrete!
You can do what you like, but in an emergency expect to have it ripped up.
The manhole won't be on his land, it will be in the front verge hence no easement required to placed on the title.
Just patch it up, cerment over it.
don't think I can pour cement over it..surely get fined by council..
Put a movable plant in pot over it?
Can't you hire the place out every weekend to re-enact the Tunnel sequence from The Great Escape…
(Hint: This will work best if you plant a woodland or a forest about 20 feet from the tunnel exit).
Don't think the idea of going into "manhole" is really that appealing lol
Similar to Andersonville (the book, not the movie).
How about a new design statement- cover the entire yard with manhole covers or metal objects/plates, paint them in different colors with grass growing in between - create modern art?
uh…not sure how lawn filled with manhole covers will make my neighbors think lol
Just forget it. Being OCD doesn't help. Be thankful you have an underground nuclear bunker that is deeper thatn 3 feet. It will save your life one day.
Be thankful you have an underground nuclear bunker that is deeper thatn 3 feet. It will save your life one day.
Solid plan there. Living out your post-apocalyptic days in a 6 foot high manhole chamber with a few hundred tins of Spam and the noxious gases of a sewer outlet right under your feet.
I suppose it's some kind of NBC-filtered manhole with HEPA filters all over the top ring; otherwise the radiation would ensure you'd die like everyone else, but just slower and more painfully.
Or mutate into a Ninja Turtle.
Or…
Dig some more holes without Manhole covers to play Whack a Mole…
http://justask.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/whack-a-mole.p…
LOL…this thread is getting more and more interesting..
Supersized Putt-Putt Golf Course… lol
My property has a manhole cover at the front on the nature strip but you can't see it. Plant a shrub that grows large, nearby. Then they just bend the branches back when access needed. Same goes for a ground cover type plant.
good idea..what kind of plant is that?
It's some sort of Grevillea but ask at your local nursery for their suggestions on a dense, spreading shrub. You will want something that has lower branches that touch the ground as it grows.
Get a plant that does not have invassive root systems as it's near a pipeline.
Also I recommend a native shrub as they don't need watering once established (save on water bills) and one that has bird attracting flowers is a bonus if you like wildlife.
I covered mine with a just enough dirt for grass to grow. Lasted for a number of years until Council needed to access it. They raised it higher than the grass around it once they finished and gave me a warning about trying to hide/beautify it. Not it's a pain because of the height.
Whatever you do, make sure it's temporary and easy to access.
Don't get too upset with a manhole cover. A colleague of mine bought a house and right in front, there's an electricity cabinet of some kind (about one metre in height and a metre across). It's on the garden. Apart from the feature blocking of view, that damn thing affects his electronics and he has to re-arrange the entire living room. Once that damn thing caught fire and the fire brigade arrived to spray foam all over his lawn, just like Christmas. It was like 2.30am and they had to be evacuated in their pyjamas. Now that's excitement for you. Colleague must be getting some form of free magneto radiation of some sort for free - he's hoping that free treatment isn't causing cancer. If any health-fanatic wants to buy a house like that, I am sure a generous discount is in the offering (he's been trying to sell that place for 10 years).
Ok that would suck like 100x times more
Well come the NBN rollout every 100 or so houses will get a whopping green box out the front of their houses.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/central-coast/nbn…
i have a man hole in front on my retaining wall. It is large square and flat with no holes but near where the sewer should be located but it is outside our yard. I wish i could post a photo…its not water meter or electrical. I am praying it is a sewer as we are selling our property and conveyancing have picked up a defect in sewer in our front yard…hidden sewer. Of course as luck would have it there have been two previous conveyancing searches of the property that did not identify this within the last 20 years and now its our friggan problem to solve….arrgghh!!!! We live in Mount Ommaney in Brisbane.
Garden feature