Installation: Burying the Wire

There are four ways you can bury the wire:
1. Hire a trencher, that will automatically dig a trench, lay the cable and bury the cable. A trencher is what the pro’s use to lay cable and REALLY speeds up the job, allowing you to lay cable at about 3 yards a minute. You can hire a trencher with a cable laying attachment for a day for around $50 at most tool supply houses, it is money well spent as it will let you halve your installation time. If you are laying less than 300 yards of cable, you can get away with hiring the trencher for half a day. For detailed instructions for using a trencher click here.

2. Use a power edger to dig a shallow trench, then manually lay the cable and bury it. If you don’t already own a power edger, your neighbors probably do, so take a six-pack next door and see if you can borrow it. Alternatively, buy a cheap power edger for around $50 or hire one for even less. For detailed instructions click here.

3. Manually. If you want to punish yourself, this is a really good way to bury the cable. You will need to dig a narrow trench, then manually lay the cable and bury the cable. This is really only a good choice for doing small areas where you cannot use the trencher or power edger. For detailed instructions click here.
4. No Dig Method You can simply lay your cable on the surface of the ground and staple it in place. If you have very light traffic areas, then the cable does not need to be burried. Particularly in wooded areas, over time the vegetation will grow over the wire and bury it for you. For details click here.