Find buried electrical cable easily with this simple Letsfixit guide. When you decide to do a home improvement or landscaping project that requires you to dig in your yard, your first step should be to have the location of underground infrastructure lines marked. A typical home might have electrical, cable, telephone, water, sewer, and gas lines buried in the yard, and if you damage any of these lines while digging, you could interrupt service to your house or your neighbors’ houses, or even injure or kill yourself or someone else. You’ll also be on the hook for any repairs and fines related to damaged lines.
Contact your local utilities to come out and mark any buried lines. You can get information about buried lines from your state government or the utility companies, but the easiest thing to do will be to call 811 or go to call811.com rather than contacting each individual utility.