Odd sewer pipe configuration

shop deals on amazon
Shop deals on ebay
SpartanEpoxies
House Repair Talk

Help Support House Repair Talk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Before you get to carried away, call your suppliers and see if they can put you in contact with a Bobcat service, theyy will have their own smaller truck and with the bobcat can deliver and back fill the tank, and at the same time have the gravel delivered for the crawlspace, I think Bobcats are less than 6 ft wide.
I know money is tight, but so is the time to do all that you have to do
 
nealtw said:
You will ind that you have three panels and one has been slide sideways to open it up for pumping. The pump guy left it open with a promise from people on site that is would be back filled.

When we dealt with these things we were to break the lid or drop the lid in and knock the side down so the would be 12" below surface. Usually you can move the lids around with a 5' digging bar.
Sand is your best filler as you add sand and water and it will fill every nook and cranny.

BTW, great job on finding this thing, good for you.:thbup:
Click to expand...

The whole top of the tank is already about 16" or so below the ground surface. The lids appear to be recessed/fitted into the sides somehow.

Probably what bothers me more is that nobody looked for this in the past. Grew up here as a kid. Family and pets have walked/mowed that yard untold thousands of times. Someone could have fallen through all the way up their hip(s). Sad that there are so many millions of these all over the country. Every time I've searched for info on it online, I constantly come across articles where people fall in these things and suffocate or drown. Any future properties will be thoroughly investigated.

Will sand generally cost more or about the same as dirt? I see that there are a lot of free sites where you can post a wanted ad for free sand or dirt. Will sand channel water more so than dirt or about the same? I don't know that much about filler materials.

Then after I get done with this septic thing, I need to figure out that sewer pipe. I was thinking about this piece from earlier in this thread.


2dje44j.jpg



Wondering what it went to, since the main sewer pipe went out and was cut. The clay pipe found next to the house was from either the side of the septic tank that was cut to run the main sewer or a section that was cut out to tee in the cast iron sewer pipe from the crawlspace. The tee connection itself seems to be cast iron with the clay pipe somehow fitted into it. This capped pipe is much smaller than the 4" sewer pipe. Maybe a 1.5" or 2". The current configuration in the crawlspace has a wye off from the toilet pipe that comes down. One of the connections from the wye is the tub drain pipe.


5cgk01.jpg



That looks annoyingly like the same size/type of cast iron pipe as that capped branch-off from the main sewer line. I'm wondering if this didn't do something funky way back when and go up under the house in another direction. I haven't found any old smaller pipe for this one, but that smaller connection had to go to something. This is also about the diameter of said hole that I'm pretty sure water flows into the crawlspace from, beside the retaining wall. So I may still end up chasing a phantom pipe into the crawlspace from outside of the house at some point.
 
Last edited:
Most times the delivery will cost just about as much as the product.

Years ago I was fixing up a house to sell and needed some fill to enlarge the driveway and a friend was building a house three door up and the engineers had him haul out tons of dirt and replace it with gravel and he was paying for truck to take it away and he asked if I could take some to save him some money. I took 3 truck loads and then it rained a little, a week later I went to spread that out. It had dried like concrete, so I had 40 yards of pick and shovel as well as wheel barrow. So be careful where you save money.

All you can do is dig up what you can and identify what you can...
Sewer pipes are covered with sand or pee gravel to protect them before the dirt goes back in the ditch, so it wouldn't be hard for water to follow the outside of the pipe.
 
nealtw said:
Before you get to carried away, call your suppliers and see if they can put you in contact with a Bobcat service, theyy will have their own smaller truck and with the bobcat can deliver and back fill the tank, and at the same time have the gravel delivered for the crawlspace, I think Bobcats are less than 6 ft wide.
I know money is tight, but so is the time to do all that you have to do
Click to expand...


I'll call around and see what I can find with the suppliers. But things are looking up. Potential new employer called me the other day and is interested in my work history, but wants to offer me free training into a new career field that doubles my current pay. Going to talk with him this week. If I get good news on that, future projects will be a quick breeze financially. :thbup: Having someone flip that system wouldn't be an issue anymore. At the current rate, even if I have someone dump the dirt/sand and do the work myself, I'm planning to have this septic tank filled and grass starting back to growing within 1-2 weeks max. I'm picking away at the dig before work and on weekends. I'd just like to see the whole tank and make sure both end pipes are capped before I fill it. Should be done digging this out by the end of the week at the very most. Probably way before that. It could be that the tank is filling up with water and draining it through cracks in the walls...might very well be coming from that and just seeping into the crawlspace from the nearby soil. Hard to say.

Going to start on moving those two air ducts in the way of the crawlspace sewer pipe soon. Sewer pipe from the crawlspace will be replace and temporarily clamped onto the old one. Planning to do that in one day. Another day will be continuing the pvc run out to the clay pipe with a tee. I doubt that the main sewer clay pipe has anywhere near the restricted flow issues as the cast iron pipe that is probably rusted halfway closed inside like the old drain pipe was. I didn't see any gravel with these, so they probably used sand.
 
Last edited:
Check you code on PVC outside, here at has to be the black ABS and for the difference in price all the pros do everything in ABS now.
 
0000187_georgia_buggy_320.png

rent a
georgia buggy, dump the dirt in the front yard, load it into the buggy, wheel it around to where you want to go.


pay the dump truck driver a little extra to stay and dump into the buggy, instead of filling by shovel
 
Last edited:
I've found a local company that delivers the dirt and also lists that you can contact them for a quote on Bobcat work. Thinking about a change of plans. Instead of dropping on the front driveway, I may just have them drop it in the corner of the front yard, about 10 feet away from the house. The Bobcat could just scoop it up and take it back there. I'd already have the lids open and it could just be dropped in. The irritating thing is that they are from side to side, so to really drop them in without getting much on top of the concrete, they'd have to drive on top of the tank roof. Not sure how smart that would be. It looks like $175.00–$225.00 for 1/2 tandem load delivered.

I need a little over 6 cubic yards, so that's apparently about 12,000+ pounds of fill dirt. I was thinking about sand so that it would fill in everything better, but that's about $300 to $400 delivered just for the sand vs probably $200 for fill dirt plus the Bobcat. Delivery will likely be next Saturday.

I'll probably dig up the pipe on either end and see how they capped it, tomorrow. If they just put a piece of tin or something up against the end of it, there's probably water pouring in from the surrounding dirt through the pipe. Got any advice on how to cap a big clay pipe like that?

I'm pondering if the bottom corner of the tank (the side closer to the bedroom window) has a crack/hole in it. That's 2 feet closer to the house under the ground, so probably 8 feet from the house. Oddly in the same place where said water flow hole is in the crawlspace.
 
So if this thing is filling with water and feeding the house, sand might not be a good option,, dirt would have a better chance or packing down and slowing the water flow.
Order the gravel that you need for the crawl space and have him move that close to the door while you have the bobcat there.
The pipe, you could dig it up at the house and smash it there and fill the hole with grout. Or with a fernco coupler add a cap.
 
Is there anything I could do about the already existing flow hole that probably leads from the tank to the crawlspace? If it has carved a little channel that size between both, that's probably 5 feet underground outside. I can't really inject anything into the hole from the crawlspace and have it magically run the length of the hole to wherever the water is coming from. I'm hoping that this stops it a lot just by having the dirt there to displace most of the free room for the water. It is probably safe to say that since I haven't found any other pipes...the water may be coming from this big open space and there may even be a direct channel straight to the crawlspace with less resistance than the surrounding dirt.
 
Last edited:
Hmm, Any pipe from the house to the tank should be close to the level of the top of the tank, even the pipe leaving the tank would be just a few inches lower than the house pipe.

I think you have found the original creak bed that was buried or was always an underground creak.
If you could find the original exit you could pipe it under or around the house but that would be costly and messy.

I am trying to figure out what could be done to find the original exit so you could set up a flow thru in the basement below gravel level.:confused:
 
I don't know how they get the creek/spring/intermittent stream data for things like topo maps, but recent maps say nothing should be there as far as a creek. So I'm puzzled as to whether this big hole is filling up and causing water flow, it is just the water soaking through the dirt when it rains, a pipe is funneling it somehow or there's something else. All I know is that over a period of a couple of days, I have done the math before. In two days, after several days of rain, it pumped out like 13,000 gallons total that came in. Not a drop when it is dry, so it is something intermittent and only happens when it rains a lot, whatever it is.
 
Last edited:
jmr106 said:
I don't know how they get the creek/spring/intermittent stream data for things like topo maps, but recent maps say nothing should be there as far as a creek. So I'm puzzled as to whether this big hole is filling up and causing water flow, it is just the water soaking through the dirt when it rains, a pipe is funneling it somehow or there's something else. All I know is that over a period of a couple of days, I have done the math before. In two days, after several days of rain, it pumped out like 13,000 gallons total that came in.
Click to expand...

It may of always been underground and not disturbed until the digging in the basement, if that was the case finding or opening the exit would just let it go at the level that it is coming in.
If they had waterproofed the outside of the block wall would the water just run around the outside and find the exit.
 
Finally got the whole top part of it dug up. I'm puzzled. It looks a lot longer than that in the video/pics, but I guess the length is deceiving just like the height. My previous method of measuring it was by sticking an old fence post in (had to bend it to get through the small opening) and going back to the wall, then marking the post and measuring it when I pulled it out. I think it went diagonal and probably threw off the numbers, however. The width was easily measured from wall to wall. The depth still seems to be about 4.5 feet on average. So, it is probably more like 7 feet long. I'll get some official measurements later today. This will change how much dirt I need to get delivered, of course.

20qhvgg.jpg



I'm still confused about the random space that I initially dug out with the tin over it. I thought it was the lid moved out of place, like you initially suggested. However, I'm not seeing any lid humped up over the concrete roof of it. I have also uncovered the first - and so far only - lid. It is flush and where it needs to be. There's also a crack on the other side of the lid. Unless there's another one hiding under the little bit of dirt there further on the side away from the house, I'm not sure that there is another lid. That will make things very interesting. I poked around and the middle feels like a solid slab about 3 feet long. So here's hoping that the end has a lid hidden somewhere. I found the pipe on the back, but haven't gone down far enough to view it yet and just make sure that it is capped.

2nsqkr6.jpg



The lid didn't seem to be cemented on. I dug the dirt away from the sides of it and in the morning I should be able to lift it up one side at a time and move it over onto the roof slab next to it temporarily to get better video and when I go to fill it in. I'd like to particularly get better pics and video of the side close to the house to examine in detail and see if I see any cracks in the walls, etc. I won't be going down there to fix any that are seen, but simply to know. I'm sure that even after all of these years, it is likely very nasty and bacteria-ridden down there.

When they make the dirt drop and fill the hole, I may ask them to push the dirt that I have dug out back over on top of it so that I don't have to spend any more time on it. What would take me two hours will probably take them all of 5 minutes or less. I'll call them Monday to get a quote on the Bobcat work. It says they deliver in tandem and half tandem loads. I sure hope they can make it less than the 7 cubic yards (apparently about half of a dump truck, or 14 cubic yards on average for a full truck). Current guesstimates are 7 feet long, 4.5 feet deep (just to make sure I have enough) and 4 feet wide. If my math is right, that would only be about 4.7 cubic yards of fill dirt. But I want to make sure I get that right so that I don't end up with way more than I need. I sure hope I can find another lid. The one that I dug up is just teetering on the edges. The rocks are coming out of the concrete as I dig and scrape it a little bit. I see a lot of areas where the concrete is corroding to the point where chunks come out of the slabs while digging, so I'm quite glad to have discovered this. While it seems "solid"...not sure how much longer that concrete would hold under the weight of the dirt. Looks very poorly made. Man, they must have taken every shortcut they could have when they built these houses in this neighborhood.
 
Last edited:
They left a lip on the edge to keep the lid from siding in by mistake, my guess is that there is no lip on the ends to allow the lids to be slid sideways for pumping and was left open.

You should really do all the plumbing done around the outside that you are going to do so the bobcat can clean all that up at one time. Raising the dirt level around the house a little would not be a big deal.
 
The company that advertises the Bobcat service with dirt delivery...the owner was doing that as a side gig at some point. Though it is still on their website as being available, he doesn't do it any longer. None of the other local delivery places do it. I'm sure I could scour the area for Bobcat contractors...probably lots of them. I'm just going to do it manually.

I'm going to see if I can get my hands on one of these:

1z3t0zs.jpg



Home Depot and a lot of home improvement stores should have it. Gorilla Cart/Dump Cart. It is a lot easier than a wheelbarrow, apparently holds about the same and the big wheels make it roll a lot better across the grass and bumpy areas. When I get to the hole, just flip it and let the weight of the dirt dump itself down into the hole. I could probably use it later to just wheel right into the crawlspace door and do the same with dumping gravel when it is time. I'll also be picking up a scooping shovel and a large tarp. I'm just going to spread it out over the driveway and edge of the yard and let them drop it right there. At a moderate/comfortable pace, I can probably have that thing filled in withing 4-6 hours max.

So here's an odd question.

The septic measures 7.5 feet long x 4.5 feet deep x 4 wide officially. I had been unsure about the length since I had not found each end wall yet. Still only the one lid that is almost in the middle, about 2 feet wide.

Just to add a little overkill for packing down, various little holes in the yard, etc...I assume 8 x 4.5 x 4. That should be 144 cubic feet if my math is correct. Divided by 27, that should be about 5.3 cubic yards of fill dirt. When I look up 5 and 6 cubic yards being delivered at houses...why does it not "look" like it will fill the tank or be enough? I know that my measurements of the hole are right. For some reason, it just doesn't "look" like enough dirt based on the pics and videos that I have seen of people getting similar amounts.
 
Last edited:
nealtw said:
Trust your math, it never looks or sounds right.
Click to expand...


Yeah, it didn't look right. But then again, I said to myself, "All of these people do that stuff every day. They use these same measurements to get what they need to fill in all sorts of things, so why wouldn't it work?"

One thing that I do find that is interesting...a lot of the companies say stuff like, "That's not very much..." when I ask for a quote. I know that thousands of people get small amounts like this delivered probably on a daily basis. I found one company that does $6.34/cubic yard plus whatever the delivery. Another company wanted $175 for 5.5 cubic yards of fill dirt and delivery. But even they say 8 yard or 16 yard deliveries. Hoping to get them to deliver less than that. I'll be calling them to see. So, like everything else...I'm finding that there are some that charge little and some charge a whole lot. Everybody only delivers in big tandems. Original plan was to have it dumped in the yard, but I don't want them backing off the side of the driveway trying to dump in the yard and cracking the driveway or something dumb like that. Sometimes it seems like if you start one project, getting what you need for that one project ends up causing you to have a few more projects. :rofl:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top