# Unbelieveable - HUGE Hole Appears in Back Yard!



## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

Is this in the city or the country? Sounds like the size of a septic tank or an old oil tank. (more liklly a septic tank) the pipe should be 4" not 8 if it's a septic.


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## oh'mike (Sep 18, 2009)

That sounds like a cistern--Placement is typical---

Often used to catch and store rain water---

Any old plumber can see if the system will affect your current plumbing--

Likely the lid collapsed---You may be able to simply fill it in with sand---but see if it is still hooked into the house first.

Post a picture if it is safe to take one---we need to see inside for a pipe-


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## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

Cistern would be my first guess too, especially given the size of the inlet. I have run across old farm cisterns in Central Illinois that pre-date the homes on the land by quite a bit. I guess new ones were common in rural areas into the 30s and even 40s? Your home might have been built with either an old one on the property or a new one. 

Where are you located? You might want to update your profile so we know for future posts?

You may need a permit to deal with it. The EPA concern is what people use to fill them in that can then leach into the environment.


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## Gymschu (Dec 12, 2010)

Definitely a cistern. Very common here in Eastern Ohio. Some homes had 2 or 3 of them in a yard for water collection. A lot of them are round, brick-lined structures. Like Sdsester said, be careful how you fill them in. Some people filled them in with construction debris, etc. and the hole comes back as the debris shifts and stuff rots. More than likely you will be able to fill with topsoil and plant grass.


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## concretemasonry (Oct 10, 2006)

After you have determined what it is and there is no connection to the house, I would fill with sand since it is more stable in a confined area and does not settle like top soil or construction debris. Any way you cut it, you will need a small truckload and delivery is the major cost. Sand is almost self compacting and settles much quicker, especially if there is water present.

Dick


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## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

Make sure anything that might still feed into the cistern is disabled. See any old downspouts going into clay tile or pipe type things? Not sure why or where the water went? Bet you $2 it was trying to go into that old cistern.


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## cleveman (Dec 17, 2011)

Where was John Smith when he had his visions and wrote them on his tablets? I would check into Mormon history a bit and search that hole. You may have found the resting place of those tablets.


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## simileigh (Feb 2, 2012)

*The Hole in My Yard.....*

Thanks to all who have responded so far!

If this thing is a cistern, there is now no visible evidence near the gutter areas of such. All gutters are just the free flowing drip, drip onto the topsoil things. (I should have taken a pic of those). 

With the dawn of a beautiful new day, the hole looks to be only maybe 3-4 feet wide and deep. I probably exaggerated the diameter of the pipe in there as well.

I am having the darndest time trying to upload pics to this forum. Apparently they are too big. Not sure how to shrink them to the 100 kb max. I tried creating a Picasa album and uploading from that url. No luck. So I'm attaching a link to that album here, and I'm hoping this works.

https://picasaweb.google.com/mercy247/February22012?authuser=0&feat=directlink

The pic with a yardstick: this capped pipe thing was in the wall right behind that oil tank that was taken out yesterday. On the same side of house as the hole in the ground.

Thanks again for all responses so far! 

Location: Rochester, NY (Irondequoit)


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## no1hustler (Aug 11, 2010)

Link doesn't work for me.


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## simileigh (Feb 2, 2012)

no1hustler said:


> Link doesn't work for me.


I'd like to hear if that link doesn't work for others.... it works when I click on it.


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## AllanJ (Nov 24, 2007)

Can you tell what the sides of the hole are made of? Just dirt, or some man made material?

It could be a dry well.


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## Gymschu (Dec 12, 2010)

Yeah, it doesn't look like a typical cistern to me. Alan may be on to something.......a drywell. In any event, once you really figure it out, you will have to fill it in. Sorry about suggesting topsoil to fill it in........it will indeed settle. On the plus side, it appears to be far enough away from the foundation to not cause any problems with that.


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## elessar007 (Feb 2, 2012)

First guess would be cistern for storing water. However, the sides of the hole look awfully orange as from rust possibly indicating that a tank maybe there or was once there. This goes against what I have come across and heard from others about rainwater cisterns that date back to the 30s and 40s. They were usually brick and sanded mortar from what I recall. One thing that just occurred to me was why this may have just appeared. Perhaps the removal of the old oil tank enabled water that was in the hole to drain out and take the place of the old oil tank so quickly that it caused the surrounding soil, including the couple inches of topsoil and the grass, to destabilize much quicker than any previous loss of water like a prolonged drought. Not saying it is a good theory, just something that popped into my mind as I wrote the first part of my response.


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## simileigh (Feb 2, 2012)

AllanJ said:


> Can you tell what the sides of the hole are made of? Just dirt, or some man made material?
> 
> It could be a dry well.


Sides seem to be made of dirt....


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## framer52 (Jul 17, 2009)

Looks like an abandoned metal septic tank to me.

Fill it in with sand and forget about it.


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## Jim F (Mar 4, 2010)

framer52 said:


> Looks like an abandoned metal septic tank to me.
> 
> Fill it in with sand and forget about it.


But first, post some pictures if possible. I'd like to see this hole.


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## simileigh (Feb 2, 2012)

Jim F said:


> But first, post some pictures if possible. I'd like to see this hole.


If you check out reply #9 of this thread, there's a link to some pics of the hole.


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## Blondesense (Sep 23, 2008)

FWIW, the link works for me.


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## no1hustler (Aug 11, 2010)

Works for me now. Weird.


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## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

As posted, it does not really matter what it was anymore. Just make sure anything feeding into it is capped off. Figure out if you need to file for a permit to fill it or if you municipality or State EPA has restrictions on what you can fill it with. Fill it.

Make sure it is not some evil sinkhole situation with something eating away under it. It looks dry?

A friend once put out a call on a neighborhood bulletin board for concrete chunks around which she poured sand in an old cistern. Quite a few people wanting to redo sidewalks but wondering where to dump the chunks helped her out. They took up a fair amount of cubic space in her giant hole for free. Put topsoil over it and replanted lawn. Looks great. Sand will probably be as cheap as anything and easier to handle than other materials?


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## RenoStruct (Jan 30, 2012)

*Squeaky Floors*

This cistern showed up recently during a kitchen remodel, guess we know what was causing that squeaky floor. Measured 11' deep and 7' wide, hard to make out in the photo (attached). Had to file permit, fill and cap. Owner wanted to know what I thought about putting a "Safe Room" down there. Heh.


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## dougp23 (Sep 20, 2011)

simileigh said:


> Sides seem to be made of dirt....


Like Allan, and now with the sides made of dirt, my guess would be that this is an old drywell. I have seen them filled with all sorts of things, one had a huge roll of livestock fencing. Nice, until the fencing rots away, and then you wind up with what you have, nothing to hold the dirt up anymore, and a big hole appears!

You will need to fill it in. I would poke a shovel or something into the bottom a few times to make sure it won't cave in any further.


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## Jim F (Mar 4, 2010)

simileigh said:


> If you check out reply #9 of this thread, there's a link to some pics of the hole.


I see that now thanks.


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## RockingM82 (Feb 10, 2012)

About 7 years ago I bought a 1950's era house that looked to sit on two lots. The house is situated on the very northern border of the property line. This always seemed a bit strange to me because the lot is so big. A few years after I bought the house I built a 30x33 attached garage. As I was digging for the foundation I found out why there was nothing built there. I ran into a huge concrete storage tank of sorts. We ended up having to relocate the garage a bit and never figured out what the use of the tank was. It sure is interesting what you find buried around these old houses.


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## AllanJ (Nov 24, 2007)

An old large cistern (nonporous sides) can come in handy to store rainwater for lawn watering. The water would not be potable unless you had some kind of treatment.


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## Meenie50 (Feb 15, 2012)

simileigh said:


> I'd like to hear if that link doesn't work for others.... it works when I click on it.


The link works fine for me. That's quite a hole! I hope you figure out what it was and how to fix it!


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## Double (Feb 15, 2012)

Any updates on this? I'm interested to know the outcome...


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## MisterSteve (Feb 15, 2012)

Why can't these old cisterns still be used? Was the water collected supposed to be used for something? Why not use it for watering the lawn?


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## AllanJ (Nov 24, 2007)

MisterSteve said:


> Why can't these old cisterns still be used? Was the water collected supposed to be used for something? Why not use it for watering the lawn?


As far as I know, they can still be used as cisterns, provided the sides have not cracked which would cause loss of the water to the ground.

The water would not be potable by today's standards unless treated just prior to use.


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