Sharing my recent replacement project

Recently, I sawcut and dug up the floor to get in to replace some of the old clay piping with PVC, and to cut out some of the no-longer used piping. Like any project, especially with a house 100 years old, it's a can of worms. Here's a perfect example of what 60-70 years of a water leak under a cement floor can do. Where these pictures were taken, there was a negative slope between where the old gutters went into clay and connected to the 6' main line.

The pictures show a 24" x 24' hole that opened into a 7 foot deep "cave" created by this leak. The hole under the slab is about 7' deep by 4' x about 10" wide.

Wow! That is intense. Let this be a lesson to those that mouth the words, "Aww, heck, that leak will stop. It's hard water anyways."

cave

Interesting, because there must have been a large void or loose soil beneath it for all that dirt to wash into. I had a job where a 48" circle suddenly collapsed in a driveway. It appeared to be an abandoned well or cistern. By the time I finished compacting the dirt the pit was 7' deep.

caves....

that took years and years to create,,,,

I guess you are going to fill in that hole with pea gravel???




that picture reminds me of a time I went caveing with
some freinds...a long time ago

nothing is more miserable than spending a day underground squeezeing through a hole like that basically takes you nowhere... to see nothing...

master plumber mark said:

I guess you are going to fill in that hole with pea gravel???

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Or he could make a basement room under the concrete slab.Most of the hole is already dug out for him

krow said:

Or he could make a basement room under the concrete slab.Most of the hole is already dug out for him

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Don't think the thought didn't cross my mind . When looking down into it, you can see the layers of shale, where the washed out dirt just left the protruding rock behind. Kinda cool, but it'll be filled in for sure.