Can someone help me identify what I uncovered in my basement closet?


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Old 02-03-23, 05:49 PM
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Can someone help me identify what I uncovered in my basement closet?

Saw some mold in my basement closet, and when lifting the old laminate, uncovered this man-hole looking structure.

74 year old house, and it has 2 openings feeds into the pit that is filled with water.

Can someone help me identfy this, it's purpose, and what my next step would be (ie, leaving access to this, covering, repair, invovled with drain tile?)



 
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Old 02-03-23, 06:00 PM
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Looks like a dry well. Unsure of the pipe, however. Unless that was meant to be a backup drain for times the dry well is overwhelmed by drainage.

Since it's been there since the house was originally built, I think I'd leave well enough alone, and just make a cover for it. Composite 5/4x6 deck planks might work well for this since they won't be damaged by moisture. Otherwise use pressure treated wood.
 
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Old 02-03-23, 06:39 PM
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My plumber stated it was my rain water and drain tile sump... if so, how concerned should I be that it's on the inside of the home?
 
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Old 02-03-23, 09:19 PM
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Then why are you asking what it is? Looks like a dry well if it has rocks in the bottom and there is no pump.

Your only concerns (besides mold and the musty odor) would be if it can't keep up with the drainage and overflows or if the sump quits working with no backup. You can't expect old houses to meet current codes but if done nowadays it wouldn't be a dry well, it would all be enclosed in a heavy duty plastic sump pit with a lid. And I'm not sure anyone would want to even attempt an "upgrade" to it.

There's no sump pump in the pictures. Did you take it out?
 
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Old 02-04-23, 12:41 AM
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Thanks for the note. I didn't remove any pump, and my plumber just saw a photo, so I was hoping to get a second opinion as he wasn't 100% sure.

So sounds like the best thing to do then would be to cover it as you mentioned?
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It's a bit awkward that it's inside the house. Would you suggest that I'm have a separate project to rebuild this outside and fill this in (eventually)
 
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Old 02-04-23, 05:20 AM
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It was a long, long time ago, but I remember seeing in my Grandparents basement something similar, they had some type of oil furnace, a supply line?

Have you cracked open the pipe to see/smell?
 
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Old 02-04-23, 10:25 AM
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I like what Marq suggested. Can't tell from the pic, but if I had to guess, I would say that looks like oil sludge or stains.
 
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Old 02-04-23, 06:25 PM
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If you dig a new comparable pit outside and fill in that interior pit, you would have an equal need for a sump pump in said proposed outside pit.

If the pit on the inside as-is were to overflow and there was no sump pump, that would mean that the dirt surrounding the pit would be saturated up to above floor level. An outside pit that filled to that level would also signify ground saturation to that level which would cause unstable water table behavior and comparable flooding of the basement.

An exterior dry well is often suggested to take the discharge from an interior sump pump as well as collect water from around the foundation. What was meant is such an exterior dry well should be some distance from the house and downhill from the house..

You saw mold because the pit exuded moisture that came out into the room from a non-sealed covering over the pit.
 
 

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