I was in our basement pulling up loose linoleum tiles on our basement floor.

After I pulled off the loose tiles, I started scraping the adhesive, and found the cement (or possibly some other filler type material, such as mortar) that the tiles were glued to was also pulling up. So I kept scraping, and prying up the chunks to reveal what looks like an old drain. The drain cover was embedded into the cement material I pulled up. I looked into the hole and saw nothing but dirt/clay. I've attached photos for your reference....

Not sure what to do.. it doesn't look like it connected to anything, and we don't use it as a drain (it had floor tile applied over it before we purchased the house in '96). I've attached photos for reference....

When we get heavy rains, this area of the floor would show water seeping up between the tiles... Thought maybe it was a crack in the floor. Now I know where the water was coming from.

My question is, should I just fill it in with concrete? Leave it open (put new floor drain cover on it), so it allows accessibility for a submersible pump when we have alot of rain? Other suggestions?

This house was built in the 1915-1925 era....

Thanks in advance for your info/suggestions...!

 

The first thing that I would do is find out how high the water table is. Then I would try to see where it goes, maybe even run some water through it. Also, do the streets flood during heavy rains, particularly the storm drains?

 

Hard to tell what it is/was..

Looks too large to be a drain. many old homes had a pit installed at the low part of the cellar for when it rain. A sump pump was often placed in the pit. We had one in our home from the 40's. although it was square.

What the diameter of that hole?

If you can excavate more to determine what it is may be helpful, but up to you.

Welcome to the forums...

 

Thanks.. the drain cover was 11" in Dia...... we have a sump pit along a wall about 5 feet from this hole....

 

our house sits on a terrace, which is approx. 4-5 ft higher than the street... the drain to the sewer is about a foot below this basement floor... ... we are on the crest of a hill, so when it rains, the street drains fairly well... and our basement sump is about 5 ft away from this, along a side wall (the wall you see here is the front of the house)

 

Run water in the drain & see if the sump pump activates.

 

Choice of:

1. Leave it open and accessible and visible.
2. Seal it up and optionally put subflooring or flooring over it.

Basement floor drains will almost always handle small amounts of water without introducing the need for a sump pump elsewhere in the basement.

 

Choice of:

1. Leave it open and accessible and visible.
2. Seal it up and optionally put subflooring or flooring over it.

Basement floor drains will almost always handle small amounts of water without introducing the need for a sump pump elsewhere in the basement.

 

Choice #3: Determine it's original purpose, operation & if it can still be used.

 

Nothing but plain water (perhaps with some unavoidable mud washed off of shoes) should go down a floor drain that just empties to the soil or dirt or gravel under the basement slab. Even soap suds from washing the floor could lead to bad odors coming back up.