Old Septic Tank Caved in

I recently discovered a small hole in my back yard filled with water, I pushed a long stick into the hole and found that the hole was 4' deep! My house is 60 years old and was hooked up to town sewerage I'm guessing about 50 years ago. I have lived here for 30 years and had no clue a to where the old septic tank was. I know were it is now! The small hole ended up yo be a 5 foot diameter hole with muddy water about 4ft deep. Good thing I found it before some kid fell in. This past weekend I filled the hole with rocks and bolders. The hole is now about 6" deep. Shoud I add crushed stone before I add top soil? Seems like if I add top soil over bolders it will seep down.

The people that were the previous owners weren't too bright. They should have doen something about the old septic tank after they disconnected it from the house.

Reply to
mstrspy
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Bury it and be done with it.

What should have they done with it? Why don't you do it then? Should they have dug it up? My house also has an abandoned septic tank in the yard. I've done with it the same thing that you're previous owners did with yours - *nothing*.

Reply to
J.A. Michel

Yes, or you will just keep adding top soil until the entire thing is filled. There is a procedure at:

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Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

Then you should do something. Some town have codes and procedures as does the Uniform Plumbing Code

Also, read this

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Ignorance is not an excuse so it would be wise to remedy the bad situation.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

big bopulders and rocks BAD IDEA! the dirt that musat o on top will forever be leaking between boulders and sinking.

you shoulds of filled with gravel little sink with that, or filled with plain dirt sprayed with water and compacted.

what you added was the worst choice you could of made.....

sorry to give you bad news......

Reply to
hallerb

I probably would have opened it up and filled it with crushed rock, It's a pretty dangerous sitiuation to have a huge viod underground lined with steel that wil eventually rot away.

The previous owners didn't want to spend anyth>

Reply to
mstrspy

Looks like I built my self a nice rock garden! Kidding Aside, I had to do somethng quick. Ther are kids running around in my yard all the time and the last thing I want is for someone to fall into the hole.

Reply to
mstrspy

Really, really bad idea. Before going further, get a load of sand (that's SAND!) and start filling it. Bank run gravel may settle eventually, but sand will compact between the rocks many times faster. Keep it a foot below grade until next summer, then do the topsoil and grass seed routine.

HTH

Joe

Reply to
Joe

That's what I was thinking, sand, but I had no sand on hand this weekend and needed to fill that hole with something.

A few years back, I found another similar hole but smaller. Did the same thing, filled it with bolders and I haven' seen any errosion.

I'm not sure why that other hole was there. Does a typical septic system have two chambers spread appart?

Reply to
mstrspy

I understand.

Maybe it's not too late to fill with gravel small enough to get past the boulders, and dirt.

Is there a bottom to the hole? Does the water run out the bottom or not. If it seems out the bottom, maybe you can wash the gravel in with a garden hose, and use the hose lightly to fill up the rest of the niches with dirt. So the process doesn't take years but days. But I don't know.

You'll use less of anything you add now because the boulders will take up so much space.

Reply to
mm

leach field maybe, or possibly a separate tank for the greywater coming from the washing machine and/or dishwasher.

Reply to
Eigenvector

Could have. One actual septic tanks, another smaller tank that acts like a distribution box at the drainfield.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

There is a hard bottom. I used a crow bar and the bottom seems to be somewhat solid. The water seemed to dry up over the weekend, more like mud now. I will go to Home depot (or equivalent) and get bags of sand. I can't get a truck in back of my house so I'll have to bring in bags one at a time.

Got some real exercise this weekend.

Reply to
mstrspy

I have had to do away with four septic tanks. According to the TNRCC (Texas natural resource conservation commission) which is one of the agencies that has jurisdiction over this, the proper method is as follows:

Open the top and have the contents pumped by a licensed septic company. Fill with sand to within one foot of the top. Cover with dirt.

Reply to
Robert Allison

What you did was fine. Excellent in fact. Just put 6 inches of topsoil and grass sod over your 6 inch deep depression for now and then add sand or topsoil as it continues to settle over the next few years.

You know our land is continually moving and corrections have to be made even in those places where there was no hole. Telephone poles and fences show leaning posts after just a very few years and animals such as moles, gophers, ground hogs and armadillos change our landscape. My neighbors buy a couple of cubic yards of sandy loam to level their places again.

Reply to
deke

Get it dumped in your driveway and use a wheelbarrow. Buying bagged sand for that volume will cost a fortune.

aem sends....

Reply to
aemeijers

The other guy was right. Use sand. It won't matter what the bottom is like.

I'll bet.

Reply to
mm

You can get a wheelbarrow fairly cheap. Easier on the back.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

This septic is a solid concrete vault type, less than 30 years old. I'm not about to go digging up a non-problem.

Reply to
J.A. Michel

Reply to
BobK207

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