Old Septic Tank Caved in

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*.

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

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

Also, read this

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......

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>

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.

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

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?

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

aem sends....

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

I'll bet.

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

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