underneath the garage floor!

[Rubce]

Hi All

The centre section of the garage has been slowly collapsing over the past few years. This afternoon after tripping over it once again I finally decided to investigate and this is what I discovered
There is all sorts of junk in that pit apart from bricks and sand. I fished out a pair of shoes, a couple of handbags and an old sign and the smell coming from it is overpowering The side walls are formed of bricks but I haven't reached the bottom yet so I don't know what that is formed of. Has anybody got any good suggestions for making a pit like this waterproof? Or should I be resigned to backfilling it with hardcore and then concreting over?

Regards

Bruce

[Stevekid1]

Hi Bruce,

It is possible to buy preformed pit liners which you put in place and pour concrete around. Guaranteed to be waterproof but unfortunately you will have to pump out and excavate your existing smelly pit first

[Rubce]

Hi Steve

I know of the pre-moulded pit liners but as you say they require significant work to install. I was wondering if there were any other options?

Cheers

Bruce

[AlanD]

just a thought Bruce, do you have a high water table where you live, that could be where the water is comming from, if you have you will need to break up the floor if its concreate and pull in the sides too to return it to normal, i have seen these before when people have dug out the garage floor and they constantly fill with water over time.

hope its some use

Alan

[jakesmig]

Alan makes a good point, too much pore pressure behind the wall will make it tough to seal. If you know a good plasterer and can clean the pit, rake out and repair the mortar joints and try 'Sika®-1 Structural Waterproofing System'. I've used it in damp underbuildings with reasonable success.

[pilkie]

I wonder how far down the body that fits the shoes and hand bag is!!

[Guest]

Looks like you have found a cess-pit Bruce

It can't have been waterproofed by whoever built it and, really, the only way to prrof it now is to clear it out, put down a waterproof membrane on floor and lapped upward to the top of floor level and then a) lay 150mm concrete at the bottom to encase the memrane and b) built a 1/2 brick wall up f it tight to the sides to sandwich the vertical part of the membrane. However the pit looks pretty narrow now, and taking 200-250mm from the width to achieve that is going to make it pretty useless to work in.

Fill it in is my advice, or break it all out and construct something wwith a wider finished size waterproofed as above.

[Westfaling]

Didn't find any bones did you? Looks about the right size!
Nick

[DJT]

Find an old bath. Put it in and concrete around it. Not as good as a purpose built pit liner but much cheaper for the occasional 'underneath job'.

I threw out an old blue suite a few years ago. It would have matched your Stag very well

Dave

[Guest]

It looks just like the inside of mt sceptic tank!

[Rubce]

Didn't find any bones did you? Looks about the right size!
Nick

Hi Nick

I was beginning to wonder what I might discover when I unearthed the first shoe

Bruce

[Rubce]

It looks just like the inside of mt sceptic tank!

I smells like it as well!

Bruce

[StagnJag]

Didn't find any bones did you? Looks about the right size!
Nick

I was thinking that, but thought I'd keep that to myself!!!

Do you have any underground plumbing around there that could have caused it to fill like that? I guess it is difficult to work out if the smell is due to the water being still in there for so long, or leaking in from somewhere. It looks quite high to be the natural ground water level. If I remember correctly, your garage is a few feet above the road isn't it?

Rgds

Dave

[Rubce]

Do you have any underground plumbing around there that could have caused it to fill like that? I guess it is difficult to work out if the smell is due to the water being still in there for so long, or leaking in from somewhere. It looks quite high to be the natural ground water level. If I remember correctly, your garage is a few feet above the road isn't it?

Rgds

Dave

Hi Dave

You have a good memory! Yes the garage is a few feet above street level. The main sewage manhole is located nearby but I am confident that is not causing a problem as I replaced the pipes a few years ago and last year my neighbour had a blocked pipe and Dynarod called round to ours to determine if the drains connected. Their test proved the two systems were not connected and that ours were working fine. The land around here is pure clay so the water table is high. I will finish digging it out to see what is at the bottom and try to determine where the water is seeping in from but I am currently of the opinion I will backfill it with 2 tonne of hardcore and then cover with concrete and be done with it. I don't like the idea of the Stag sitting above water which presumably will encourage corrosion.

Cheers

Bruce

[AlanD]

Hi Bruce,
FWIW

i dont think i would just back fill, it will still hold the water as it now, and then it will start to creep under you concreate floor, i know its more work but i would smash the bottom or drill it and pull the sides in, then backfill and you will have created yourself a nice little soak away for the future, just trying to help is all mate

Alan