Wass is this brick water tanky thingy?

[arthurw3]

This is a brick lined water filled hole just outside the main wall of my "project". The kitchen is behind the wall to the left in the bottom picture, or at least what is the kitchen at the moment. This tank is in what we call the conservatory, just a brick shed outside the main house. the tank is about 1M deep and is adjacent to the main wall foundations and a lot deeper, you see I have put a shore in to stop the wall, and foundations collapsing into the hole. There appears to be only the one inlet that you can see via a square gulley and no outlet. There is no evidence of there having been a rainwater pipe above, and in fact there is a small kitchen window immediately above it. There was a cover over the top, long since gone, and the whole thing was filled in with bricks and rubble. The rest of the top is a brick arch. Has anybody any idea what it might have been for?View attachment 2

 

[Nemesis]

There have been a number of similar queries in the past - water. Brick water storage thingy. Cistern.

http://periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6252&p=65247&hilit=cistern#p65247

 

[arthurw3]

Ah great, I guess soft rain water was good for washing the clothes :wink:

I shall fill it in with concrete, to give me and my foundations a peaceful night's sleep.

Thanks for that

 

[Moneypit]

It may have been put in if the floor had a tendency to flood. I did something similar in a cellar once. Of course, to be of any use, it would have needed to be pumped away. I put a level activated submersible pump in mine, worked a treat.

 

[chuckey]

In my Grandmothers house in Germany they had one of these things so they could wash their long blonde hair. I joke not, Mother and four Daughters, like a load of Rhein Maidens!!
Frank

 

[biffvernon]

I shall fill it in with concrete, to give me and my foundations a peaceful night's sleep.

If you really must fill it in use previously enjoyed concrete (aka builders' rubble) rather than mixing new. So much easier on the planet.

 

[Lime]

Filling soaking wet empty holes with solid concrete next to a building with little or no foundation is not a sensible thing to do.
The weight alone will displace the local subsoil.

 

[arthurw3]

So what should I do,leave it empty to collapse and the foundations fall into it?

 

[ljn]

Could it have been the cavity below an "out house"? I have a similar hole at the end the garden/back yard of a Georgian terrace. Others in that position have the old toilet.

 

[Lime]

I shall fill it in with concrete, to give me and my foundations a peaceful night's sleep.

and


So what should I do,leave it empty to collapse and the foundations fall into it?

The hole has been in existence for as long as the building has been built in all probability.
Your concern about the foundations collapse into it would not be mine unless you have seen definite evidence that sideways thrust is happening.
If you do have sideways thrust I would buttress the wall.
Much of my judgement would be based on what the subsoil is, what is on the otherside of the brick foundations and what is happening at the footings.

What would be my concern is the soft wet subsoil directly under the brick foundations.
This is taking the weight of the building and needs support to stop it moving out and failing the foundations.
If the soil dries out it will shrink.
The hole is next to the brick not under it.
The support the foundations require is from the subsoil under the brick.
The obvious choice for support is not concrete nor any material that hardens into a solid held in soft wet subsoil that is likely to move.

If this subsoil moves the solid concrete block will create cavities which not only will not support anything but also allow water/soil movement.
You require something that will take up any movement that may happen and continue to give support to the subsoil and to the wall in general.
The obvious choice would be to use soil of the same type as the subsoil you have.

However if there is downward movement already then more work to support the foundation will be required.

 

[arthurw3]

Biffvernon, yes, I am going to use concrete rubble with the voids filled with 'new' concrete.

Lime. Like the idea of using clay in a theoretical way, but the hassle of digging out half a cubic meter of clay. doing something withthe ensuing hole and then trying to compact the clay by hand, as I can't get a plate compactor in is not really on. I agree with your point about voids, which is why I am using concrete, which will have approx the same density as clay. I'll tell you how it goes.