Found defunct septic tank

[janette]

Hello, the groundworkers have uncovered an old defunct septic tank. We are on mains drainage so It's been undiscovered a long time. To be safe we had it filled with water and then got a company in to pump it out and jet wash it. The plan is to fill it with concrete or stones because it's outside of the area where the foundations are being dug. My question is, do the council (East Suffolk) need to be consulted on how it is filled in?  Thank you.

[Russell griffiths]

Tell nobody, 

[ProDave]

Don't be in a hurry to fill it in straight away.  It sounds like a handy place to lose all hardcore, rocks and anything else solid and inert that you need to get rid of when you start building.

[SteamyTea]

Insulate it and use it as a thermal store, or other energy storage.

[ToughButterCup]

Fill it full'a sand and use it as a heat store. Employ a Finnish company to do so.

[saveasteading]

Why do you want to fill it?

[janette]

It's very old and showing signs of disintegration, we don't want a sink hole forming in the garden at some point in the future.

[joe90]

Fill it with crap from the build, cheaper than a skip 🤷‍♂️

[Carrerahill]

50 minutes ago, joe90 said:

Fill it with crap from the build, cheaper than a skip 🤷‍♂️

But inert crap, rubble and stuff! Not stuff that will contaminate the soil. 

[Carrerahill]

8 hours ago, janette said:

Do the council (East Suffolk) need to be consulted on how it is filled in?

No, put rubble, bricks, sand, stone etc. in it, site scrapings, whatever, build it up, job done. 

 

My back garden had a huge hole dug about 12' deep and 10' wide/long and we put most of our old garage in it, timber, brick, render, then all the site scrapings and nonsense. Each layer was tamped in with the excavator and run over and hosed too at various points to help compact it all, 4 years on there has maybe 1-2" max drop in the lawn at that point which I build up with sharp sand and top soil. 

 

My attitude is just don't put any plastics or glass or painted things etc. in it as my feeling is it will breakdown and enter the groundwater over time. 

[joe90]

I would leave out the timber as this will rot leading to sinkage but anything else (non contaminating).

[Mr Punter]

It could make a useful soakaway if you are not on clay and you want to drain surface water.

[Carrerahill]

16 hours ago, joe90 said:

I would leave out the timber as this will rot leading to sinkage but anything else (non contaminating).

I agree with that, I only did it because it was still fixed to the brick columns and I simply bulldozed the garage into our pit!

 

In fairness there was not a lot and it is so far down I actually don't think it will get a chance to rot as I backed filled it with clay first and mushed it down with water before I chucked in the rubble for a soakaway.

 

It will be like that Egyptian Pharaoh's boat they found that was still intact because it was buried so deep it was essentially preserved! 

 

 

[crispy_wafer]

17 hours ago, Mr Punter said:

It could make a useful soakaway if you are not on clay and you want to drain surface water.

Drop a pump in and use it to water the garden.

[Ferdinand]

On 07/07/2022 at 16:13, joe90 said:

Fill it with crap from the build, cheaper than a skip 🤷‍♂️

 

Metaphorical crap, one hopes.