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New Foundation Excavation - Found Old Septic Tank sleepdog 07-20-2007
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Posted by on July 20, 2007, 11:16 am
Contractor just broke ground last Friday, found the old septic tank
original from 1952 when the home was built. City sewers came eight
years later in 1960 so the septic tank has not seen anything new since
that time. Uncovered it and it was full of water, excavator had it
pumped out and broke up the upper part of the chamber, left the rest
alone below where the new footing will go. Contractor was going to
fill it with rock and concrete, maybe some rebar.

Town engineer came by on Monday and failed the excavation, wants
contractor to make sure the load bearing capacity of the soil
underneeth the old septic pit meets the minimum in our area, NJ all
clay two feet below grade, I think it needs to be 2500 lbs per sq ft.
So we have a soil engineer coming to test it.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this they can share with me? Not
familiar with the engineering involved in a foundation for a new home,
not like we're building a wal-mart or something. Obviously I don't
want it to shift ever, either.

Thanks!


Special 468x60
Posted by Banty on July 20, 2007, 11:32 am
sleepdog@optonline.net says...
>
>Contractor just broke ground last Friday, found the old septic tank
>original from 1952 when the home was built. City sewers came eight
>years later in 1960 so the septic tank has not seen anything new since
>that time. Uncovered it and it was full of water, excavator had it
>pumped out and broke up the upper part of the chamber, left the rest
>alone below where the new footing will go. Contractor was going to
>fill it with rock and concrete, maybe some rebar.
>
>Town engineer came by on Monday and failed the excavation, wants
>contractor to make sure the load bearing capacity of the soil
>underneeth the old septic pit meets the minimum in our area, NJ all
>clay two feet below grade, I think it needs to be 2500 lbs per sq ft.
>So we have a soil engineer coming to test it.
>
>Does anyone have any thoughts on this they can share with me? Not
>familiar with the engineering involved in a foundation for a new home,
>not like we're building a wal-mart or something. Obviously I don't
>want it to shift ever, either.
>
>Thanks!
>

I know when a new footer was poured for my house (foundation repair), it had to
go to undisturbed ground. You don't want anything that may compact or settle
further; you want the foundation to rest on ground that's been there forever.
So, yeah, the engineer failed it. Go with the stringent requirements of the
town engineer.

Banty


Posted by EXT on July 20, 2007, 3:15 pm

> sleepdog@optonline.net says...
>>
>>Contractor just broke ground last Friday, found the old septic tank
>>original from 1952 when the home was built. City sewers came eight
>>years later in 1960 so the septic tank has not seen anything new since
>>that time. Uncovered it and it was full of water, excavator had it
>>pumped out and broke up the upper part of the chamber, left the rest
>>alone below where the new footing will go. Contractor was going to
>>fill it with rock and concrete, maybe some rebar.
>>
>>Town engineer came by on Monday and failed the excavation, wants
>>contractor to make sure the load bearing capacity of the soil
>>underneeth the old septic pit meets the minimum in our area, NJ all
>>clay two feet below grade, I think it needs to be 2500 lbs per sq ft.
>>So we have a soil engineer coming to test it.
>>
>>Does anyone have any thoughts on this they can share with me? Not
>>familiar with the engineering involved in a foundation for a new home,
>>not like we're building a wal-mart or something. Obviously I don't
>>want it to shift ever, either.
>>
>>Thanks!
>>
>
> I know when a new footer was poured for my house (foundation repair), it
> had to
> go to undisturbed ground. You don't want anything that may compact or
> settle
> further; you want the foundation to rest on ground that's been there
> forever.
> So, yeah, the engineer failed it. Go with the stringent requirements of
> the
> town engineer.
>
> Banty
>
Agreed, you need to dig down to below the old septic tank to solid
undisturbed soil the same as the rest of the foundation. The inspector may
allow you to step the footing down the extra deep portion of the excavation
or he may want you to pour the footing full depth from the bottom up to
level with the rest of the house footings. I would at least run two rows of
1/2 or 5/8 rebar along the entire footing and cross the old septic tank hole
without any joints in the rebar, plus maybe add an extra rod in that area.



Posted by tbasc@bellsouth.net on July 20, 2007, 4:15 pm
On Jul 20, 11:16 am, sleep...@optonline.net wrote:
> Contractor just broke ground last Friday, found the old septic tank
> original from 1952 when the home was built. City sewers came eight
> years later in 1960 so the septic tank has not seen anything new since
> that time. Uncovered it and it was full of water, excavator had it
> pumped out and broke up the upper part of the chamber, left the rest
> alone below where the new footing will go. Contractor was going to
> fill it with rock and concrete, maybe some rebar.
>
> Town engineer came by on Monday and failed the excavation, wants
> contractor to make sure the load bearing capacity of the soil
> underneeth the old septic pit meets the minimum in our area, NJ all
> clay two feet below grade, I think it needs to be 2500 lbs per sq ft.
> So we have a soil engineer coming to test it.
>
> Does anyone have any thoughts on this they can share with me? Not
> familiar with the engineering involved in a foundation for a new home,
> not like we're building a wal-mart or something. Obviously I don't
> want it to shift ever, either.
>
> Thanks!

Engineer could design a grade beam to span the questioned area.
He will balance cost of alternative solutions.
T


Posted by HeyBub on July 20, 2007, 4:33 pm
sleepdog@optonline.net wrote:
> Contractor just broke ground last Friday, found the old septic tank
> original from 1952 when the home was built. City sewers came eight
> years later in 1960 so the septic tank has not seen anything new since
> that time. Uncovered it and it was full of water, excavator had it
> pumped out and broke up the upper part of the chamber, left the rest
> alone below where the new footing will go. Contractor was going to
> fill it with rock and concrete, maybe some rebar.
>
> Town engineer came by on Monday and failed the excavation, wants
> contractor to make sure the load bearing capacity of the soil
> underneeth the old septic pit meets the minimum in our area, NJ all
> clay two feet below grade, I think it needs to be 2500 lbs per sq ft.
> So we have a soil engineer coming to test it.
>
> Does anyone have any thoughts on this they can share with me? Not
> familiar with the engineering involved in a foundation for a new home,
> not like we're building a wal-mart or something. Obviously I don't
> want it to shift ever, either.

Insane, absolutely insane.

The sub-surface damn sure supported a tank full of liquid for fifty years,
didn't it?

And what's the worst that could happen? YOUR deck/floor/driveway leans!

Asses, you ask me.



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