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!

In article . com,
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

"Banty" wrote in message
...
In article . com,
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.

On Jul 20, 11:16 am, 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

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.

On Jul 20, 4:33?pm, "HeyBub" wrote:
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.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

might be a cavatity under that tank. do it right and do it once.

cost to do it right now, low.

fix it later very pricey

In article .com,
says...

On Jul 20, 4:33?pm, "HeyBub" wrote:
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.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

might be a cavatity under that tank. do it right and do it once.

cost to do it right now, low.

fix it later very pricey


Yeah - can't imagine anyone sane wanting to cut corners or guess around on this
one...

Banty

On Fri, 20 Jul 2007 08:16:43 -0700, wrote:
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

Usually you have to break the bottom of the tank so that it will not
hold water ever again. Then to abandon the tank it is usually filled
with sand or small gravel that won't settle over time.

But you want to build a footing in that spot...

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

Yup. Listen to the town engineer or hire your own engineer (not
building contractor) to design the proper footings.

sdb
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sdbuse1 on mailhost bigfoot.com

On Jul 20, 11:16 am, 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!

My father regreted busting up and filling in his tank. He now wishes
he could have used it to store rainwater for his garden.

R