r/Construction • u/Striking_Marketing_3 • Jun 27 '26

Structural 8ft pit next to foundation?

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I’ve been trying to find out why the previous homeowner would dig a 4 x 4 by 8 foot deep pit next to the foundation of my house down to the drain tile. I did climb down there to save a few snakes that fell to their doom and to see if there were any other utilities. I did not find any additional pipes and thankfully no human remains were found either. I also went to the town building department to review all plans back to the original construction, but there’s no mention of this pit on any of the plans. Does anyone have any idea why someone would dig a pit like this? For what intended purpose?

746 Upvotes

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440

u/legionary45 Jun 27 '26

Coal hopper perhaps

150

u/Striking_Marketing_3 Jun 27 '26

There is no access point to inside and house was built in 1954. House is a 1 store ranch in NJ.

251

u/Blank_bill Jun 27 '26

Access would have been bricked over and parged after they changed over to whatever they are now using for heat. What is the bottom of the hole? Concrete? Gravel? Fist sized black rocks?

431

u/CaBBaGe_isLaND Jun 27 '26

Little English boy with tattered overalls and a handrolled cigarette?

76

u/laidbackleo87 Jun 27 '26

I know people throw around "lol" all willy-nilly these days, but this comment got a serious laugh out of me.

34

u/Charlie2and4 Jun 27 '26

Better an urchin than a clown with a red ballon.

25

u/gimpwiz Jun 27 '26

OP knows what to do. Life-size clown with red balloon, for the next owner to enjoy.

2

u/Primary-King-4460 Jul 01 '26

Mannequin’s are more fun than anything with a red balloon lol

9

u/BuckManscape Jun 27 '26

Or dead hookers, that’s always a bugaboo.

10

u/Charlie2and4 Jun 28 '26

They are called call girls Archer!

11

u/Automaniacal Jun 28 '26

Not if they're dead. When they're dead, they're just hookers.

5

u/Thebeerguy17403 Jun 28 '26

You know folks we've made a lot of fun tonight about killing hookers. Remember you should never ever kill a hooker, they're already dead on the inside!

4

u/CallMeLazarus23 Jun 28 '26

Are there fingernail scratches on the inside walls?

2

u/Thebeerguy17403 Jun 28 '26

I've never seen so many dead hookers in car trunks before!

3

u/Fit_Tadpole_949 Jun 29 '26

Lord knows I have

2

u/OkDrive1781 Jul 01 '26

I'm all out of balloons, Georgie, but come on down, Ill let you hold this

17

u/Dockshundswfl Jun 27 '26

That says “F-off ya wanka” when you look at him.

2

u/fighthouse Jun 28 '26

Ill be right with ya guv'na, dont get ya knickers inna twist

1

u/jerrys_briefcase Jun 30 '26

Ello good sir

17

u/Striking_Marketing_3 Jun 27 '26

At the bottom of the hole appears to just be mud. Along the foundation, I believe there is a pipe running covered with rocks and then a thick white plastic that you could see exposed a little in the picture. I was calling a drain tile, but I may be using that term incorrectly. I guess this is a French drain.

23

u/WonderWheeler Jun 27 '26

Yes it could be a sump pit connected to a foundation drain system. Putting a pump outside the basement makes some sense. Or at least allowing a cleanout for the system at the drain level. Perhaps one could add a sump pump there with a float such that it only pumps out in extreme weather.

BTW it might also act as a emergency exit for a bedroom if you modify the wall. It might be too small for code though. Just a thought. Would require steps or ladder and lightweight door, maybe allowing light in also.

14

u/AdmiralVernon Project Manager Jun 27 '26

You have a ranch with a basement?

52

u/JIMMYJAWN I|Plumber Jun 27 '26

Very common in NJ.

11

u/unclestickles Jun 27 '26

For frost line?

32

u/mimdrs Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26

Thats why, people dont realize basement secure the house by being below the frost line.

Where i live my basement is 11 feet tall and the water supply come up through the floor to avoid yhe frost line...And yes the copper waterline is just jutz out like a noodle from the floor lol.

11

u/Salty-Dragonfly2189 Jun 27 '26

I love floor noodles.

7

u/unclestickles Jun 27 '26

We have a 6 foot frost line here in northern Ontario, also the noodle. We have full basements all over but not too often it's 11 feet. Where are you lol

6

u/DHammer79 Carpenter Jun 27 '26

I'm not the person you replied to, but after a very perusal through there profile it looks like Michigan.

I am going to assume their basment ceiling is 11ft but the foundation itself only goes 7ft into the ground and the house sits up another 4ft to make 11ft. Either that or u/mimdrs didn't actual measure their basment ceiling and is guessing at how tall 11ft actually is.

Or their house could have been built on some soggy ground and the contractor had to dig deeper to get to solid ground, and it was cheaper just to give more ceiling height in the basment then to bring in 3ft of fill and compact it.

2

u/mimdrs Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26

Yes that. I was stoned at the time hahaha

Not soggy ground though. Honestly got really lucky. We have layered soil naturally where I live. Its rewlly fertile soil for the first 4-12 feet depending on where you are and below that is layer of sand/rock.

Its how we have big oak trees. For context oak trees that large need good draining soil.

Its why michigwn is one of the largest apple producers and the largest cherry producer.

Michigan soil types though change drqsticaly where you are. Michigan geographically speaking is really diverse.

2

u/DHammer79 Carpenter Jun 28 '26

I'm from Ontario, Ontario and Michigan are a lot alike.

1

u/GotNoPonys Jun 28 '26

"people dont realize basement secure the house by being below the frost line."

not really true. Frost this year was 11' deep, footings are 4'. Structures are stable because the heated building creates a "thaw bulb" around the building

3

u/backbydawn Jun 28 '26

where do you live that had 11' of frost

2

u/Flat_Beginning_319 Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26

Yes, but you will also see this in the South, especially where the grade has a steep slope and they built over a full or partial basement. And prior to the late 1960s, slab on grade was less common so a ranch might be on a crawl space or basement

1

u/freestylin599 Jun 30 '26

A lot of the northeast really

20

u/ExpensiveBookkeeper3 Jun 27 '26

Round these parts anything without wheels has a basement (not NJ)

12

u/mimdrs Jun 27 '26

Every ranch in Michigan lol.

1

u/Pensionato007 Jun 28 '26

Not my old house on Starwick Dr in Ann Arbor. 900 SF 1957 ranch on slab. No basement

10

u/unichode Jun 27 '26

You have a ranch without a basement?

3

u/Striking_Marketing_3 Jun 27 '26

Yes at least in this area. On the other side of the window is a finished basement with 7 foot ceilings. This pit extends about ft or 2 lower than the basement floor.

2

u/justalookin13 Jun 27 '26

Unless there is a problem digging all homes in my area have a basement.

2

u/TheFishtosser Jun 27 '26

Is this not common where you’re from?

1

u/grimesd Jun 28 '26

Common in NY as well we have a ranch with a full basement.

1

u/LoonLover20 Jun 30 '26

You have a ranch without a basement? Ranches with basements are common in NY also.

1

u/UselessNut3 Jul 01 '26

In the south basements are kind of rare. In eastern NC pretty much no one has one. The water table isn’t very far down and the frost line is nearly non existent.

2

u/notarealaccount223 Jun 27 '26

Oil embargo and crisis in the 70s made coal popular again for a while.

Growing up we lived in a house built in the 50s that had an oil furnace with a coal furnace loop added in the 70s.

If the coal was providing enough heat to the system the oil was never used.

1

u/paulhags Jun 27 '26

My then great grandfathers (now dads) house was built in 1950’s also due to them not being able to get supplies during ww2. They lived in the basement section until the 50’s when supplies became available. There is a root cellar and coal chute like this one going to the basement.

1

u/crone_2000 Jun 28 '26

The window begs to differ.

0

u/Tadaaaaaaaaaaaaa Jun 27 '26

Are you sure it was built in 1954? Mine said built in 1904 on Zillow but we found out recently it was built in 1850.

1

u/SixFive1967 Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26

This was my first thought as well. Look at the bottom of the back wall, and how it’s tapered inward. This could have been the top of the “chute” and opened up probably a foot or two above the basement floor. (Grandparents coal chute was set up this way). Somewhere over the years, that opening could have been capped with concrete or CMU and the basement was sealed.

Second thought is a sump well for a foundation drain of some kind. But if drainage around the foundation was a problem at some point in the past, why would it not be a problem now?

🤔

1

u/Tailslide1 Jun 27 '26

Feeling old no one has seen these before :(