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We have a home built in the early 1930’s that has a 10 ft. x 10 ft cistern in one corner. It was originally connected to the gutters to save rain water. The cistern extends 3 feet below the grade of the basement floor. It has had 3 ft. of water stored in it for some time. We want to drain it and use the space (after cutting a wall) for additional cellar.
Is there any danger that ground water could bouy up this section and crack walls of the house. Don’t laugh, I’ve heard of a swimming pool that was emptied and floated out of the ground.
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Hi Tom,
I guess it would depend on the elevation of your water table and the type of soil you have.
Normally, it isn't a problem.
If your water table is high and the soil is unstable, you can do several things.
You can fill it in to the same level as the rest of your foundation and put in a concrete floor and reclaim that area.
You can cut a hole in one corner of the cistern floor and install a drain pit with a sump pump.
Lots of options, you just need to talk them out.
Gabe
*Tom - I don't suppose you'd want to take a picture of that cistern BEFORE you tear it up, do you?It's all in the name of research. I really *need* a good contemporary picture of an old cistern for a book I'm writing about mechanical systems in old houses.Rose
*Given the talk about exhausting groundwater and the possibility of extend drought in various parts of the country, you may want to think about razing the cistern - in may come in very handy in a decade or two. Perhaps you could pretty it up and use it as an indoor swimming pool or hot tub in the meantime...
*I would just pump it out but if your concerned can you fill with dry cement to the point where the cement is equal to the ground level then pump it out...rose.....just tore down an old cistern a few months ago....it was on creosote posts appx. level with the building floor.....platform built of 2x treated material.....it had an aluminum tag instead of the plastic ones we have now......the top had a hole cut in it and was covered with window screen....was located at the corner of the building. it was on an old camp and the owner used the water for all except drinking. He hooked to city water. I drained it and pushed it off the platform....it crumpled as it was about to rust through.....good for the iron level i guess.......the old man said they used to keep a small catfish in it to keep the water clean........so much for the safe drinking water of the old clean pure days when everything was environmentally safe and the ozone was pure....Depleting the ozone with chlorine gas while drinking clean water.......
*I'm all for rain cisterns, but an open top tank in the basement is a bad idea. Raze the one in the basement and bury a poly tank in the yard.-Rob
*Tom: As Gabe says, the possibility of the cistern popping out of the ground depends on the depth of your groundwater. There are several ways to find out.1) Ask a local well driller at what depth first encountered water is, in your area.2) Next time you see an environmental technician sampling the groundwater at several old service stations in the area, ask them the depth to water.3) Call up your local county/state environmental regulator and/or water district. Often they have produced contour maps of the groundwater surface over a whole region.4) Dig a 4-5 foot hole (a foot or two deeper than the cistern). Check for water at the end of your rainy season, whenever that is.But 3 feet would be exceedingly shallow groundwater. If it ever gets that high, every builder around (and every kid who has ever dug a hole) is going to know about it.Sounds like both a great, low-tech water-saving device and a potential mosquito breeding pond. If the scum or bugs get to be too much, toss in one of those passive hot-tub chlorinators ($15) dialed to its lowest setting. -David
*If you decide keep it, don't forget some sort of cover to limit evaporation adding significant H2O into the interior air.Bob
*Rose, My father passed away early this year. While cleaning up his place we found these photos of the cistern he and some friends built for the house I grew up in. I'm guessing the date to be early fifties? He worked in the steel mill but also had a small trucking business hauling coal, slag, etc. Be glad to answer any questions.
*Fred: Thanks for taking time to post the photos! They are very interesting. I had no idea cisterns could be quite so large!But it looks like it's a good way off from the house.Is it?Rose
*Rose, We moved out of the house almost 30 years ago, but our home built in the 18th century had a spa for the rats, um, I mean a cistern in the basement. That was in upstate NY near Ithaca. Just wanted to share that distant memory with you and say that I'd bet those old cisterns are pretty rare. It is disconcerting to know that you are showering in water that the baby rats probably peed in. They have to be at least 6 before they learn to control themselves.
*Rose, The house is ~18' behind the cistern. Camera angle might be misleading. I estimate the cistern to be ~10' in diameter and ~14' tall. It is made from brick. I'm not sure how it worked in conjunction with the well that was in the backyard.We got city water in the 60's. Dad eventually built an additon on the cistern side of house. He shortened the cistern to the floor elevation of the garage and poured a structural concrete slab over top.He continued to use water from the cistern for car washing, gardening etc.
*Rose - a lot of the old farm houses in Eastern Oregon had cisterns that were filled by the old fashioned multi-bladed windmills. The cisterns that I saw were typically about 8' square and perhaps 4-6' deep. The one I remember had some small screened openings around the side for ventilation and a wooden cover. These were placed up a hill to provide water pressure and would often be a hundred yards or more from the house. The water got fairly warm in the summer. I only worked on the farms in the summer, so don't know whether it froze solid in the winter. I do remember the shower for the hired hands at one place I worked at several summers - a 50 gallon drum was on a stand and was filled with cold water that was supposed to to be warmed by the sun. Even on hot days, this was not a very effective hot water heater so there were a lot of cool showers...
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We have a home built in the early 1930's that has a 10 ft. x 10 ft cistern in one corner. It was originally connected to the gutters to save rain water. The cistern extends 3 feet below the grade of the basement floor. It has had 3 ft. of water stored in it for some time. We want to drain it and use the space (after cutting a wall) for additional cellar.
Is there any danger that ground water could bouy up this section and crack walls of the house. Don't laugh, I've heard of a swimming pool that was emptied and floated out of the ground.