The curve WALLS of life...

[grgh]

So, 8 days ago on Tuesday the builders turned up to start a 1st floor extension on my house, by Thursday they had stopped work.

We were starting by underpinning the existing ground floor foundations as they were not deep enough, but unfortunately they discovered a circular structure under the corner of the house. This turned out to be a very large 100 year old cesspit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesspit), 1.8m across and probably 3m deep, full of rubble, the odd engine block, and still water tight with human waste... The contents had sunk over time and there was actually a void under my house!

UK building regulations require this to be completely emptied and filled with concrete. Not only this, but it was now unsafe to work under the house. Now we need to take that corner of the house down, and to cut a long story short we'll lose our only toilet & shower for a month or two and with the changes now required we might be adding ?35k to the build cost (+e40,000 +$70,000) 

My videopac collecting could be on hold for a while 

On the plus side, a new basement could make a nice games room 

[RickO2]

Oh no!!!  Would they let you fill the cesspit with gravel instead of concrete?  Concrete seems like overkill unless you need it to support some of the weight of the house.  I want to know how an engine block got into a cesspit???  The previous owners must have had a large appetite  :D

[Sweersa]

The previous owners must have had a large appetite  :D

lol

[grgh]

Oh no!!!  Would they let you fill the cesspit with gravel instead of concrete?  Concrete seems like overkill unless you need it to support some of the weight of the house.  I want to know how an engine block got into a cesspit???  The previous owners must have had a large appetite  :D

And there was me thinking it had been thrown in after! I'm definitely not touching it now.

Even gravel can 'settle', it has to be concrete for absolutely no risk. I live in an area marked as clay which means you have to put in proper foundations as it expands and contracts. If we just go to fill the hole with concrete thats about ?2k extra, with ?4k extra for the new floor and brickwork, so I could do it cheaply but I'd rather make the most of it now.

[Seob]

That's bad. But unfortunally this is common here in the netherlands as well. The ground of the old farmhouse my parents used to live was filled with all sorts of rubbis. Those old farmers living here before where building there own dumpplace around there own house.

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

?35,000!?     That is NOT small change.  Man, what I wouldn't give for the dollar equivalent of just ?35!

Do you have insurance or anything that will take some of that cost off of your shoulders?

[Janzl]

Wow George what a bummer!!! 

Maybe you can fill the hole up wit Atari E.T. cartridges 

[grgh]

That's bad. But unfortunally this is common here in the netherlands as well. The ground of the old farmhouse my parents used to live was filled with all sorts of rubbis. Those old farmers living here before where building there own dumpplace around there own house.

Yeah quite common in the UK as well, if its not a cesspit then its a 'water well', especially in built up areas. Thats why the planning office give no mercy, filling it in with concrete is the only option. If I do that now thought, nobody would ever be able to extend this house. I feel it is my duty to make the best of it now on a house that dates back to approx 1910, so I'm looking into the basement option.

It's just annoying its right under a previous extension to the house, and the cesspit itself is such a good construction. We actually have two cesspits and the second one is half way down the garden.

[grgh]

Maybe you can fill the hole up wit Atari E.T. cartridges 

I'm bulk buying already 

[grgh]

Do you have insurance or anything that will take some of that cost off of your shoulders?

If only....

[Packrat]

Now that is a curve if ever I heard one. Ouch! It will sting for a while, but in the long haul...

Makes me wonder what is hiding under my house. I've got a small spot under my furnace where the concrete floor has pushed 'up' in a few small spots!? I'm thinking there is something down there... 

Back on topic though, I hope this turns out well in the end. Good luck!

[Sweersa]

Makes me wonder what is hiding under my house. I've got a small spot under my furnace where the concrete floor has pushed 'up' in a few small spots!? I'm thinking there is something down there... 

Have you ever seen the movie Tremors? 

I really hope getting this hurdle out of the way grgh goes well, best wishes to you.  Try not to let it get you down. 

[RickO2]

I must say grgh that you seem to be taking it well.  Most people I deal with would have thrown a fit if I broke that kind of news to them.

I wish everyone was as nice to their Planning Departments as you  .

[grgh]

Now you see, I don't understand that mentality, the rules are there and everyone knows them. We knew exactly what he would say before he turned up. Not only that, but these rules are there to make sure the house doesn't have problems later on, so it's doing me a favour! It's not his fault this cesspit is there either.

I guess builders get upset because they think that the rules are overkill. On this new bit I'm going to have to put in 1.5 meters on concrete foundation, but the existing 100 year old part of the house actually doesn't have any foundations and is designed to move with the ground (although the brickwork does go down over a meter and widens at the bottom).

Any anyway, I've been a home owner for 16 years and part time property investor for about 8 or 9, so it's not like property hasn't already paid for the couple of thousand extra it's going to cost. It seems impossible not to make money from property in the UK, even in these times.

[Seob]

My house doesn't have a deep foundation either. Just 30 cm deep is our foundation. The floor rests on a sand bed. I have build my house together with my neighbor.