Mystery hole in basement wall

[Zymurgy]

Ill do some looking around. The driveway is on that side, and concrete was poured all the way up to the edge of the foundation. The driveway I know is old as dirt. At least 50 or 60 years old if not more. The vent line and fill line for the tank in the basement comes out of the side of the foundation on that side.

I would play stupid on the hole if you are looking to sell. I would fill it back up with a concrete patch and repaint the wall. I don't see anyone digging up your concrete to see if there is a tank. I bet if it wasn't removed then it was probably split open and filled with dirt.

Hopefully your concrete above is nice and level, to reinforce the notion that the buried tank was addressed sometime in the past.

When I dug my tank out it was put in the bottom of dump truck along with other debris from the construct site. You don't want any inspector thinking the soil might be contaminated. The contractor took it back to his business and later sold it as scrap metal.

 

[Big_John]

Attempted escape perhaps?

View attachment 284944

Hang this over the hole.

 

[JC68vert300]

Had a similar hole near my natural gas furnace. Turned out the previous owner had converted from oil to gas in the '70's. I found the oil tank (1000 gallons) buried in the front yard and abandoned it in the '90's. Oil reclamation company pumped it out and filled with sand, certificate from the building dept. It could have stayed as is (by law), but decided this year to have it yanked out. Home buyers have home inspections with metal detectors, when they find an oil tank , they won't close the deal. It is also hard to get a mortgage here with a buried oil tank. So I spent $1500. to have it removed, back filled and a building dept certificate to say it was removed. Didn't want to get hammered by somebody because of a time crunch when selling, now it's done and won't be an issue when I sell in the future.

 

[70bigblockdodge]

Ignorance is bliss.

 

[Rwc]

Patch the hole in the foundation wall and get the patch dirty and old looking. Convince yourself a is well and forget it ever happened.

 

[73Coupe]

Utility marking from the 811 service only locates utilities in the public right of way. Property owners have to hire their own locator to mark underground lines on private property.
Anyways, I don't think there's anything to worry about here. Patch the hole if desired and forget about it.

nice pair ...

 

[jct]

811 also does private property.

 

[Jon O.]

Hopefully your concrete above is nice and level, to reinforce the notion that the buried tank was addressed sometime in the past.

Not even remotely close. It was once flat and level, but is now mostly gravel, with some big slabs left here and there.

 

[thrashingcows]

Yes call before your dig.....I was putting in a a drainage line and was digging with my skid steer, I knew there was a gas line close by but figured I was smart enough not to hit it....well I hit it and tore it open....very scary stuff! Will definitely call before I dig in the future!

 

[67Monaco]

It was for the old septic sysyem in the house. When we put the house on city sewer on the house we had in CT, built in 1947, looked just like that. My guess is theres an old field somewhere out in the yard.