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Huge hole under concrete outhouse

jackrustcampbellhilljackrustcampbellhill Posts: 16
in Problem solving
Hi everyone

we recently bought our first house (yay us) and have been working tirelessly on the garden, we have a concrete structure (which will be taken down) at the back of the garden (blurry picture attached) and after doing some work nearby we’ve noticed a huge hole (on both sides but only one side has the picture attached).

any idea what the hole might be for? Is it safe to just fill in the hole slightly and when we take the structure down keep the concrete base for the new shed or should we remove the base full the hole in completely and start from scratch? 

Thank you for your responses!


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Posts

  • SuesynSuesyn Posts: 664
    Could it possibly be remains of an air raid shelter? 
  • jackrustcampbellhilljackrustcampbellhill Posts: 16
    Suesyn said:
    Could it possibly be remains of an air raid shelter? 
    Potentially, although speaking to a neighbour yesterday the owner twice before us used to park his motorbike at the back, however there is about 5 tonnes of dirt where he would have parked his bike, so we have a feeling it was dug in the last 15 years. Which makes it even more confusing. 
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    Perhaps the previous owner buried his old motorbike? Is it actually inside the structure? 
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • K67K67 Posts: 2,506
    We had a similar problem on taking down an old asbestos garage with an inspection pit. It was a great place to put all the builders rubble etc and saved a lot of hiring of skips!
    If you are only putting a shed base over it I would fill it up as much as you can and laying some reinforcing mesh over it. If you are going to concrete you will need extra as it will fall into the gaps in the hole or level the hole with sand first which would be cheaper. 
    Other option is to lay chunky wood posts across and use them as a support for your shed and leave the hole open.
  • jackrustcampbellhilljackrustcampbellhill Posts: 16
    Lizzie27 said:
    Perhaps the previous owner buried his old motorbike? Is it actually inside the structure? 
    If I wasn’t such a scaredy cat I’d climb in and check! 

    So the concrete building is about 5m wide and at both sides they have a similar opening about 1m across each and from why I can see it appears to go down about 1m and then under the concrete structure, one continuous loop. 

    Just impressed with such a huge hole the building has stood for so long. 
  • jackrustcampbellhilljackrustcampbellhill Posts: 16
    K67 said:
    We had a similar problem on taking down an old asbestos garage with an inspection pit. It was a great place to put all the builders rubble etc and saved a lot of hiring of skips!
    If you are only putting a shed base over it I would fill it up as much as you can and laying some reinforcing mesh over it. If you are going to concrete you will need extra as it will fall into the gaps in the hole or level the hole with sand first which would be cheaper. 
    Other option is to lay chunky wood posts across and use them as a support for your shed and leave the hole open.
    The plan is to take the current concrete structure down and leave the concrete base and just sit our shed on that as it’s about 5 by 3m so probably a summer house. 

    It’s just whether the huge whole under it will cause problems later on.
  • owd potterowd potter Posts: 979
    jackrustcampbellhill said:

    we have a feeling it was dug in the last 15 years. Which makes it even more confusing. 
    Do you have any recollection of any unsolved missing persons near to you?
    Call the cops.
    Have them to dig it out for you at least... 
    Just another day at the plant...
  • K67K67 Posts: 2,506
    Never good at interpreting but I visualize a u shape?
    Ready made footings?

  • jackrustcampbellhilljackrustcampbellhill Posts: 16
    owd potter said:
    jackrustcampbellhill said:

    we have a feeling it was dug in the last 15 years. Which makes it even more confusing. 
    Do you have any recollection of any unsolved missing persons near to you?
    Call the cops.
    Have them to dig it out for you at least... 
    fortunately not, I could ask the police to investigate and have them look down there just to make sure nothing untoward has gone on! 
  • jackrustcampbellhilljackrustcampbellhill Posts: 16
    K67 said:
    Never good at interpreting but I visualize a u shape?
    Ready made footings?

    Yeah it is a U shape, potentially ready made footings, I just don’t understand how structurally it hasn’t collapsed on on itself as the U is about 1m width all the way around 
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