Cistern under bedroom

[Mark P]

This house was built around 1940 and has a very large cisten under one of the bedrooms. The top of the cisten is cement, same as the walls, except for a small access panel in the bedroom floor. I told my clients that other then just being creepy I can offer no meaningfull advice on it. So does any one have any useful advice on this situation...?

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[Inspectorjoe]

Is there a basement? A doorway could be cut to make it into a useable room. I see that done all the time. If it had to stay as it is, I'd probably recommend pumping out the water, drying it out completely (somehow), and securing the lid so a kid couldn't possibly get it off.

[Mark P]

Yes there is a basement of sorts, dirt floor, 5 foot ceiling...

[Garet]

I would definitely comment on the potential for a kid to find their way in there.

[hausdok]

Wow,

Now that has potential for the fellow with a mother-in-law that's a royal pain in the butt; man in the iron mask potential.

Bwahahahahahahahaha!

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Tom Raymond]

Looks like an optimal place for a grow; isolated, semi-secure, and irrigated.

You definitely need to advise them to dry it out and secure the lid. Joe's idea for the basement access is a good one, but in my experience sealing the water source is difficult and opening the cistern introduces a new leak into the basement. The last one I ran across originally supplied water to 3 homes. It had a 4" overflow that couldn't keep up with the spring supplying it.

[Mark P]

Yea - it was surely creapy; we joked about the bodies and the drug lab stuff... They are looking to buy the house as an investment.

This is what I put in the report:

"FYI: There is a large cistern under the front right bedroom; the cistern is as large as the bedroom and deeper. Cisterns were used to collect rain water and the water was mainly used for washing. It looks to have about 3 feet of water in it. There may have been a pump in the basement at one time, but there is nothing now. All I can tell you is having it under the house is very unusual (in my experience - only the 2nd one I?ve seen in 8 years); that I have no expertise with this situation and can offer no useful advice on it on what to do about it. Obviously if this is going to be a rental property or if kids are every going to be in the house the access needs to be sealed up tight."

[Tom Raymond]

If there is 3' of standing water in there and no means to evacuate it I would report that as if it were a flooded basement. There is more remediation needed there than just the hatch. Tenants won't complain about the building until that bedroom begins to fill with water.

[Mark P]

Tenants won't complain about the building until that bedroom begins to fill with water.

That is funny - but true!

[Inspectorjoe]

For today's Facebook page Picture of the Day, I just used a photo of a cistern that was opened to the basement. So far, people are stumped as to what it is.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid= ... =1&theater