I’ve had water leaking from an exterior garden for a while - not gushing out, but enough to keep the concrete sidewalk damp with small puddles in a few days of 75° heat in the direct sun.
Dug up the garden area and found an approximately 4" concrete pipe that is, I believe, connected to the gutters and downspouts but am not positive. The pipe has a circular hole in the top that is pretty close to being perfectly round, so I assume it was manufactured that way. The hole is approximately the size of a quarter.
When I use a hose to put water in the pipe, it does come out the quarter-sized hole pretty quickly, so it’s clear the pipe is clogged.
I have no idea where water ENTERS the pipe - I’ve tested various downspouts. Plus, it hasn’t rained in several days and has been warm, so I don’t understand how water can still be seeping out and across the sidewalk.
As I mentioned, the pipe is approximately 4" in diameter. However, I can only put my finger in the hole about 1 to 1.5" - the rest of the pipe appears to be filled with some weird white substance.
I can scrape away bits of the substance with a screwdriver - when I take bits of it out, it has no smell (I didn’t taste it) and is very granular - when I rub some of the paste-like substance between my fingers, it’s like grains of sand.
Any ideas on, well, anything? The mystery substance? The purpose of the pipe? How to unclog it? (The paste is pretty dense - I don’t think a simple snake would do the job.)
How deep is the pipe and which way is it running relative to the the house? Also, how much of it have you dug up? I’m wondering if it’s some kind of trench/french drain. If you only dug a foot or so down, it’s not drain tile, but it could be a french drain. I’ve never heard of one being made of concrete, but who knows. If that’s what it is, there’s going to be a lot more then one hole. You should find more if you keep digging along it’s length. The next question, then, is the source of water. I’d start looking for a broken/leaking water main that’s bubbling up to the surface. Are there any soggy spots in your yard anywhere around your house?
I’d try snaking it out first. Otherwise you’re going to have a bunch of lime-a-way puddled up in there if it doesn’t (and probably won’t) eat through it.
Also, once you’re done with this project, if this isn’t some sort of drain tile or french drain, you should probably plug up that hole or more dirt is going to get into it.
Yeah, I agree all around. Problem is that a decent-sized snake won’t fit in the hole (and the snake would have to make a sharp right turn immediately after entering the hole). Plus, the lime (if that’s what it is) is taking up more than half the diameter of the pipe. I may get a smaller snake, but I’m not sure that’ll have the necessary “oomph” to get it done.
Am also hoping that if the lime-a-way eats away even part of the lime, it may loosen up the rest of the blockage enough.
And since I don’t know WHY the hole is there but it seems to be a manufactured hole, I’ll probably wrap that part of the pipe in a fine mesh or something to keep out large particles but still keeping the hole open (for a reason I cannot imagine).
I wouldn’t think that’s the case - we’re in the center of a somewhat large lot, but it’s possible.
After exposing the pipe this afternoon, I let it (and the sidewalk) dry throughout the afternoon. This evening, it had been “leaking” again at some point. Our house, water-wise, had only run a single shower, so either that’s responsible (which I highly doubt) or it MUST be from a neighboring house. I’m really flummoxed.
Ultimately, I don’t care too much IF the pipe would drain, which it used to - we’ve been in the house about 2 years and it hasn’t been a problem until recently. So that’s my top priority, but the source of the water is still a puzzler.
How close to the surface is it? If it’s only a foot or two down (and you have a basement) it’s not the sanitary drain. That’ll be much further down.
Which way does the pipe go? Is it going towards the street or along the house?
How much of it have you exposed? Just a little and you found the hole or a few feet and you only found the one hole?
To get back to what I was saying earlier, I’m wondering if you found part of a French drain system.
I’m still going to say it has nothing to do with the sanitary system. It wouldn’t have a hole like that. If you have a basement, it wouldn’t be that close to the surface and if pouring water in the hole didn’t go anywhere, a shower would back up very quickly.
No basement, but a crawlspace. The pipe is probably just below the surface of the crawlspace - looking in the crawlspace, I don’t see any sign of it.
It’s quite close to the surface outside - the part I exposed was under maybe an inch of dirt and then covered over the top with large stones as part of a terraced garden - I’d say the part I exposed was more “hidden” then “buried.”
It runs perpendicular to the house; the part that I’ve exposed is maybe 6 feet from the house. It’s angled downward away from the house and appears to go under the sidewalk and driveway and presumably connects with the storm drain system in the street at some point (since I’ve never seen water draining out any exposed end on the far side of the driveway).
I’ve only exposed a bit of it as the rest is presumably either under the sidewalk/driveway in one direction or under a somewhat large stone wall with mortar holding the wall together - the part I’ve exposed is about the only part that’s accessible.
I concur - I don’t think it’s part of the sanitary system.
I did pour more water in it and the water backed up the pipe enough that it started to run out from between a crack in the mortar wall I mentioned above - the wall is closer to the house and higher up than the part I’ve exposed.
I suspect there may be another perforation in the pipe closer to the house. and the water is backing up and coming out that hole; I’ve never seen water seep out from that hole before and I had to apply the hose at full blast for 5 - 8 seconds before it did finally seep out, so I think it doesn’t get that much water in the pipe typically (which is why I’ve never seen it come out at that location).
After reading a bit about French drains (this kind of stuff is definitely NOT my specialty), I’d have to say that seems like a reasonable assumption.
I appreciate all the input and will keep monitoring the thread and update it if I discover anything new (although as I said, I’m really just hoping to get it unclogged and working again).
I had a home in TN that had a similar situation. The clay pipe was a downspout drain. The clothes washer was in the basement, and not hooked up to the sanitary drain, but a graywater system that tied into the downspout drain. In my case, the clay pipe was plugged by tree roots, leaves, and dirt. A few days after running the wahser, a whiteish substance would appear at the drain outlet. It was detergent and other laundry relate deposits. I had to find both ends of the clay pipe and clean it out.
Nope - just a decorative stone wall with mortar between natural stone. The wall is on the side of the soil, i.e., not holding the soil back. I guess I could take a picture of the whole scene tomorrow - that’d probably explain what’s going on.
But anyway, this particular wall isn’t in a position where water would necessarily be collecting behind it.
I’m with Joey P on this one, it sounds like it is part of a French drain system that was once connected to the downspouts of your house.
It’s also possible that the drain system is not a French drain and originally ran out to the storm drain system. How old is your house?
Concrete pipe, over a long period of time will tend to ‘rot’ and roots can make holes in the pipe.
Does your house have gutters w/downspouts? It’s possible that the entrance to the French drain system has been broken off and since gotten covered up with dirt.
This may explain why the part that you found is ‘filled’, ie: dirt/detritus has been washing into the remainder of the pipe over time.
Do a little digging around any existing/remaining downspouts and see if you can locate the remains of a concrete pipe. This would probably confirm that it was a drain system meant to drain water from your gutters/downspouts.
