Square hole in garage floor

[keninman]

This is not the first one I have heard of so who can tell me what a hole like this in a garage floor was for. It is 2'4" x 2'3" and filled with sand. The floor drain does not go to it.  The garage was built in 1945. It is just a 2 car detatched garage with 6'8" overhead doors for parking. 

Edited August 12, 2017 by keninman (see edit history)

[39BuickEight]

Old sump pump location?

[keninman]

The garage is too high to need a sump pump but a friend of mine suggested a freeze proof water hydrant. Any spills or leaks would soak back into the sand. 

[JFranklin]

Indoor "outhouse" pit!

[TheMoneyPit]

I think that it was a place to dump drain oils and such from a time when nobody cared about what it could do... DDT was in heavy use at the time too as well as a long list of other chemicals that are now banned.

[Curti]

I think if you got a post-hole -digger and dug down a bit, you would find everything from drain oil to remains of dead animals. 

[keninman]

I also posted this of FB and I think a friend of mine probably came up with the most likely use. He thinks it was for a frost free water hydrant. I haven't dug down to see if I can find a water pipe and don't intend to. There is an old metal water pipe under the house that goes under the foundation in the correct direction to head for this hole.  I am just going to buy some concrete and fill it in.  

[Gunsmoke]

Good idea to fill it in and generally seal the floor. Radon gas is often emitted from the ground through holes like this.

[Dave Henderson]

Jimmy Hoffa site?

[zipdang]

Location for a round peg?

[Larry Schramm]

15 hours ago, Dave Henderson said:

Jimmy Hoffa site?

 

The last time they were digging for him was a couple of years ago about 2 miles north of my house.

[36humpback]

my younger brother owned an older house with this kind of setup in his detached garage.  There was (is) a sandpoint well in it that he used for irrigating his lawn and garden. There was a lip around the edge so it could be boarded up and use the garage, but still have access to the pump.

[jeff_a]

If you had a hole that size and dug it down to 5  1/2 feet it would be just big enough to lube your car, change the oil, etc. as long as it´s in the right location to park the engine above it. My great grandfather´s shop had a pit about 2´-4¨ x 4´, and 5´ deep, for truck and tractor servicing from about 1910-1990. Not really necessary nowdays in a repair shop with lifts. If this was a service pit, someone might have filled it in sometime later for safety.

 

I saw plans for a two car garage, circa 1911, and they had a washing area with drain when you first drove in, brick grease traps under each car, and one ¨repair pit¨.

 

Edited August 22, 2017 by jeff_a (see edit history)

[Hudsy Wudsy]

Do you guys think that there is any chance that a hole like this might have had any thing to do with a footing for temporarily jacking up the garage while a new floor was poured or some foundation work was done? I suppose there would have to be multiple holes, though.

Edited August 22, 2017 by Hudsy Wudsy (see edit history)

[Spinneyhill]

6 hours ago, Hudsy Wudsy said:

Do you guys think that there is any chance that a hole like this might have had any thing to do with a footing for temporarily jacking up the garage while a new floor was poured or some foundation work was done?

 

Very unlikely. The usual way to do that would be to jack up the building, put in a perimeter footing, put the building on it, then pour the floor. Damned pain in the tripe pouring concrete inside a building though.

[Hudsy Wudsy]

I'm sure that you are right, but I was just thinking about what someone would do in the case of an existing garage that had a broken up floor that needed replacing.

[lump]

I imagine some of the old shops had drain grates over holes filled with gravel, where they simply dumped used oil, grease, etc. From the perspective of that era long ago, who could imagine any reason NOT to dump old toxic chemicals under the foundation of a building? 

[keninman]

I did not appear to me that anything had ever been dumped there. It was in a corner so it would have been of no use under a car. It does seem most likely it was where a water hydrant came into the building. I should also mention that I filled it in with sackcrete so it is no longer a hole. 

Edited August 29, 2017 by keninman (see edit history)

[Spinneyhill]

19 hours ago, keninman said:

 It does seem most likely it was where a water hydrant came into the building.

 

Or perhaps an electrickery duct?