CISTERN

[DANA]

MY HUSBAND AND I JUST BOUGHT AN OLD HOUSE WITH A CISTERN IN THE BASEMENT,SURROUNDED BY CEMENT WALLS AT ONE END.IT DOESN\\\'T LOOK LIKE IT\\\'S BEEN USED FOR YEARS, BECAUSE THE GUTTER OUTSIDE THE HOUSE WAS RE-ROUTED AWAY FROM THE DRAIN PIPE THAT BRINGS THE WATER INTO THE CISTERN. WHAT SHOULD WE DO WITH THE WATER THAT IS STILL IN THE CISTERN? WE FIGURED THAT STANDING WATER PROBABLY ISN\\\'T SO GOOD TO HAVE IN THE HOUSE. WE DON'T KNOW HOW LONG THAT WATER HAS BEEN IN THERE. HOW SHOULD WE GO ABOUT DRAINING IT, TO MAKE SURE THAT EVERY LAST DROP IS REMOVED.

 

[breezer]

could you not pump it out?

 

[DANA]

could you not pump it out?

THANKYOU, THAT'S WHAT WE FIGURED WE WOULD HAVE TO DO. THEN DO WE JUST LEAVE THAT AREA, WHICH IS ABOUT 10FEET WIDE BY 10 FEET LONG, AND 4 FEET HIGH, EMPTY?? OR SHOULD WE FILL IT IN?? I'M JUST WORRIED ABOUT MOLD OR RADON IN THE BASEMENT. WE HAVE 3 SMALL CHILDREN TO WORRY ABOUT. THANKS FOR ANY ADVICE YOU CAN GIVE.

 

[masona]

Could you not cut out the front section of the wall and maybe have two doors made up for storage area ?

Make sure you know the cistern is redundant before you do anything as breezer's said pump it out empty first and see if it fill up again with rain etc.

 

[DANA]

THANKYOU ALL FOR YOUR ADVICE. WE HAD THE SAME THOUGHTS IN MIND, BUT WANTED TO SEE WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THOUGHT. WE WILL PUMP OUT THE CISTERN WITH A FLOATABLE PUMP, AND THEN LEAVE IT FOR A MONTH OR SO, TO MAKE SURE NO MORE WATER COMES IN. THEN WE WERE THINKING OF DOING THE EXACT SAME THING AS MASONA MENTIONED ABOUT USING THE AREA FOR MORE STORAGE. TAKE CARE, AND IF WE HAVE ANY MORE QUESTIONS WHILE WORKING ON THE NEW HOUSE I'LL BE SURE TO INQUIRE WITHIN.