Question: A few weeks ago I put a cement cap on an unused standpipe that sits beneath a downspout at the corner of my main house. Based on the facts below, is there any risk that capping that standpipe could some day cause flooding in my crawl space?
Background: For the past 6-8 months, I've been experiencing a slight moldy odor in my family room addition. In an effort to find the source of the smell, I examined the dirt crawl space below my home's family room addition, which a prior owner added to the home in the late 1950s. (The main house itself dates from 1938.)
During my examination of the crawl space, I found wetness around an approximately 5-inch pipe where the pipe enters the crawl space through the cinder block foundation below ground level. The degree of wetness (in an area of approximately 1 square foot) was similar to beach sand a few hours after the tide goes back out.
I can't figure out the pipe's purpose. It looks like a sewer pipe, but it doesn't appear to connect to the sanitary sewer pipe. The house at one time used standpipes below its downspouts -- including the standpipe in the corner of the main house that I capped a few weeks ago -- so I assume that the pipe entering the crawl space could be part of a related drainage system.
Attached are pictures of the pipe entering at the wall (Pic 2) and continuing along the dirt floor mid-way through the crawlspace (Pic 1). There is also, strangely, an uncapped standpipe/vent pipe in the middle crawl space (Pic 3). I assume that standpipe may have once serviced a downspout on the main home, when I'm told by a neighbor that a smaller screen porch occupied part of the area, prior to the addition of the family room in the 1950s.
Notably, the standpipe in the crawl space appears to top out at a level higher than the standpipe outside the crawlspace which I capped a few weeks ago. Is this so that any over/backflow from the storm sewer would exit the outside standpipe(s) rather than exiting the standpipe in the crawl space? If so, did I make a mistake by capping the last visible standpipe outside the house? (There may be other now-buried standpipes outside the house, but I've not sought them out.)
My area of Southern NJ does not have a lot of flooding, but flooding is not entirely unknown here either. Unfortunately public works in my town is unable to tell me whether my (apparent?) storm drain is connected to the municipal storm sewer, and there's a lot of variation in my town which has homes going back to the 1680s. (The storm sewer maps have evidently been lost.)
Thank you in advance for your help.
Background: For the past 6-8 months, I've been experiencing a slight moldy odor in my family room addition. In an effort to find the source of the smell, I examined the dirt crawl space below my home's family room addition, which a prior owner added to the home in the late 1950s. (The main house itself dates from 1938.)
During my examination of the crawl space, I found wetness around an approximately 5-inch pipe where the pipe enters the crawl space through the cinder block foundation below ground level. The degree of wetness (in an area of approximately 1 square foot) was similar to beach sand a few hours after the tide goes back out.
I can't figure out the pipe's purpose. It looks like a sewer pipe, but it doesn't appear to connect to the sanitary sewer pipe. The house at one time used standpipes below its downspouts -- including the standpipe in the corner of the main house that I capped a few weeks ago -- so I assume that the pipe entering the crawl space could be part of a related drainage system.
Attached are pictures of the pipe entering at the wall (Pic 2) and continuing along the dirt floor mid-way through the crawlspace (Pic 1). There is also, strangely, an uncapped standpipe/vent pipe in the middle crawl space (Pic 3). I assume that standpipe may have once serviced a downspout on the main home, when I'm told by a neighbor that a smaller screen porch occupied part of the area, prior to the addition of the family room in the 1950s.
Notably, the standpipe in the crawl space appears to top out at a level higher than the standpipe outside the crawlspace which I capped a few weeks ago. Is this so that any over/backflow from the storm sewer would exit the outside standpipe(s) rather than exiting the standpipe in the crawl space? If so, did I make a mistake by capping the last visible standpipe outside the house? (There may be other now-buried standpipes outside the house, but I've not sought them out.)
My area of Southern NJ does not have a lot of flooding, but flooding is not entirely unknown here either. Unfortunately public works in my town is unable to tell me whether my (apparent?) storm drain is connected to the municipal storm sewer, and there's a lot of variation in my town which has homes going back to the 1680s. (The storm sewer maps have evidently been lost.)
Thank you in advance for your help.
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