Why does my toilet flush into this hole in basement?

[Erik Ward]

Here is a youtube video i recorded of the problem:

We bought this house and the inspector made no mention of this and must have just thought it was the remnants of an old floor drain. There is a hole in the ground in our basement and every time we flush our toilet, the waste water fills into the hole before draining down and out into sewer system. In the video you can see the water wash into the hole after a flush. You can also see bits of toilet paper and human fecal matter in the hole.

My question is, why is that hole even there? Did it have an original intended purpose? How would something like this be repaired? Is it going to be expensive?

 

[Taylorjm]

I can't help you much but our home was built in 1977 and there's a floor drain in our basement that would always smell and if you popped the grate off you could see toilet paper in it. No idea why. Seems like there should be a trap or ball check valve or something in it to prevent this. Needless to say I bought a good pipe test plug that fit inside the pvc pipe drain and tightened it up really good. Haven't had an issue since. What's really weird though is I removed the plug to drain the hot water heater to replace it, and the water filled up to top of the hole and I thought it was plugged, but the water wouldn't go any higher than that. It would just take that much water weight/level to drain into the line below. No idea what this is, or why it's plumbed so weird. Especially since we aren't talking about a house built that many years ago.

 

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[Reach4]

I suspect your sewer pipe and/or septic may partially clogged. I am wondering how high that is vs the elbow at the bottom of the cast iron stack.

My question is, why is that hole even there? Did it have an original intended purpose? How would something like this be repaired? Is it going to be expensive?

Hard to say. If you stick a snake or flexible rod in there, does it seem like there is a trap? If not, maybe it is a cleanout that lost its cap. Otherwise it seems like an attempt at a floor drain. I am not a plumber.

 

[Terry]

You main waste line is backing up some and needs clearing. That exposed pipe end needs to be capped. You are letting sewer gas into the home.