Cellar under old brick dairy barn? (no tractors)

[besserheimerpha]

Hey all. I've got a brick barn on my property that dates back to the 1920's or so. The house was built in 1920 and I assume the barn was built at the same time. Anyway, I noticed that some of the poured concrete under the barn portion was cracking, and when I stepped on it I felt it shift around a little. I gave it a little tap with my sledge (yes, just a little tap), and it sounded like the tap echoed off of solid walls from UNDER the floor. Has anyone ever heard of having a cellar underneath a barn? There is no obvious point of entry if such a room exists, although there is a small patio outside that looks like it may have had a hole big enough for a ladder. Again it was a dairy farm, located in Iowa incase usage and/or region is important. FYI the house had a basement originally, so no need for extra tornado protection.

I put this in the project forum because this has become a spring project for me.

 

[deerefan]

Just a guess...being a dairy farm maybe they stored milk below for the cooler temps.? Again...just a guess...never worked a dairy farm before.

 

[Highbeam]

Sounds like a super duper top secret chamber. Maybe the entrance to a tunnel leading to the border at Tijuana.

 

[beenthere]

If it's of any size, it could be a cistern to hold water.

 

[BobG_in_VA]

Did you see "SECOND HAND LIONS"?? You may have a couple of million $$ down there! Seriously though, I'd drill a couple of holes big enough to shine a light though and take a look. Depending on what part of the country you're in you may have a "bunch" of snakes hybernating down there. Bobg in VA

 

[JerryG]

Several years ago I worked with someone that had just bought an old house from the 1940s. After they had been moved in a week or two her husband said that he say a light through a crack in the basement. That was strange because it was night. The next day when she came to work she told about how her husband had torn the wall out and found a secret room. The light was one light bulb that wasn't burnt out. They found several things in the room that indicated that the previous owner had grown marijuana in there.

 

[Jimbrown]

I would bet there was a cool room under trhe barn where they kept the milk. It could even possibly been stocked with ice during the winter.

 

[besserheimerpha]

Yeah, the cool milk storage was our best guess too. Of course we're hoping to find some priceless artifacts. . . There are two other sisterns on another part of the property, so that's probably not it. Thanks for the warning about the snakes, I hadn't thought about that. My biggest concern is that the former (failing) septic tank might have leached some of its cargo down there before we replaced it last summer. The two weren't very far apart. We've only been here for 1 1/2 years and every day seems to yeild a new surprise /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

When I get into it this spring, if I find anything interesting I'll try to remember to post.

 

[CT_Tree_Guy]

Besser, don't forget to call Geraldo Rivera - he did so well with "Al Capone's secret vault", I'm sure he'll want to do a prime-time special on what's under the floor of your dairy barn! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

John

 

[CurlyDave]

In the pre-septic tank times, they used to have cesspools. The ones in the San Francisco area were vaults built of stacked cinderblocks in an inkwell shape, with a concrete cover. I have seen some of these from the 1920s that were abandoned and then opened up recently.

I am almost willing to bet money that the history of your property went Cesspool-->Septic Tank-->New Septic Tank.

I really doubt that onyone would build a milk storage facitity under a dairy barn where the floor is frequently covered in fresh manure.

There is some chance that the cover can fail and whatever is on top of it will race the concrete debris to the bottom of a 15 foot pit.

About the best thing to do with these is to break up the cover & backfull with enough gravel to pour a new concrete top which will no longer have the possibility of caving in.

If you are going to cut a hole or two in the concrete cover, stand somewhere else.