A couple of years ago, I blogged about a mysterious patch of grass in my yard. Snow would melt there. Grass would not grow there. I wasn’t sure what was up.
Several people I told about it, in person and on my blog, people had ideas but nobody was really sure what it could be.
I planted more grass again last fall, and this year the new grass was not dying, but just not growing at all. For some reason recently I decided to (carefully) dig under there to see if I could figure out what was going on.
Here’s what I found:
My dad had it right in the Comments section of my aforementioned blog post: it’s where the water and sewer line runs.
And I have to wonder several things. Like, why is this here in the middle of the yard, and not in the easement section between the sidewalk and the street? (as I’ve seen before at my house growing up, and at other people’s houses.)
And I usually see these things at or above the grass level. Why did they put it so low under the ground that it has to be covered with dirt and grass to be anywhere close to level with the ground next to it.
Here’s a side view, with my shoe to demonstrate the size of the hole. It is approximately 4” or so lower than the surrounding yard.
And lastly, what can I, should I, or shouldn’t I do with this information? I feel like I’m not supposed to cover it up - as if I should not block access to it. (Yet it was already covered way before I moved in.) At the same time I feel like I shouldn’t leave a deep hole exposed in my yard either. If someone were to trip they’d probably be upset. (Although nobody should be walking through that part of my yard anyway!) But I certainly don’t want to cover it with dirt or grass that’s just going to die again (Plus that makes it look like I don’t know what I’m doing with my lawn to have a giant bare patch there.)
For now, I put rocks there to level it out and not leave a big, open hole. The rocks are easily removable in case access is necessary, and the rocks won’t die or melt.
I guess I need to figure out how to go about figuring out what I can or cannot do there, if there’s a better way.
Until then, at least the mystery of what is there has been solved!
3 comments:
I read your blog on this and noticed that couple other people had the same problem and I wonder if there's was for the same reason? I also have this same exact problem but mine is in the back yard, way far away from water or sewer lines, and it just started this past year. I've lived here for fifteen years and never seen this before. have you heard possibly of other reasons for this? I actually was doing a search on why this was happening in my yard when I came across your blog. any help would be great.
I really don't know. I'm just a fellow homeowner, no expert in plumbing, sewer lines, and things like that. My dead-grass spot was almost perfectly round, same shape as the manhole cover that caused it. If yours isn't round but more irregular shaped, could there be a gas leak? Would that kill grass? Maybe someone else who comes across this post will have some ideas. If you do find an answer some day, I'd love to hear what it was.
I have had the same round spot of melted snow for over 15 years, but my husband says it's nothing, because he doesn't want to find a leak. I'm glad I'm not the only one with such a spot. Will have to investigate.
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