Said It Here

Contractor poured concrete over basement floor access holes

Contractors sometimes fill uncovered floor access holes and cleanouts with concrete without asking homeowners first. This eliminates critical secondary drain access, leaving homeowners with no way to reach the pipes except through the backflow prevention device.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

  1. 1
    Waiting for the contractor to return and clarify
  2. 2
    Tapping the concrete with a hammer to see if it cracks out
  3. 3
    planning to tamp the area down, apply bonding agent to the edges, and fill it with pre-mixed concrete

In their words

Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.

I have exactly 0 experience with concrete work.source ↗

Am I on the right track?source ↗

Can I pour this all in one go?source ↗

Any tips for sloping it around the floor drain?source ↗

Thank you for entertaining my ignorance.source ↗

helirob1 · r/homeowners · 6 upvotes

It appears that they opened both covers of the holes and filled them with concrete as well.source ↗

EdTechYYC · r/Plumbing · 1 upvotes

the fact that he filled them up with out asking is concerning to mesource ↗

Royal_Thanks_469 · r/Plumbing · 1 upvotes

I question it because there is no other drain access other than the backflow prevention device one.source ↗

EdTechYYC · r/Plumbing · 1 upvotes

Where this came up

People with this problem also raised