Hi,

After removing some cabinets I discovered a 16″ * 10″ hole in the basement wall of our 1940s house (see photo). The hole is covered by a metal plate screwed to the cinder block wall. There are five 1″ diameter circles cut in the middle of the metal plate covered with wire mesh.  Behind the plate/ mesh the large hole in the cinder block wall appears to be packed with fine gravel.

I am not sure what the purpose of the hole/ gravel was. The hole is located directly underneath the front door (3ft below grade). I don’t think it is an old coal chute because the hole is directly below the front door, and filled with gravel, not to one side where you might expect a coal chute to be. One suggestion was that the hole/ gravel allowed warm air to rise up from the basement and prevent ice/ snow building up on the front door step.

Last year water (with dirt) leaked through the hole in two extreme rain storms (several inches fell in our area in an hour). As far as I know it had not leaked before. 

I have regraded the area above the hole as best I can and it has not leaked since. That said, I would still like to try and fill the hole in the wall to prevent any major leaks in the future. I realize that proper waterproofing would require outside excavation, but a large porch has been built above the hole and we don’t have the budget for that scale of project right now. The basement itself already has an internal waterproofing system and I can extend the dimple board up the wall to catch any small leaks that seeps through a patched hole. I really just want to prevent any major leaks/ dirty water coming in that might block up the internal floor drain or cause a major flood

I really have two questions:

1) Any ideas how to remove the metal panel without having 4ft of gravel pour out into the basement (assuming that the hole is full of gravel up to ground level)? I am also worried that if the gravel does spill out the porch above might eventually subside into the cavity that will be created. 

2) If we can get the plate off how can we fill the hole in the cinder block to prevent major leaks. I am assuming that the edges of the hole in the block wall are already covered with cement. One idea would be to fill the hole with bricks/ new block and use hydraulic cement. Do you think that would work?

Many thanks in advance for any suggestions.