Outside Sump pump??

[vitalshot5]

I've got an older house that gets a little water in one corner of my finished basement....I'm getting sick of replacing carpet every year, but i also don't have the cash to dig down and fix the foundation....A friend of the family says he dug a hole on the outside of his house in the corner that leaked and dropped in an outdoor sump pump and has never had water since...My question is, Have anyone on here ever tried it and if so How did you go about doing it?

[sparcebag]

Sounds like a big task! Why dont you cut a hole it existing floor,get a square liner and install a pump inside?Or cut a hole near a drain if there is one and direct the pump outlet to the drain?

[vitalshot5]

I do have a normal sump pump in opposite end corner of the basement....my problem is where it leaks is the finished living area of the basement and don't want a hole or a noisy sump pump in that area.

[sparcebag]

If you have a sump pump it must be surface water.Improve your slope maybe dig down a couple feet put a plastic barrior sloped away from house.Are you on clay soil and it happens after rains or thaw?Unless your sump isnt the lowest point??

[Redlantern]

Sparcebag, I'm kind of confused by what you mean when you say to cut a hole in a drain and direct the pump to it. You don't mean sanitary drain, do you ?

[sparcebag]

OK red enlighten me,sump pump cant be connected to storm sewer or black water drain????????? I forget about city living!

[Redlantern]

Sparcebag, ease up a bit. I was just asking for you to clarify what you meant since I didn't understand.

I'm not sure what you mean by blackwater drain.

As far as storm sewers, how many people have a storm sewer running through their basement? Did I misunderstand again?

[scaup]

I had this done in a house when we decided to a put foundation under an existing addition that was built on posts and was starting to sag. At the time the contractor added some drain tile to the new foundation and we installed the pump on the outside of the house it worked great. No more water in the basement. It can be hard to tell if you have a ground water problem or a run off problem. Buy my experience (unfortunately I have plenty) if the water enters yours foundation hours or days after a rain or during a winter or spring though you most likeky have a water table or ground water issue. If it just happens after or during a rain then you could be looking at run off issue and could possibly correct it by adding landscaping and directing the water with rain gutters and down spouts.

[sparcebag]

Red I'm not irritated!Do you know what gray water is?Storm sewer, well ya could run it out on the surface and it could enter storm drains.What are you askin me? your a plumber? If I'm wrong,please put me right! so no one is misled!

[Redlantern]

Hey Sparce, sorry to assume you were a little irritated. Anyway, I know what grey water is, I just hadn't heard of it refered to as Blackwater before. In an earlier post, to me, it sounded like you were telling the guy to tie into any drain line available in the basement. I thought that was a bit odd since most cities don't allow you to discharge your sump into the sanitary system and it would be foolish to dump it into your septic system if you aren't on city sewer.

Sorry for any misunderstanding.

[vitalshot5]

the water is definatly from seepage....we have a very high water table where I live....the water usually comes in a day or two after a very long rain or in the spring on a faster thaw.....Again it's a finished basement so no real way to do it inside without tearing up the basement and in that case I might as well spend the money and get the foundation fixed......Anybody else heard of using an external sum system?

[slotlimit]

Do you currently have tile on the inside of the foundation leading to a sump that was already installed in the basement?

[DRH1175]

Do a search on Dry Wells on the internet. Basically it is a sump with drain tile that is outside. you could put a pump in the bottom as well if needed. Basically you trench around the outside foundation fill will drainable rock and it will pull the water away from your foundation. There are some great explanations on them. I did a search cause I have a simular problem but with a garage. Anyways They are suppose to really work well for the exact problem that you have. I hope this helps. I am putting one in later this summer.

[marine_man]

Quote:

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Dry Wells

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I've actually got one of these.. it was at the house when we bought it. I have never seen any water in the thing.. which has surprised me... but at least it's there!

marine_man

[IFallsRon]

Figure out why the water is concentrating in that location. You may be able to do some simple grading and landscaping to cure the problem. Do you have gutters on the house? Do you have a downspout that comes straight down to that spot?

[Shack]

Ifallsron,

He has stated the water table is very high in area. It takes a day or two for water to form after heavy rain.

I would figure on dry well! A lot of hand digging and some drain tile along footing should help the concern.

Do you live on clay or a hill/bluff?

I fixed a house once that was on a bluff filled with clay. When it would rain, the heater vents in basement floor (under slab) would fill with water and home owner had to pump out of heater vent. Here, the problem started at front of home with drive way. He had no apron on his garage/ asphalt drive way. When it would rain, water would run in between tar drive way and garage slab. It created a large funnel/cave under garage slab, which traveled to rear of house, down a foundation wall and under basement slab. At that point that water would hit rear foundation wall of house and stop, then pool up into heater vents. This had been going on for years. The caverns were huge under house (looked in with bore-a-scope). Basically, we found this out when I was replacing all exterior concrete. So we pumped concrete into all void area’s the best we could. Installed apron and drain tile/drywell system in rear of house. Basically all water intrusion was stopped by repairs in front of house, but water drained out from under slab for almost 2 years after. Dry well work great!