Price estimate on Sump Pump

[Cookie]

I think what I may need in the garage is a sump pump. Now, this is a loaded question, one of which I KNOW no one likes to answer or maybe is hard to answer. But, to have a sump pump installed, what is a normal price? Also, this is done by a plumber?

 

[vaplumber]

Hi Cookie. The last sump pump I installed was a very simple job, yet required a few extra materials than usual. I charged him $150 for the pump (I dont mess with the cheap junk), $150 for the sump (including breaking through a cement floor) which I used a poly sump liner with a grated lid, and $75 for plumbing the pump to an external dry well, which the customer dug and installed, however I had to pass through the foundation wall. This may be either a high estimate or a cheap estimate in your area, but I came in just slightly below average in my area from what the customer said. I prefer submersible pumps over pedistal pumps. They just seem to last longer for me. I would suggest making sure that you dont have other problems if part of your driveway is sinking, and part is rising. Sounds like you may be on an elevated water table. If so, dont use a drywell. It will only create an extra entrance for water, and require many aspirin and service calls!

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Cass]

Cookie you won't like my answer but it sounds like you may have hydraulic water pressure. You cut the concrete and the water may come up through the hole.

I would go to the yellow pages and look under water proofing contractors and get a few estimates. At very least by talking to them you will find out what your problem is and you should be able to find how they will go about to correct the problem.

Let them know you are a widow and use it to your advantage to weed out the crooks.

 

[Bob NH]

You can't waterproof a concrete floor to prevent hydraulic inflow. A residential garage floor has no significant structural capacity for up-loads. Any head of water greater than the weight of the floor will crack the floor or come through the existing cracks of joints.

The only solution is to get rid of the hudraulic pressure.

You should try to find where the water is coming from, either from the water table (unlikely) or from some place where the earth is getting saturated during periods of heavy runoff. The water pressure is coming from some place where the earth is higher than the floor.

If a place is built into a hill, the foundation wall toward the hill is often the culprit. Water runs down the hill and is not diverted, or it soaks into the ground behind the foundation wall.

If surface water can be diverted, that is the place to start. If you have a place where water from the roof or from the surface is running toward the problem area, try to divert it. If there is standing water or a ditch near the building that is higher than your garage floor, that is probably where the water is coming from. If it is standing water, drain it. If it is running water, try to "waterproof" the botton of the ditch or pipe the water away to prevent it from soaking into the ground.

If the source can be isolated to an outside area, you can install "French drains" outside the house, or inside along the edge of the floor, to collect and dispose of the water. That process is usually an expensive "Big dig".

The easiest place to start is to find where the water seems to be coming into the area, dig a hole, put in a sump pump as deep as possible, and pump it away. If you can isolate it to a place outside, that will work too, but it is usually hard to find the one place that will solve the problem.

The "incoming" place is almost always near the wall or foundation, unless you have a spring under the floor. If it must be where you drive, you can make a cover that will support a car from pressure treated planks or reinforced concrete, or you can try to find a surplus manhole cover.

 

[Bob NH]

Cookie,
Don't put any laminated panels below ground level anywhere in your house until you solve the water problem.

Invite Uncle Billy to dinner and ask him what he would do to solve the water problem.

I assume that your garage is not in the basement. The ideal solution is to find the lowest place on your lot and drain the water to it. Divert what you can divert. Drain what you cant divert. You can use ditches, underground pipes, or any other means to get the water to run downhill from your house.

The next best solution is to collect the water and pump it to that low place. That is called drains and a sump pump.

You reported water spouting up in your basement. The only way you could keep that water out is if you made your basement floor and walls into a thick reinforced concrete boat. Then the problem would be that your house would float. That's not so good either.

Your only solution is to find where the water is coming from and send it elsewhere, by drainage or by pump. All else is futile.