Need Advice on Sump Pump Installation

[anonKY]

Hi, I'm a first-time poster, so please take it easy on me.

My city experienced record-level amounts of rain about 60 days ago and my basement got water. I'm not exactly sure where the water entry point was (I was out of town) but the city has generously (maybe?) offered to cap a basement drain (that was going into the city sewer) and run a drain pipe between the basement drain and a new crock and sump pump (which they pay for). For more context, I also have some hairline cracking in my basement foundation and a local waterproofing company suspects that I'm dealing with some hydrostatic water pressure issues.

My question is this- would it make sense to put holes in the crock of the sump pump on the sides to try and get some, if any, relief from the hydrostatic pressure IN addition to the sump pump serving as a destination for the water entering the floor drain? What are the pros/cons of that approach?

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!

 

[Reach4]

If I were doing that, I would like to have the space outside of the liner filled with pea gravel rather than clay.

I would drill fairly high rather than drilling in the lower part of the crock. I would probably use a 3/16 drill bit.

If they contract to have this done, perhaps you can upgrade the order to a bigger crock and to maybe add a perforated pipe to pick up water from a bigger area.

But yes, I like the idea of adding holes up high if there is gravel rather than clay outside of the hole.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Michael Young]

I had the EXACT SAME problem in my basement. I had a few cracks and I noticed some slight seepage during heavy rain. I told myself, yep - I need to take care of that. You know the rest of the story. One night we had a heavy rainstorm and it sounded like a truck had run through my house. The entire freakin’ wall caved in on me. I called in a few guys to give me estimates. These dirty bastards thought I was in homeowner-panic mode so they threw me quotes of $40,000-$60,000.

I just dug it out with the backhoe and formed up a new wall and poured a new wall. Cost me about $500 total by the time the work was done.

LONG STORY SHORT. hire a backhoe guy NOW. Dig down BELOW the footing. use a narrow bucket and dig a 1-foot trench right off your foundation. use some 3/4" rebar and some concrete mesh right up tight against your existing wall. hire a concrete truck (have them add micro-rebar to the mix). Have them dump the mix into that narrow trench. Congratulations - you just made your wall about 100x stronger for about $500. It won't cave in EVER.

get your backhoe guy to dig another trench - this time outside your new concrete wall. Run some corrugated plastic drain pipe (if you can fit 4 runs - put 4 runs in there. the area near your house, fill that trench all the way to the top with gravel (the big stuff - not pea gravel). At the top, leave about 10". Roll some landscaper cloth over the gravel and fill that area with topsoil. Hydraulic pressure GONE forever

my biggest mistake - I allowed myself to get busy and WAITED. it would have been MUCH EASIER had I addressed the problem before my wall exploded.

The 200 wheelbarrel loads I dug by hand and hauled out of the basement - that's the part you don't want.