basement

Ok. I have a question and I have little or knowledge of plumbing. I purchased this home as a repo and my first home. The plumbing was galvanized and so rusted that in order to pass inspection, it all had to be replaced. Being on a budget, I bought pvc and couplings and a friend replaced all teh pipes. (basement exposure, 1 kitchen sink, 1 bathroom and laundry facilities only.

I have a 900 sq ft basement that has a drive in garage...strange set up.

Where you drive the car in is a floor drain. It's about 12 inches deeper than the concrete floor.

We had a good storm the other day and not only did the rain pour in from the garage door but the drainage system was full and that was backing up into my basement.

So. My question is this.

What is my best defense. Sump Pump, Sewer Pump (I saw that listed somewhere on the messages), and I know there is such a thing as a backflow preventor for drinking water. Do they have the same thing for floor drains. The drain is like 6-8 inches across.

Having asked that.

Next summer I would like to replace all the new PVC with teh new flexible tubing since I don't think my friend really knew how to put in plumbing and I keep popping leaks. I was thinking of doing it two way. One would be to lay and secure all the tubing and hiring a plumber to connect to the fixtures. Finding out if it's easy enough for me to do the whole thing. Is there a tutorial or something to learn how to work with this stuff:?

Thanks

leaky

Getting the drain cleaned by a pro is a good start.

thanks. amazingly enough the drain is not clogged even after the house being vacant for 2.5 years.

driving down the street you could see a small fountain coming up out of the drains. so when we have a small rain, the floor drain works great. when we have a good rain that comes down fast and non stop, is when Ive got a problem. yes, the city needs to upgrade their drainage but we talking a city with a popultion under 1000. I'm not gonna hold my breath.

thanks!

leaky

Sounds like they need to unclog their drain then...

You tied your other drains into this same drain?

Wish I could send you a picture.

I'm talking about miles of drains that go to the nearby "crick". When the "crick" fills, the street drains push the water up. my floor drain in my basement must be tied to those street drains.

There's a reason that the street that runs parallel to the "crick" is named water street. The "crick" drains to a river that I think eventually ends up going to the Ohio river, not really sure.

This house is over 80 years old. I really don't want the basement to flood again but I really can't afford a real plumber so I gotta learn some stuff.

thanks again

This sounds like the worse kind of job for a DIYer. But in any case more information is needed.

I have a similar (but quite different) problem concerning a drain in a basement stairwell that is linked to the sewer

But in particular you need to work out whether your drain is backing up with the new water entering it from your garage (and unable to drain quickly because of the water entering the whole system) which would suggest dealing with your run-off or whether it is just purely water backing up from elsewhere.

Secondly, how is the garage flooding the basement? Is there a door separating the two through which water is flowing under? If so a floor drain here with a sump pump might help. Or is the garage in the basement, which I cannot picture. But there are just too many unknowns at the moment to give any advice.

hi ian,

yes, I know I have no business doing this. necessity creates learning opportunities.

Let me try to explain this setup. I have a 900 sq ft basement with a garage door on it. The basement is the garage. If I chose to park in the basement, I would literally drive down to it. there is a declining driveway leading to a side rolling garage door

Now, where the water is coming from is both places. The drain backing up and spewing water into the basement and the rain falling outside and running down the driveway under the garage door. So my basement has two opportunites to flood from two causes. The drain handles teh run off water just fine unless it is overloaded.

I was thinking a sump pump would help with the run off but there needs to be a way to cut off water running the wrong way on the drain and water flowing 'into' the basement from the drain.

Thansk again,

leaky

What you need is a flood control system installed.

Wow, you guys are great..

Ok. what's is this flood system. you posted a pic, what is that thing on the wall? is it something a diy can do and if so about how much does it run. if it has to be done by a pro....how much is that?

Thanks,

leaky

lostinleaks said:

Wow, you guys are great..

Ok. what's is this flood system. you posted a pic, what is that thing on the wall? is it something a diy can do and if so about how much does it run. if it has to be done by a pro....how much is that?

Thanks,

leaky

Click to expand...

That system has an electrical control box with an alarm. Here is a couple more pictures of what one looks like. First picture is just one built in an office to show off some of the parts. The others are the actual install of one. It requires you to dig up the sewer outside install a manhole within this manhole there is a pump pit, a check valve for the sewer an overflow opening to allow any water you use to enter the pump pit and then the pump to pump the water to the closed side of the check valve. I do not know where you live and what the cost of materials are in your area, so I can not give you a price over the internet.

What an amazing piece of plumbing. That's cutting edge and I always like to see stuff like that.

Ian Gills said:

What an amazing piece of plumbing. That's cutting edge and I always like to see stuff like that.

Click to expand...

If you look at the last picture, the manhole is built out of catch basin blocks. My preferred way of doing it.

You would need somewhere to actually pump the water. Since the storm sewers are overloaded, you can't put it in there. And, storm rainoff often cannot be put into the sanitary sewer system, either.

You might put in a cistern, and pump it into there. You could use this water for the lawn and garden and water things when there might be a watering ban. You'd have to monitor the levels, and pump some out if it got too full, so there'd be enough room for a storm.

I'd consider a trench drain at the edge of the driveway near the garage door to prevent it from entering the basement. But, you'd need to drain it somewhere and probably pump it away.

They do make backflow valves for the storm sewer line, and I think that may be a good first choice.

jadnashua said:

You would need somewhere to actually pump the water. Since the storm sewers are overloaded, you can't put it in there. And, storm rainoff often cannot be put into the sanitary sewer system, either.

You might put in a cistern, and pump it into there. You could use this water for the lawn and garden and water things when there might be a watering ban. You'd have to monitor the levels, and pump some out if it got too full, so there'd be enough room for a storm.

I'd consider a trench drain at the edge of the driveway near the garage door to prevent it from entering the basement. But, you'd need to drain it somewhere and probably pump it away.

They do make backflow valves for the storm sewer line, and I think that may be a good first choice.

Click to expand...

He states it backs up in his basement as well. The floor drains in the basement would not be hooked up to a storm sewer. Many cities around here that have separate storm and sanitary sewers, have the storm sewers surcharge and back up into the sanitary sewer system which in turn backs up and floods out many basements.

The flood control system has a set of check valves that would prevent the city sewer system from backing up into the home.. But while the check valves are holding back the city sewer back up, the homes regaler drainage has no where to go, so that is why there is an open tee to overflow into the pump pit. The pump then pumps it beyond the check valve. As long as they have power they can use their plumbing system normally.

drain

The pump connects back into the sewer system. The pump has more than enough force to overcome the backup pressure. We used to install a single system which looked like a very large backwater valve. It incorporated the back water valve, pump, resevoir, and piping in the single unit which was installed in the sewer line. It was much more compact and less intrusive that the system shown, but did the same thing.