Water leaking into foundation around water line

Hey, I'm looking for a place to ask some advice if you guys don't mind.

We've had a lot of rain here and this morning my sump pump was going off every 20 minutes or so. Getting under the house I at first was convinced the main water line had a crack, but when I turned the house water supply off and checked the meter, it wasn't moving. So, this has to be rain run off. I know we have a negative grade along that side of the house. So, I guess my question is, will a french drain fix this problem, or is it a bigger problem? The fact that the water has eroded the earth under my foundation around the water line worries me. :/ The main line is pvc not galvanized for some reason.




Also, our sump pump has a whole drilled in the side of the pvc drain about an inch under the rim of the bucket that sprays water everywhere, on the wall and even the ceiling (our floor) above. Luckily I had only a few months ago put plastic on the wall next to the pump for isolation reasons. I'm assuming it is for proper drainage or to prevent some kind of suction problem, but I find it odd that it sprays so much water everywhere. I put some plastic down over the pump as you can see in the picture. Is that the best solution?




Thanks a lot guys.

The first thing is to fix the grade. If you don't have gutters, consider installing some and run them out into the yard away from the house. You can do this underground and maybe consider a drywell at the terminus. A French drain would help, but not until the ground was saturated, and you would prefer it not get that way. I had read that some checkvalves may require that small hole, but have not researched it, nor do I know if it is actually required for all of them. My guess is that it does not have to be that large, and you could probably plug that one and see if things still work. If it does, forget about it. If it does not, a smaller one, carefully drilled maybe at an angle so it would spray down into the pit would work better.

I agree with Jim- work on your landscaping, slope away from foundation, gutters with drainage piped away from the house,etc. Make sure the sump is pumping to location that will not allow gravity to take it back towards the house.
A French drain can help depending on your soil type, try all these other things first.

For the hole in the pipe you can cut a piece of plastic from a soda bottle or something similar to make a deflector. Put a couple of holes in the top corners to zip-tie it in place around the pipe so that it deflects the water downward.

Yeah, ok, thanks guys. The water did stop when the mega rains finally stopped. I have guttering and they do lead away from the side of the house, but there is a house only 10 feet up hill from mine with gutters too. I think the french drain is the way to go to deflect that water. It is very clay rich soil though, so I'm guessing I'll have to use a lot of gravel with it.