benniebeeker
New Member
Hello all,
Our building floods in the basement every 2-3 years due to insufficient capacity of the city sewers. Basically, rainwater takes over during really bad storms and it just backs up through our floor drains. We have been struggling to get a backflow/check valve installed but are getting the runaround from a handful of plumbers. Basically, we need someone who is familiar with city rules and regulations to clarify a few things for us.
First a little more information. We had our roof runoff downspouts diverted out into the alley instead of into the catch basin where our other lines run into. This helped significantly when we had our last flood. We only had an inch instead of a foot. Plumbers have been able to locate the pipe at the street. Sadly, it runs underneath a load bearing wall and then follows through underneath one of the units making it almost impossible to install inside the exterior wall. It would mean that we would have to have it installed inside of that unit. We were told that the check valves would need a service port so they can be greased and maintained annually.
One plumber told us that they would need to put the service port and check valve in the unit and claim that no odor/spill would incur. I find this difficult to believe. Another plumber told is that we have no choice but to put it out at the street since it is against building code to put a service port inside of a building. This same plumber told us that most plumbers want to put the valves inside of the building to cut costs. They don't want to chase the permits that are required to do the work in the sidewalk (or pay the fees) and they don't have to dig nearly as deep if they install it as close to the back as possible.
Is anyone familiar with City of Chicago code? Can they confirm that it is indeed against code to have check valves installed within the walls of the building? Assuming that we can go this road, what are the chances that an odor will take over and what are the chances that we get a spill?
Any insight would be greatly appreciated. This project has been ongoing for almost a year now. We haven't had a single consistent answer!!!!
Our building floods in the basement every 2-3 years due to insufficient capacity of the city sewers. Basically, rainwater takes over during really bad storms and it just backs up through our floor drains. We have been struggling to get a backflow/check valve installed but are getting the runaround from a handful of plumbers. Basically, we need someone who is familiar with city rules and regulations to clarify a few things for us.
First a little more information. We had our roof runoff downspouts diverted out into the alley instead of into the catch basin where our other lines run into. This helped significantly when we had our last flood. We only had an inch instead of a foot. Plumbers have been able to locate the pipe at the street. Sadly, it runs underneath a load bearing wall and then follows through underneath one of the units making it almost impossible to install inside the exterior wall. It would mean that we would have to have it installed inside of that unit. We were told that the check valves would need a service port so they can be greased and maintained annually.
One plumber told us that they would need to put the service port and check valve in the unit and claim that no odor/spill would incur. I find this difficult to believe. Another plumber told is that we have no choice but to put it out at the street since it is against building code to put a service port inside of a building. This same plumber told us that most plumbers want to put the valves inside of the building to cut costs. They don't want to chase the permits that are required to do the work in the sidewalk (or pay the fees) and they don't have to dig nearly as deep if they install it as close to the back as possible.
Is anyone familiar with City of Chicago code? Can they confirm that it is indeed against code to have check valves installed within the walls of the building? Assuming that we can go this road, what are the chances that an odor will take over and what are the chances that we get a spill?
Any insight would be greatly appreciated. This project has been ongoing for almost a year now. We haven't had a single consistent answer!!!!