Hello,
I am retrofitting a sump pit in my unfinished basement in an attempt to remedy occasional water intrusions during heavy rains from floor seams.
The basement does not have a perimeter french drain but there is a good amount of perimeter gravel under the floor that I am hoping will make the sump pit work. Basement floor is about 5ft below the ground level. Its about 800 square feet with a floor drain in the middle. There is an exterior entry door that has a stairwell with a exterior drain.
Two things that I am trying to remedy is the walls to floor seam seepage and water getting in under the entry door when the exterior drain gets clogged. The sump pit and pump is to take care of the first issue but I am trying to figure out the best approach to the second one.
The exterior drain in the stairwell is about 5 inches below the door threshold and it does well draining water during rains as long as it stays unobstructed. Typically it gets clogged with leaves, flowers, and pollen when I do not keep it clean. Sometimes its a matter of one downpour that there is enough material from the roof and just being blown over that can clog the grate and make water reach the threshold and start seeping through and draining about 10 ft away into the basement floor drain. I came up with a partial solution which is a heavy duty kitchen floor mat with some astroturf fixed on top that covers entire bottom of the stairwell. That helps to keep debris on top and let the water get to the drain. Still at times of heavy rain and when I am not able to check and clean the area there is enough water to get over the threshold before it can drain.
I was thinking about installing a door length interior grate and tap to the existing floor drain with about 10ft of graded PVC pipe without replacing the original piping. I think that it would help contain the water and prevent it from running on the floor I am just not sure if the execution is acceptable. It would require drilling into the side of the existing 60 year old cast iron floor drain/ iron pipe and connecting maybe a 1 or 1.5 inch PVC pipe to it. There is about 6 inches of depth to the water line of the p-trap in the drain. I am assuming this might be enough to accommodate a hole for a connected drain pipe. I imagine replacing the drain and installing a proper T would be best but wondering if there is anything against taping into existing pipe.
I created a drawing to illustrate my idea.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I am retrofitting a sump pit in my unfinished basement in an attempt to remedy occasional water intrusions during heavy rains from floor seams.
The basement does not have a perimeter french drain but there is a good amount of perimeter gravel under the floor that I am hoping will make the sump pit work. Basement floor is about 5ft below the ground level. Its about 800 square feet with a floor drain in the middle. There is an exterior entry door that has a stairwell with a exterior drain.
Two things that I am trying to remedy is the walls to floor seam seepage and water getting in under the entry door when the exterior drain gets clogged. The sump pit and pump is to take care of the first issue but I am trying to figure out the best approach to the second one.
The exterior drain in the stairwell is about 5 inches below the door threshold and it does well draining water during rains as long as it stays unobstructed. Typically it gets clogged with leaves, flowers, and pollen when I do not keep it clean. Sometimes its a matter of one downpour that there is enough material from the roof and just being blown over that can clog the grate and make water reach the threshold and start seeping through and draining about 10 ft away into the basement floor drain. I came up with a partial solution which is a heavy duty kitchen floor mat with some astroturf fixed on top that covers entire bottom of the stairwell. That helps to keep debris on top and let the water get to the drain. Still at times of heavy rain and when I am not able to check and clean the area there is enough water to get over the threshold before it can drain.
I was thinking about installing a door length interior grate and tap to the existing floor drain with about 10ft of graded PVC pipe without replacing the original piping. I think that it would help contain the water and prevent it from running on the floor I am just not sure if the execution is acceptable. It would require drilling into the side of the existing 60 year old cast iron floor drain/ iron pipe and connecting maybe a 1 or 1.5 inch PVC pipe to it. There is about 6 inches of depth to the water line of the p-trap in the drain. I am assuming this might be enough to accommodate a hole for a connected drain pipe. I imagine replacing the drain and installing a proper T would be best but wondering if there is anything against taping into existing pipe.
I created a drawing to illustrate my idea.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
