Hello everyone,
I bought a house six months ago and everything is great. However, there is one issue troubling me; otherwise, I wouldn’t be writing here.
The house is 20 years old and well-built. However, the basement is located below the sewer line, so we have to pump greywater from the basement into the sewer using a pump installed there.
Now, this sump in the basement also collects water from the drainage system around the house. Since the house is built on a slope beneath a field and the soil is very clayey, heavy rainfall causes almost 5000 liters per hour (about 1300 gallons per hour) to enter our basement through the drainage.
The pump has to turn on quite frequently, but it handles the water without issues—until it eventually breaks down or there’s a power outage, which is what worries me.
What do you think about my idea to install a second drainage line about 1 meter (3 feet) in front of the house and approximately 1 meter (3 feet) deep? (I would need to check where the water table is in the clay soil.) This second drainage could lead directly to the sewer without requiring a pump. Hopefully, this would reduce the amount of water entering the basement.
I have another question: is it sufficient to fill the trench for this new drainage pipe with gravel only? Will the water flow properly into the drainage? Or is there anything I should consider to prevent water from simply bypassing it?
Do you have any other suggestions?
Excavating the first drainage line would be very difficult since it is almost 3 meters (10 feet) deep and space is limited.
Best regards,
Guoli
I bought a house six months ago and everything is great. However, there is one issue troubling me; otherwise, I wouldn’t be writing here.
The house is 20 years old and well-built. However, the basement is located below the sewer line, so we have to pump greywater from the basement into the sewer using a pump installed there.
Now, this sump in the basement also collects water from the drainage system around the house. Since the house is built on a slope beneath a field and the soil is very clayey, heavy rainfall causes almost 5000 liters per hour (about 1300 gallons per hour) to enter our basement through the drainage.
The pump has to turn on quite frequently, but it handles the water without issues—until it eventually breaks down or there’s a power outage, which is what worries me.
What do you think about my idea to install a second drainage line about 1 meter (3 feet) in front of the house and approximately 1 meter (3 feet) deep? (I would need to check where the water table is in the clay soil.) This second drainage could lead directly to the sewer without requiring a pump. Hopefully, this would reduce the amount of water entering the basement.
I have another question: is it sufficient to fill the trench for this new drainage pipe with gravel only? Will the water flow properly into the drainage? Or is there anything I should consider to prevent water from simply bypassing it?
Do you have any other suggestions?
Excavating the first drainage line would be very difficult since it is almost 3 meters (10 feet) deep and space is limited.
Best regards,
Guoli
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