what to do with my basement water problem?

Question

ok i have lived in this house for a year now. the basement is like one i have never seen before. there are pipes under the floor that lead to a hole in the floor with a sump pump in it. but the problem is there is always water in our basement when it rains. most of the pipes no longer reach the sump pump and just leak out onto the concrete floor. there is even one stop where its almost like a channel build in the concrete for the water. when it rains hard you can see the water coming into the hole just from the ground. i would love to be able to use this basement but cant because of the high high high humidity level down there even with a dehumidifier running 24/7. wish we could post pictures it would help a ton to explain this.

Rosalie · Accepted Answer

Call one of the "dry basement" contractors and have them do an estimate - they can tell you more about your situation. Clearly you are having water table problems - that may or may not be something than can be helped by the installation of French drains ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_drain ) around your house. 

 Whatever they do to mitigate the situation, don't plan on using this basement for anything other than storage of non-perishable stuff. Unless you are in the direct line of some weird outfall pipe, chances are good you will always have an 'ecosystem' down there, and your house was built in a low lying area. 
Next time, look in the basement first, before you sign for the house...sorry...

geosapiens · Answer

A sump pump is a common mitigation procedure in areas with high ground water table. That being said, no water should be dumped directly on the concrete surface. The pipes should all go to the sump pump pit. From your description it sounds like you have a lot of water coming in your basement. I suspect that you will need to address drainage around your house, extend the home's gutters away from the house. Without knowing more about your yard, elevation, slope, type of soil it would be difficult to be more specific, but sometimes people install french drains around the perimeter of their house to give the rain water and ground water a path of least resistance. One word of caution about sump pumps: they depend on electricity to function, so in a strong storm, losing electricity might mean a flooded basement. I would not put anything down there that you care too much about.

DDI#25 · Answer

Fix the pipes leading to your sump pump that will solve the water from pouring out onto the floor and get a better de humidifier

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what to do with my basement water problem?

3 Answers