Sump Pump Drain Solution
A client of mine has a house with no gutters. The problem with not having gutters is that all of the roof run off drains against the houses foundation walls and usually finds it’s way back into the house. Exterior drainage for a sump pump was an issue and we needed to come up with a A Unique Sump Pump Drain Solution.
When building this house the builder installed two French Drains around the perimeter of this house. One drain [shallow depth] was installed on the outside perimeter to carry the roof run off and drain it away from the house.
The other was installed under the basement floor and at the foundation wall footing. This pipes job was to deal with ground water.
Splash Block Prevents Grass Blockage
Once we were able to locate the outlet we exposed it and created a splash block to prevent the grass from over taking it again and also remind the landscaper not to run it over with his mower.
We cut blue stone in the shape of a wedge with a grinder and diamond blade. the pipe was capped and stone added to the out flow area. To finish this we added a pipe grill to keep critters out.
When a pool was installed a few years the pool contractor cut the foundation pipes and neglected to properly re-install them. We can only speculate that they were never re-installed or that they are forever buried somewhere in the yard and now clogged.
Unfortunately this resulted in us needing to install a sump pump in the basement to deal with rising water levels. The challenge was finding a location where we could exit the house and drain sump water away from the house. Existing landscape conditions did not cooperate.
Connecting The Sump Drain Pipe To A Landscape Drain
We decided that we would drill through the house foundation wall and tie our 2″ sump pump pipe into a 4″ drain pipe [schedule 20 pipe] trenched cross the yard and tie the pipe into the 4″ [shallow depth] French Drain pipe. A Unique Sump Pump Drain Solution but one we thought would work well.
Below is a picture of the clogged shallow depth French drain.
This 4″French Drain pipe drains to another pipe in a nearby flower bed that is pitched away from the house and drains in an area 70′ away and 20′ lower than the house.
A perfect opportunity for me to get my sump water away from the house.
Below is the 2″ sump pump pipe exiting the house foundation wall. We used a Liberty sump pump – 1/3 hp, Cast iron, automatic submersible sump pump, low head, 1-1/2″ dis. Size, 115V, 25′ Cord.
We used a 2″ to 4″ adapter to install it to the 4″ solid drain pipe. We carefully removed all of the grass and dug a 20″ trench from the house to the planting bed where the French Drain pipe was running.
At the planting bed [approx. 15′ from the house] we exposed the French drain pipe, cut it and installed a TEE connector to receive our trench pipe. We chose out hole height in the foundation wall to give us 2″ of pitch over 15 feet. This was important for me to get the water draining and moving quickly away from the house.
Once all the connections were made we reinstalled the dirt, compacted the trench and placed the sod back tightly.
The pipe pictured below is the outlet to the shallow depth French Drain. Unfortunately over the past 15 years the landscaper had allowed the grass to grow over it and clog the end.
This pipe was 3/4″ full of sediment. A solution to prevent sediment from entering the pipe is to wrap the pipe in filter fabric or buy a pipe filter “sock” which slides over the pipe. My guess is that when this pipe was installed they did not use filter wrapping.
Below; drilling through the foundation wall at a height that will come out 10-15″ lower than grass outside. This pipe will be invisible after installation.
Taking the time to replace the sod in the exact way we took it out left an almost invisible look.
Click here to learn how to install a sump pump and sump pit in a basement floor.
