Flooding Basement
We had a terrible flood in our basement on Friday night with those tremendous downpours. The water came up to our knees. There are two main locations where the water is entering: One is through a bathroom we’ve framed in the basement. It’s located in the center of the building. The water came gushing out…
We had a terrible flood in our basement on Friday night with those tremendous downpours. The water came up to our knees.
There are two main locations where the water is entering:
One is through a bathroom we’ve framed in the basement. It’s located in the center of the building. The water came gushing out like a geyser through the toilet pipe. We’ve put a secure cap on the pipe so it shouldn’t shoot out anymore. Yuck.
The city has replaced all the sewage lines on our street last year.
Q: Is this water coming from clogged storm drains? What is the possibility then, of installing a toilet on this pipe when we should be expecting more frequent rainfalls like this in the future? Some kind of valves on the waste line before the sink and toilet? Is the city responsible for our flooding?
Q: Also, we have a pit in our basement floor in the frontside of the house that connects us to the main water line. Water has been building up there even after the rain has passed. Where is this water coming from? What can we do about it?
Thanks for any insight. Has anyone else experienced such a bad flood in their basement with all that rain?
The upside to all this water is, we put down sod last week and it’s taking very well.
With all the rain, there was was just one tiny puddle in the basment, no flooding (knock on wood).
We’ve got a duplex with a (below-grade) toilet downstairs, and this was a problem every summer. It got to the point where anytime it rained between June and October I felt like throwing up from wondering if we’d have a flood.
Last year we installed a check valve/backflow preventer and came through the summer unscathed. It was pricey (like $2,000) but at $250 a pop for cleaning up carpet after every bad flood (three in the summer of 2004 finally made me decided enough was enough) it’ll pay for itself before too long. And not being terrified every time the Weather Channel shows red and yellow is worth a fair amount of money too.
As the above poster noted, this isn’t perfect — we did have some water come up into the bathtub during the worst of last week’s downpours, but it’s been a big help, and I’m really glad we did it.
As a short-term solution, you can get one of those pumps that turns on when immersed in water, provided you can run the hose from it to somewhere outside. But that’s no good if you’re not home.
My sympathies — I remember how aggravating and scary this was. (And yeah, I’m now frantically knocking on wood that it’s behind us.)
Does your roof gutter drain into your sewage pipe? If so that is an awful lot of water that is entering the sewage drain in a heavy rainfall and if your sewer main has not been cleaned out in a while the water may not be able to escape fast enough, so it comes up through your toilet. I would try cleaning your sewer main – first with a snake and then a water jet. And the check valve on the toilet is a must!
since your toilet is below grade so naturally water will seek the lowest level. I don’t know if your toilet has a check valve or not but it most certainly should. Sometimes they can fail too if the water pressure is too great. It really is a bad spot for a bathroom. The city is in no way responsible for the water if you are the only one on your block with this problem. Are you doing this plumbing yourself?? This is a job for a real licensed plumber, especially if you are below grade.
The water around the main is natural ground water. Since that too is below grade the water naturally flows to that area. You may consider filling in that pit. I nice solid foundation should keep the water out. Brooklyn is part of long island which has very good drainage as it was formed from a glacial deposit and is mostly sand and gravel below the clay. Good luck.