Given yesterday’s storm- any nuggets to share re: basement remodeling?

We just purchased a row house in Bayridge with an unfinished basement. It was only until yesterday did we see water trickle out of very outdated bathroom toilet during the storm. As we begin the process of renovating the basement, do you have any notable nuggets to share as you embarked on your own journey? Looking more on how to best preserve a basement given that flooding here is just part of life here and that the likely hood of torrential downpours will only increase.

brendaisastarr

in General Discussion 3 years and 8 months ago

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dorkofwindsor | 3 years and 8 months ago

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stoop sitter – The rain from your gutter isn’t going to get through in either scenario – if the check valve is engaged to prevent sewer water flowing in reverse into your house from the street, the rain water from the gutter isn’t going to get through. If you have no check valve, the water from the street might flow into your house and the rain water from the gutter isn’t going to get through. In my view its your choice – sewer water with strange feces into your basement, or pure rainwater from your gutter. That is really the tradeoff you are making with a check valve.

JohnHancock | 3 years and 8 months ago

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Trouble with those, you need a way to discharge the runoff from your roof and the rest of your house somehow while the main line is closed…

stoopsitter | 3 years and 8 months ago

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A neighbor just advised me this may not work for us because it would stop storm water from the roof draining into the sewer. It moves from the roof to our waste pipe to the sewer so, if the flow is impeded, that water could flood us. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t, it seems.

stoopsitter | 3 years and 8 months ago

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Our cellar flooded Wednesday night when the storm water back flow popped the cap off our waste pipe trap. Water, not sewage, so it could have been worse. Has anybody installed a sewer back flow preventer? Any recommendations for installers? Anyone worked with Balkan? Thanks.

Guest User | 3 years and 8 months ago

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Balkan plumbing has a video about check valves.

markwalker | 3 years and 8 months ago

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We had water come up from the sewer pipe, though not more than an inch or so, not enough to cover the entire floor but part of it.

It came from a drain they insisted on putting under the washing machine, according to the building code. There was also small amount as well from a drain they also insisted on putting near the back door. The toilet was fine, not a drop. Nothing under either door.

What is a check valve? I heard there is some kind of drain that has like a ball in it. Its fine if water goes down the drain from above but if it comes from underneath the ball moves up and blocks the opening. Well that is what a neighbor told me.

krobertson

in General Discussion 3 years and 8 months ago

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When I finished the my basement I asked the contractor to do a couple of things to treat it more like a bathroom-like wet space vs a dry space… 1. use only pressure treated lumber for the studs. etc. 2. Use only foam board for insulation not fiberglass batts, etc. 3. the bottom two feet of wall is cement board and and everything else is mold resistant drywall. 4. All baseboard is pvc. 5. all the studs was sprayed with mold resistant wood treatment.

This will keep you from having rotting drywall and mold if you get a minor flood. I also install backflow valves on my floor drains and have a number of leak alarms. A sump pump would be good for water intrusion. I considered a backflow valve on the main sewer line but I heard those could be risky, especially on a multifamily since the flap can get stuck or it could be closed during a storm and all the sewage from tenants will back up and flow directly into your basement.

workisfun | 3 years and 8 months ago

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How far beneath grade is this level?

colonialrevival | 3 years and 8 months ago

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If you are wondering whether or not the plumber installed a check valve, they absolutely did not. Check valves (or “one way” valves) are important for any toilet on a lower level.

lucie | 3 years and 8 months ago

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We probably have the valve because we did great during Sandy, during all the storms, including recent Henry… till last night.
Sewer backup last night was really bad, 4 inches of water.

I wonder if anything wrong was with our installation to begin with.

It was done by licences plumber and was inspected twice: once rough and once when everything was completed. We passed all inspections.
We had hardwood floors on the part of our lower level which is an english basement.
Those floors were there for 14 years, never any problem or water damage.

Now we have 4 inches of water, and frustrated and scared tenents, who probably think we tricked them into apartment that floods.
But we did everything legally with inspection and never had a problem with sewer backup for many years. go figure.

We did have floods in other area in the basement, towards the back of the house for some time and water was coming under the wall from our neighbour no matter how we tried to waterproof it. Finally our neighbour did an extensive work that included fixing this problem.
And for the last 7 yea rs we never saw any water at the lower level.
Till the last night. and for the first time it was a sewer backup.
Now I wonder if our plumbing was done correctly or not in spite of all licenses and inspections. On the other side… we had no problems during the other major floods in the area.

GreenThinker | 3 years and 8 months ago

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Best thing to do is install a french drain system around the perimeter of the basement with a drain at any locations water might enter from, such as a hatch/door. As for the bathroom, when you redo it, install a valve on the sewer pipe so you can just close it off from the rest of the sewer system.

JohnHancock | 3 years and 8 months ago

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Basements are just that, just basements. Toilets have no place down there. Sooner or later it’s going to flood