Sump pumps? Why? (how much, new house, buying)

[DaltoBoston]

I have heard of sump pumps before but never in houses. I was wondering why do some old houses have sump pumps and if there are pumps, does'nt that mean one cannot finish their basement without spending a lot of money waterproofing the foundation on the exterior and changing the gradient of the yard along the foundation. Trying to understand if I should buy into agents telling that they are there only to prevent in case of water seeping in and also that it does not prevent one from finishing the basement. Any input is good?

[wheelz]

Run for your life. They are installed to keep the water table at a level that will not rise above the floor of your foundation. Power outages are not your friend, most need a battery backup.

[kingeorge]

Sump pump means you are dealing with a house that should have never been built in the location it was built, or a house that was not built right. You are dealing with "damaged goods". Only you can decide on a level of tolerance for such properties.

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by wheelz

Run for your life. They are installed to keep the water table at a level that will not rise above the floor of your foundation. Power outages are not your friend, most need a battery backup.

Really? I think you just won the prize for most over the top post this year.

I would buy a house with a sump pump in the basement. They are definitely installed to keep water out of your basement and . . . they work! A power outage would concern me if I had a sump pump but having lived in this state a long time my experience is that I've only lost power during snow storms when sump pumps are not needed. Saying don't buy a house with a sump pump is like saying don't buy a house with a radon mitigation system. Radon and water are issues we deal with here in the Northeast. If you have a system in place to deal with them then they're not an issue.

Also, as a side note, some new houses have sumps because the builders put them in right away. They have no idea if they're needed or not. They just go ahead and put them in as a precautionary measure.

[donewithpretty]

I've never heard of a sump pump being a negative. It's a feature to keep your house safe and in good condition. Most basements in older homes were not designed to be finished, but the addition of a sump pump keeps the basement dry. I'd rather have a house with a sump pump than without.

[unit731]

Most homes are not constructed with water in mind. Most will have a rudimentary parimeter drain.

Water is you enemy.

Have the home inspected by a reputable home inspector.

It's usually in the Spring or after heavy rains.

A properly constructed foundation does not leak water.

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by donewithpretty

I've never heard of a sump pump being a negative. It's a feature to keep your house safe and in good condition. Most basements in older homes were not designed to be finished, but the addition of a sump pump keeps the basement dry. I'd rather have a house with a sump pump than without.

"Oh no! A sump pump! Run for the hills!" Is an attitude that becomes less and less common every year. It's kind of an old school train of thought.

[SoFresh99]

I think if you rule out a house with a sump pump you will a.) limit your options and b.) buying into a false sense of security ("if there's no pump there must not be water" = untrue)

[DawnMTL]

When we lived in CT, our house had a sump pump. I considered it to be like a security system, just in case the worst came to pass. Well, a few winters ago, CT was pummeled with snow. You might remember it. Roofs were collapsing under the weight of the snow, snow banks were 7 to 8 feet high, it was pure craziness, complete with gutter ice dams.

Many of my neighbors didn't have a sump pump but we did. (It was in the house before we bought it.)

Then the snow started melting. Great big mountains of snow began to melt. And I heard from one neighbor that their basement had water damage. And then I heard the same from another neighbor. And the list goes on and on.

Those neighbors did not have sump pumps. Us? We were dry as toast.

Had I not been friendly with my neighbors, I wouldn't have known that this was happening and I wouldn't have realized how much our sump pump saved us.

[tickybox]

Some of these responses seem odd to me. This is Massachusetts. It's full of older homes, with unfinished basements, and often they take on water during heavy storms. This is not a reason to flip out and reject a house out of hand, or assume it should 'never have been built in the first place'. The homes are still standing after hundreds of years in some cases. Many were built far better than the crap being put up today.

On the other hand, if you want a finished basement, and there is a sump pump down there now, and signs that water has come in previously, then yes, you're probably going to have to spend some cash to do things like put in a french drain, and make sure you have a pump that will continue during a power failure.

There will be other clues, so you don't have just take the agent at their word. Have your inspector tell you if water has come in previously. Look for water marks, and other signs.