[AmyBergquist]

Originally Posted by iypoon

Don't sump pumps always drain into the waste water line and into the city sewer (assuming you have city sewer/water)

I believe in most cities/towns it is against building code to drain sump pumps into the city sewer. If everyone did this the system would be overloaded, so they don't allow it. Sumps are supposed to drain outside the house, I think. At least this is always what home inspectors say.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by JViello

In the end, you can fix it. You'll spend WAY more in lawyer fees then a remedy IMO

Pretty much - we're really not interested in going that route.

Time to break into the rainy day fund.

[Hollytree]

It seems to me that buying a house with a sump pump in place constitutes acceptance of disclosure.

[Rich Lee]

Originally Posted by Hollytree

It seems to me that buying a house with a sump pump in place constitutes acceptance of disclosure.

No, not really. During the '50s and '60s, it was pretty much common practice to have sump pumps installed as a preventive measure. My prior house, a split level on a hill, had one even though there was no chance it could ever have water in the basement. (It never did, either.)

[dazzleman]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

We recently purchased a home that was built in the 1970s. The seller disclosure form states that the owners had no water leaking in the basement in the three years they've lived there. The house does have a sump pump that works but last week, it filled with a few inches of water with the downpours we had, and there is also leaking in the garage. We're in a shoreline town but not a flood-prone area. We spoke to our neighbor who said the sellers had a ton of problems with water, and we called a local company for help who said this was the third time he's visited the house in two years. None of this was disclosed at the time of sale.

Were we just naive buyers or should this info have been disclosed to us?

If a house has a sump pump, it has water that leaks into the basement. People don't put those things in for no reason. If the pumps are placed correctly, they'll keep the water out as long as they're working. But they do fail sometimes, because the pump wears out, or from loss of power (which usually happens when there's a bad rainstorm).

The sellers certainly lied about the water issue, but you should have guessed it by the very presence of the pump.

[kidyankee764]

Well - found the problem. The drainage pipe was cracked and was clogged by mud. I took it apart and about 6" of mud fell into my wet-dry vac, so we'll have to replace it. This time we're going to dig into our backyard so the water goes straight back into the woods and not our neighbor's yard.

Anyone know how far down it has to be so it won't freeze in the winter? I was thinking about 18" but some recommended at least 2 feet. Sorry for all the questions, I'm pretty inexperienced w/ all of this.

[Tetto]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

Well - found the problem. The drainage pipe was cracked and was clogged by mud. I took it apart and about 6" of mud fell into my wet-dry vac, so we'll have to replace it. This time we're going to dig into our backyard so the water goes straight back into the woods and not our neighbor's yard.

Anyone know how far down it has to be so it won't freeze in the winter? I was thinking about 18" but some recommended at least 2 feet. Sorry for all the questions, I'm pretty inexperienced w/ all of this.

I'd go down 42", dig a good sized hole and fill with stone to create a dry well. That ought to do it.

[JViello]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

Well - found the problem. The drainage pipe was cracked and was clogged by mud. I took it apart and about 6" of mud fell into my wet-dry vac, so we'll have to replace it. This time we're going to dig into our backyard so the water goes straight back into the woods and not our neighbor's yard.

Anyone know how far down it has to be so it won't freeze in the winter? I was thinking about 18" but some recommended at least 2 feet. Sorry for all the questions, I'm pretty inexperienced w/ all of this.

Just heading out to get supplies and continue my own saga, so short reply again.

If by drain you mean the sump pump drain, you want to be sure it doesn't freeze or fail. (duh) So IMO I would do a battery backup system (Yes they make them) which gives you several hours of run time (Unless you plan on a generator which is the ultimate), and bury the line with a heat coil around it unless you want to go 42" down. I have a customer who had his above ground line freeze every Winter and call me to suck water. Every time I told him to just put a heat tape on it. Finally he did, never had a problem since.

What Tetto is referring to is more of a storm or watershed drain system. Think leach field for a septic. Similar thing. You can do it, but generally they are expensive and designed for much larger volumes of water. It's basically a large concrete cistern that leaches water out via a gravel field.

Good luck. Get that Georgia backhoe (shovel lol) running and you'll be fine.

Edit to say I'm leaving out a lot of details such as making sure to angle down X inches per foot traveled etc to not puddle water in the line and freeze etc. Just giving you some ideas here...

[kidyankee764]

Thanks Tetto and JV - I'm holding my breath waiting for this rain tonight.

[seymourct]

just a question, can't you have some kind of outdoor retention bucket thing buried connected to the drainpipe to handle overflow, I thought I saw something like that once on a landscape home improve show?