Storms don't make me quite so nervous now

[wdfifteen]

I've lived here for 21 years and every time we have a hard rain I wonder, "Is this the time the basement will flood?" All it would take is a good hard rain and the power going out simultaneously for my basement to flood. How often does that happen? Ive been lucky for a long time. Too long.
When the power does go out in addition to no sump pumps we have no heat, no AC, and no water, so the obvious solution is a generator. They installed it yesterday - a 19Kw Generac.



This is the problem. They graded the driveway so nearly all of the 100 feet of concrete drain into the garage in my basement.



During a hard rain, even with the sump pump running constantly, I get water in the garage. The garage floor is 6" lower than the rest of the basement, and the water has been 4" deep in the past.



This is the 22 Kw Generac, it's only rated for 19Kw on natural gas fuel.



Lots of steel on the back of my house. Fortunately it is out of sight.

[widebody911]

A) how much does a setup like that cost
B) W(hy)TF did the grade it like that?

[wdfifteen]

A. $8900
B. I have no idea, but it is only one of the stupid things the builder did.

[javadog]

The other problem you have needs to be fixed. You should cut out the concrete all the way across the front of the garage, extending out perhaps 10 feet, re-grade it and extend the drainage/sump structure across the entire width of the garage.

JR

[javadog]

Originally Posted by widebody911

W(hy)TF did the grade it like that?

99% of residential builders are idiots and almost all homes are built with plans that are not individually created for a given site by an architect.

JR

[TheMentat]

Originally Posted by javadog

The other problem you have needs to be fixed. You should cut out the concrete all the way across the front of the garage, extending out perhaps 10 feet, re-grade it and extend the drainage/sump structure across the entire width of the garage.

JR

I agree... a trench drain is in order, but I think the OP's problem is that the pump can't keep up!

[javadog]

That may be true, it all needs to be looked at. I bet half the water never makes it into the drain. If it's got enough velocity coming down that grade in a heavy rainstorm, it's not going to hang around long enough to pool and find its way down the drain. It's just going to come rocketing straight into the garage

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by javadog

99% of residential builders are idiots and almost all homes are built with plans that are not individually created for a given site by an architect.

JR

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by javadog

The other problem you have needs to be fixed. You should cut out the concrete all the way across the front of the garage, extending out perhaps 10 feet, re-grade it and extend the drainage/sump structure across the entire width of the garage.

JR

That's not possible. There isn't enough room between the garage door and the property line to regrade the upper part of the ramp. If I didn't regrade the whole ramp it would be so steep few if any passenger cars could navigate it. This is what the ramp into my garage would look like, only in reverse.

Originally Posted by widebody911

I dug the pit and put the existing pump in on the right side the first year I lived here. Believe it or not there was just a gravity drain, and I have no idea where it was supposed to drain to, as the garage floor is the lowest place on the whole property.
I got an estimate for putting in another sump on the left side - $2800. Ridiculous! So now I'm going to do the other side myself. I like the idea of having two pumps, for heavy rains and if one should fail.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by javadog

That may be true, it all needs to be looked at. I bet half the water never makes it into the drain. If it's got enough velocity coming down that grade in a heavy rainstorm, it's not going to hang around long enough to pool and find its way down the drain. It's just going to come rocketing straight into the garage

No, that doesn't happen. You can't see it in the photo but there is a 3' wide strip across the door that slopes away from the garage. The water streams down each side of the ramp, all that hits the center is what falls on the ramp. There is a 3' by 4" center drain that empties into the existing sump A second sump on the left will take care of it.

[javadog]

It's hard to see much detail in the photo but it looks like there is some ponding on the sides. I would have graded the whole thing differently and designed the sump differently. It's your house, whatever you do will be fine with me.

JR

[wdfifteen]

See post 12 in this thread for a view of the sump and the drains. You can see the strip drain in the center of the drive on the right. It drains into the sump, which is covered by the big grate.

Help looking for water pump (none car related)

[javadog]

What I would have done differently, had I built that, is to grade the slope so that the center was lower than the edges (to eliminate the ponding that it looks like that you get in the lower corners.) I would have installed a larger sump all the way across the width of the slope. I would have put the lowest point a couple feet from the edge of the doors and created a small slope from the garage slab to the sump. Lastly, I'd have ended the garage slab directly under the door seals, with a small step to the slope beyond, to eliminate any water infilltration under the door seal from a driving rain that hits the door.

Too late for all of that now, so hopefully your recent changes will fix your problem. If not, fire up a plan B.

JR

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by javadog

The other problem you have needs to be fixed. You should cut out the concrete all the way across the front of the garage, extending out perhaps 10 feet, re-grade it and extend the drainage/sump structure across the entire width of the garage.

JR

This

Your strip drain may go all the way across, but it is not going to do as good a job as an actual grate that goes all the way across and drains down to sump.

To do it even close to right, you would have to remove a fair amount of the driveway and change it substantially.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by javadog

What I would have done differently, had I built that,

Me too. Ninety percent of the problem is that there are 3000 square feet of concrete driveway draining onto the ramp. I wish I could go back to ground 0 and do it differently from the get-go. I would have graded the driveway differently, so the only water the ramp had to handle was what fell on it, but that isn't an option now. I'm playing catch-up.

[javadog]

I bet you also love the near mystical ability of a design like that to suck leaves and all manner of other crap into the corners. What a time suck it must be to try to keep that area looking halfway shipshape.

[VincentVega]

Several ways to skin a cat, hope your method works. You can always add another drain across the driveway higher up and ideally run them to a drywell or gravity fed to daylight in another part of the yard. I dont like relying on a pump, even with the gen. I have a similar issue, but not walled in and have been through this. Not fun.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by VincentVega

Several ways to skin a cat, hope your method works. You can always add another drain across the driveway higher up and ideally run them to a drywell or gravity fed to daylight in another part of the yard. I dont like relying on a pump, even with the gen. I have a similar issue, but not walled in and have been through this. Not fun.

I'm confident it will work. When it rains there are two streams of water running down the ramp, within 2 feet of the walls. The existing sump catches the flow running down off of the north side of the driveway. Adding a sump to catch the flow from that comes from the south side should take care of that. The flow from the south is the biggest problem now, since it flows down the ramp, hits the 2' wall at the side of the door, and then has to flow all the way across to the existing sump. The water flowing down the center is negligible and can flow to either side.

[JeremyD]

I'd buy me a concrete saw and make two drains that divert left or right (depending on how you can make gravity work in your favor

then have the sump -

if it was me

[billh1963]

That would seem to be a potential mold problem if that much water is settling into the garage under the house.

I agree with the last poster....if there is a way to drain that off to right I'd be doing that as quickly as I could.