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sheagd

Sump Pump drainage

sheagd
10 years ago

Currently my sump pump (located at the back of the house) discharges right out the front of the house. We don't get that much water in it, but during very bad storms, we have gotten water in the basement because the sump discharge water pools right against the house. I have just attached a long piece of pipe during bad storms, and that works fine because we have a nice slope in our front yard towards the street.

I'm building a wall for landscaping, so I can't keep using the pipe, so I want to put the discharge line underground. I was just going to run the line about 15' away from the house and have it end underground in the middle of the yard, with half of the pipe being perforated so the water won't all discharge at the very end. I was hoping this would work since there isn't all that much water and I currently do this (although above the ground not in it). I was going to dig the trench, lay down landscaping fabric, a few inches of gravel, the pipe and then a bit more gravel and cover with the fabric.

Will this work? Do I have to take it all the way to the street? I live in Central/Northern New Jersey. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Comments (3)

  • apg4
    10 years ago

    Sump pumps and French drains usually "run to daylight" and in many municipalities, it is illegal to simply connect to the sanitary sewer in the basement/crawl space. Public systems could easily become overloaded in storms. Indeed, unless one built a truly large dry well, the sump pump is liable to overload such a small "leach field". That area is liable to turn into a swamp.

    Since landscaping will include a new wall, why not run the pump's outfall out the bottom of the wall; terminate with a hose fitting that allows attaching a hose to run downhill to the street if prolonged wet weather is imminent. Northern Tool sells a 1 1/2" drain hose that rolls up flat.

    I keep an old garden hose rolled up under a bush in the front yard. It merely discharges on the front lawn unless I roll it out to the street. Since you have a slope, if you really wanted to get creative, you could build a "dry" streambed as part of the landscaping.

  • pkovo
    10 years ago

    If you terminate it underground, the discharge, or a portion of it, will likely flow right back along the trench of distrurbed permeable soil back to your foundation.

    If you have the slope, take it to daylight. If you go through the effort of digging and burying drainage pipe, I vote for using schedule 40 with properly sealed seams. Overkill? probably, but once you do this, you don't want to have to dig it back up to deal with a crack, or root penetrations or anything.

    I did this, and I did the digging by hand, but thought seriously about renting a trencher. They will make very quick work of the digging

    By the way, I'm in central NJ as well, and my sump pump has been running recently with these storms we've had. its the first time I've had water in my sump in over a year. The ground is definitely wet around here right now

    My 2 cents.

  • duffiecat
    10 years ago

    Hi,

    I just posted on the Basements forum but then I saw your posting and given you were in NJ, was curious how your ground is doing now? I live in Cherry Hill, NJ (South) and the ground where my sump drains is thoroughly soaked and muddy. Even though we have not had rain since July 12.

    I would love to hear any update you have.

    Here is my post:

    I live in Cherry Hill, NJ where we have had lots and lots of rain in June and some days in July. The last day that we had lots of rain was last Friday - July 12.

    Yesterday, I noticed that the area in which my sump pump drains is absolutely soaked and muddy. It is about 10 feet away from my house. Doing some observation yesterday, I "think" the sump pumped out about 5-6 times yesterday/today.

    I would have thought that since it has not rained in 5 days that there wouldn't be much water going into the sump pit anymore? Or could this continual water be because of the overall excessive rains in June and a little in July affecting groundwater?

    I have my plumber coming to check it out tomorrow but I would sincerely appreciate hearing any advice/experiences. Thanks!!!