There are 4 main sump pump failures we see regularly while investigating water leaks in basements. Please study our explanations before getting an expensive and unnecessary sump pump system. We suggest you instead focus own waterproofing the ground surface where water drainage away from your home occurs. If you're not sure how water is getting through the surface of the ground around your house, please contact the Leak Detective for a free phone consultation. We can explain the advantages of using the Leak Detective.
Basement waterproofing for water in basement has led to some inaccurate theories of how water moves underground on its way to get the basement wet. We can help with DIY basement waterproofing by accurately understanding how water is getting into the basement.
Most waterproofing construction companies will tell you they check where the leak is coming in when they inspect in the basement. In fact they are only verifying the basement penetration source for the water in the basement. This is not the primary water leak source. See our article on the true cause of basement leaks. After their quick inspections, they inform you that you probably have a high water table, or a clay bowl around your house. They may then tell you that hydrostatic pressure is pushing water in your basement. But, they neglect to fully explain what this means and they certainly don’t analyze your house for any evidence these justifications are true. Next, they launch into a pre-prepared sales pitch where they use fear and high-pressure sales tactics to sell you an expensive sub pump and drain tile system. Their "free" estimate was a way to get into your basement and scare you into spending $10 ,000 to $20,000.
We do not sell anything when we investigate your water leak in the basement. By the time we are investigating the leak in your basement, we have already sold you on our services. The only thing we sell is our investigation service. Our intention after you hire us is to show you the least expensive way to fix the leak in your basement. We can show the DIY basement waterproofing person just what needs to be done, and how it needs to be done to do it right.
Before you get convinced into wasting an extravagant amount of money on an unnecessary sump pump, we would suggest you study all our reasons for NOT getting a sump pump. Our explanation of how sump pumps work will immunize you against slick talking salesman. They want you to buy something that is not necessary and may even be counterproductive to having a dry, damp free basement.
Please look at the detail of the sump pump & drain tile system as a reference to understand the following explanation for this sump pump failure.
When water leaks into the basement of a house, the lowest point in the wall and foundation is the bottom of the footing. Most interior sump pump drainage systems are installed on the inside of the footing. Some are even set on the top of the footing.
Please see how water, when pumped out of the inside of the house, has little affect on the water on the outside of the house, especially if there that water is separated by non saturated soils under the footing. An interior sump pump and drain tile system does little to remove water sitting on the outside of the foundation and footing. So, while it may appear the leak is gone, damage is still occurring outside your footing because the leak has not been fixed.
And extremely unfortunate situation is spending a lot of money on a sump pump system and finding within a few years that the leak has grown larger and now extensd beyond the reach of the sump pump drainage system. This happens because the leak was never fixed. Leaks tend to continue growing worse over time. This is typically is due to the conditions that cause the leak in the first place. When settling occurs, it will often encourage a more rapid settling rate due to the water increasing its flow to the one area that is settling. The same could be said on nearly every maintenance issue that causes week. If a gutter is clogged, initially it may perform but at a reduced rate, but eventually it fails to perform at all, and that is when water will flow in increased amounts to areas it is not supposed to.
So in summary a sump pump drainage system is an extremely expensive fix or Band-Aid for a situation that has never been resolved. The conditions that created the problem are still active and growing. So many some pump systems fail simply because the leaks have grown larger and the sump pump system can no longer handle or control the water leaking in the basement any longer.
Most interior sump pump drainage systems are installed on the inside of the footing. There are different locations for the drain tile. Some companies install drain tile system on the top of the footing in the hopes of catching water as it comes off the wall. This type of drain tile system is the least effective and leaves the most water at the footing. This is because it's elevation is too high.
Others install the drain tile at the bottom of the footing. This system still leaves water around the footing. The reason is that when water leaks into the basement of a house, the lowest point in the wall and foundation is the bottom of the footing. Interior sump pump drainage systems must have elevated drain tile to allow water to flow towards the sump pump pit in order to be pumped out. As the drain tile flows towards the pump, it starts at the highest point and flows over to the lowest point. This leaves a substantial amount of water below the pipe sitting along the footing. The industry standard for slope is 1’ per 96’. This is less than a 1% slope!, but we feel this is way to flat to be effective.
For either of these locations, damage can still be occurring to the footing due to water stagnating or being missed by the drain tile. Also, musty smells can still be released into the basement. So, to prevent this, these companies will often sell you on a wall encapsulation system that not only adds cost to the construction but simply hides the water behind it, in an out of sight out of mind fashion.
There are other sump pump failures we see regularly while investigating water leaks in basements. Please review our articles on sump pump failures and myths before getting an expensive and unnecessary sump pump system. We suggest you instead focus own waterproofing your basement right by fixing the ground surface where water drainage occurs. If you're not sure how water is getting through the surface of the ground around your house, please contact the Leak Detective for a free phone consultation. We can explain the advantages of using the Leak Detective.
