Directions for Ark ? or at least digging a sump pump pit ?

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Glencoe MN got 5.4" of rain last night.
that is on top of...
Friday night we got 2.5" of rain.
that is on top of...
Thursday night we got 1.5" of rain.
that is on top of...
The prior week was also 'wet' but none of the rains were over an inch...but those rains were enough to saturate the soil.

I Have two cellars under my house.
I've never had water in the food cellar (since I moved in back in 1993) til last night. There is no sump :(

I've pumped out most of the 12" of water that was in there, but about 1" remains. It's looks like I'll be digging a sump hole today in that 1" of water...that'd be fun, NOT !

MORE RAIN in the forecast,
say a few prayers for me please.
thanks,
Jon

[gofastman]

That was a hell of a storm, eh?
as far as flooding, been there, had a pump installed-fixed it. Expensive as hell though.

This is really effective and is a good place to start for rare flooding:
http://www.drylok.com/formulas/
I think we used the latex stuff, the surface prep/cleaning is the most important part

[runfiverun]

a sump can be simple.
a hole, a bucket with holes in it and some gravel around it, a sump pump that has a float on it.
electricity and a drain hose.
you can get fancy with plumbing and stuff or you can pump out water.
you need to look at the gpm and use the hose or pipe size that's adequate to the pump.
a 1" pipe with @35 psi behind it will move about 10 gallons a minute without strain or shooting water 50'.

[shooter93]

We often use a terracota flue liner of a larger size. Gravel the sides and bottom and drop a thin cement block on the bottom for the pump to sit on.

[flounderman]

I have a pump I bought for a place in ND, and then sold the place, if you need to buy a pump. I think I have 45.00 in it and there are no basements where I live. pm me if you might be interested.

[dakotashooter2]

My community went through this about 2 weeks ago. Talk about a heck of a mess. People who have NEVER had water in their basements got wet. Not to mention the sanitary system was infiltrated by surface water and backed up in many homes. If you really want to move water use the size pipe the pump was rated for. Most will take and 1 1/2'-2" line. I see so many people use a garden hose on these pumps because they already have the hose. It works but drasticly cuts the pumps output and makes the pump work harder.They may pump all day to move what and appropriately sized line will move in an hour our two. You will also probably still have significant seepage for at least a week. Agrave was dug around midday a few days ago and by moring it had 2 1/2' of water in it. This is about 2 weeks after our major rain.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

tonights update: My food cellar with no sump hole...still has no sump hole.
The floor is cracked and it looks to have a skim coat over it, leading me to believe the concrete might be thin and bust up easily...WELL IT AIN"T THIN. I couldn't even bruise the concrete with a 7 LB maul and a hand chisel, like I had hoped it could.

This is a small cellar. about 8' by 8' with wooden shelving and a hot water heater and a ceiling that is about 5' to the bottom of the floor joists. So there isn't much room for this 5' 10" fat man to swing a maul.

One of the walls of this cellar is the house foundation. about 3' away is a 1000 gallon cistern. So a block wall and about 2' of soil and the cistern glazed block wall is all that holds out lots of water if the cistern is near full. The cistern, if allowed to fill too full, will seep into the food cellar, but never in 20 years has that created more than 'wet' the floor. Well the cistern was fuller than I've ever filled it (probably 6" from the grass) and probably caused most of this problem. I pumped the cistern dry (the bottom of the cistern appears to be about 4' lower the the cellar floor, that's a plus for sure) and once that was done, the remaining 1" of water in the cellar floor seemed to seep back into the ground and/or cistern. I used the shop vac to pick up the last 10 gallons or so. I powered up the dehumidifier and now am praying for a few dry days. Storms predicted for monday evening :(

Tomorrow (assuming I can get off work) will include some trashing of wet items that haved been used for 5 to 10 years...and the cleanup and reorganizing...lots of cement blocks so nothing sits on the floor...that's for sure.

[WILCO]

Here's a link Jon: http://www.basementsystems.com/sump-pump/sump-pump-installation.html

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/improvement/electrical-plumbing/1276106

[Johnch]

Hope you get the problem solved

I have a sump pump in the basement that uses 1 1/2" discharge
And 2 sumpumps in a pit next to the house to take water from the tile around the house
One is a 1 1/2" discharge and the other is 2"
This spring all 3 were pumping and I still got a little water in the basement
Fun Fun Fun living in the area that was the Great Black Swamp

John

[fryboy]

a sump would prevent some future problems , easy way out is a five gallon bucket and a hammer drill , drill all the way around the bucket ,knock out and dig deeper than the bucket , add some gravel ,drill some holes in the bottom of the bucket sit on the gravel , fill mostly with sand and cap the top , ummm the lowest spot should go without saying but i've seen so many sumps that seemed to be in the high side it wasnt funny ( nor is flat work ever flat it seems ... )
now about that ark ....methinks this one shouldnt be made of wood .... but , if it's handy...