What is the best way to install inside flood control?
The city sewer backed up last September and flooded our basement with a foot of rain water. I want to prevent that from happening again, so I'd like to install some sort of flood control. I've been given several different options by several different plumbers, but none of them could really state why their method was the best.
1) External flood control in front yard - $7000
2) Internal flood control connected to catch basin - $3500
3) Internal flood control connected to "stack" - $3800
I like option 1 because I understand it, but it's so expensive! Also, since the sump pump is in the front yard, we would have no way of knowing when it failed until it backed up.
It's the other two options that I don't quite understand. In both cases, the plumbers said they would redirect all our basement plumbing (the floor drain, the basement sink, etc.) to a new sump hole and pump everything out. There would be no backup because the pump out line would have a valve on it. But one guy said he'd have it pump back out to the catch basin, and the other guy said he'd connect it to the "stack".
Is there any reason one method is better than the others?
I'm concerned about too much water collecting in the catch basin - it is only 3 feet from our back wall and that wall already has a lot of seepage. And I don't understand the stack at all - where does that go? Does it connect to the main sewer line below our house? And is there a problem with having the valves inside? One plumber said he'd go with the external flood control because if water fills the sewer line that runs under our basement the pressure could crack our floor!
I have asked all of them to explain why their method is better, but none of them seems to be able to explain it very well.
Well, don't do anything until Tom or Mark get here. All you really need is a back water valve between your house and the street. I don't understand the stack or the sump thing either. Ain't no water going to back up and crack a pipe or your flooring.
City sewer and rain water share pipe. This pipe backed up to your sewer through the sewer and into your house. ( through floor drain, basement toilet, shower, tub etc )
Or, City sewer backed up, surface water flooded your yard and entered your basement through wall, foundation, windows, doors, vents. etc...
There are 2 different situations with 2 different solutions. Please, me more specific...
Milo, I think that Zgist has been confused by some plumbers using incorrect terminology, like catch basin. I am reading that there was a city sewer back up. Why you would want a pump installed is beyond me. Just don't want city sewage backing up into my house.
Of course, maybe I'm way off base.
Note: I should have said, "Wait for Tom or Mark or Milo". Sorry
I think Mark and Tom will say the following:
Install Sewer Back Flow Valve. Cost ? Valve: $220.00, Labor: He can do it himself.
Why spend so much money ? It doesn't overflow on regular bases. It was an accident. It may never happen again in your lifetime. If it does happen again, City will pay for repair.
A back flow valve would work great but I have an easier and cheaper solution IF the flood is water coming up out of the floor drain. Just install a stand pipe in the floor drain. How to Install a Floor Drain Standpipe | eHow.com
If zgeist has a bathroom group in his basement a sewage back flow preventer, (see image ) would be then way to go, however i9f all he has is a washer and floor drain then I'd install Flood Guards,(see image) on the floor drain. The estimates given are way outta line in my opinion. Good luck,Tom
City sewer and rain water share pipe. This pipe backed up to your sewer through the sewer and into your house. ( through floor drain, basement toilet, shower, tub etc.
Yes, that is the situation. I don't know if the city sewer and rain water share a pipe or not (my guess is they do). We had a "once in a century" rain and rain water - not sewage - backed up into our basement through the floor drain.
We have a catch basin in our back yard just a few feet from the back wall. Our sewer line runs from this basin all the way under our house and connects with the city line out front. There are four pipes that drain into the catch basin - our basement floor drain, the basement sink, a gutter from the roof and something else I forget.
Two of my plumbers said I should redirect all this basement plumbing to a pit that would be dug in my basement floor and a sump pump in the pit would pump it out - one said to the catch basin, the other said to the "stack" - which I gather is the main sewage line for the house. I'm guessing the stack connects up with the sewer line under the basement.
Hope that clears things up - I was trying not to be too long winded in my first post!
Oh, and I had read that a standpipe or a valve in the floor drain would be a bad idea because it could cause excess pressure on the pipe under our basement and it could crack and heave our basement floor. But since the water can just rise up in the catch basin the excess pressure idea doesn't make sense to me?
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