We have water coming into our basement when it rains. Until recently, the water flowed into a drain in a recessed area of the basement and did not cause many problems except for a wet floor. Recently we ran a new drain line from the house to the city main which bypasses the drain in the basement. So, now when it rains we get several inches of water in the basement. I have installed a sump pump in the recessed area, but there is not enough recession for the pump to work efficiently by itself so I have to operate it manually.

That said...

How should I go about creating an area for the pump to work by itself?

Thanks for any help!

Basically you cut out some of the basement floor, dig a hole and put in a sump crock. Just how you go about this depends on what tools you have, how hard and how thick the basement floor is and how much you are willing to sweat.