Hi Speedball:

I have read a couple of your posts and you seem to be up on basement water problems. My son bought a house about six months ago with a full basement. In the basement floor are 4 of the big (8") bulb type drains (with no trap) and a small 4" drain that looks like it drains to the septic system. The basement also has a toilet and shower stall with a separate 4" drain. The gutters drain down into clay tiles probably going to the drain pipe around the poured foundation. No sump pump is in the basement. Before we bought the house we were told that "renters had stopped up the drains with towels and flooded the basement". But I tested all the drains with a garden hose running quite some water down the drain and nothing backed up. The problem is on heavy rain days the water starts to backup in the bulb drains, then over flows and weeps to 4" drain, which eventually backup. Pretty soon we have about 2" of water on the floor. Once the big drains start to overflow, you can also see water seeping through the expansion joints on the floor. We haven't contacted anybody yet (this is the 2nd time in 6 mths) and are not sure if we need a plumber or water leak contractor, or if we can fix this ourselves. It almost seems like some type of hydrostatic pressure forcing the water up thu the floor.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Gary

You might repost to legal, but I think you are required to either fix or disclose problems when you sell a house. If your son had a lawyer at closing, I would contact him.

It also violates code to connect foundation drains to the sanitary sewer. How old is the house? Any chance of finding the original blue prints and where the foundation drains should have run? Perhaps start snaking the drains, either a good contractor or with a big rental machine.

If the drains are open and only lead to a water logged French drain, you may have to go with a sump pump, and a big one at that. Does the ground slope away from the house?

It would help if we had a few more details. Like are you on a hill? The "bulb type" drains are 8" Domed Roof Drains, (see image). They have no traps because they don't connect to the septic system. They drain just fine untill the soil gets water logged and then the problem comes into your basement. Your son has a major problem with this house. Labmans advice to see a lawyer was right on. If the renters were aware that a problem exsits then the owner couldn't say he didn't know. And if he didn't disclose this to you as the law dictates he must then you have recourse in the legal system. Don't let this slide. You should have a "slam-dunk" in any court in the land. Good luck, Tom