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-   -   Drain in stairwell leading to basement door clogged (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/showthread.php?t=184395)

  • Feb 15, 2008, 01:19 PM
    Zachary3
    Drain in stairwell leading to basement door clogged
    Hi
    The drain in front of the basement door (walk up basement) was clogged when it rained. My father took up 10 buckets of water, but water was coming out of the drain instead of getting into the drain. Our house is faily new (two years old) and therefore, could it be a technical problem? Or do you suspect the problem to be technical? Or could it be a debris problem. We opened up the cover of the drain and cleaned up whatever we found -- mostly sand. Where did the sand come from? I am not sure.

    Any suggestions would be useful. Should we get the plumber come overto assess the problem?
  • Feb 15, 2008, 01:28 PM
    massplumber2008
    Sounds like your drywell is not so dry... Sometimes contractors put these drains in and just run the pipe to an area of the yard... drop stone.. and they figure good to go.

    It sounds like you guys got a good volume of water during a storm and the drywell could not handle the volume. You could try to see if pipe is blocked by using a drain cleaning rubber expansion tool (sold at home supply store) attached to hose and then push down drain a bit... turn water on... expansion bag will expand and pulse water/debris away (if you are lucky)... see what happens... but you said drain had cover so I am doubting clogged... BUT you never know.

    But before that.. wait for dry day.. and just run a hose down drain... turn on and see how long it takes to back up... see what happens then.

    Try these things... get back to us with answers. We will see what to do after that.

    If my answer helped please RATE THIS ANSWER by clicking on rate this answer at top right or just below post. Thank you.
  • Feb 15, 2008, 01:31 PM
    speedball1
    Sounds like the drain was connected to a filter bed that isn't working any more or perhaps it was simply ran out underground. Now ground water has built up pressure due to rain or raising ground water and is backfilling your basement door area. First block off the floor drain with rags or whatever. Next dig up and follow the pipe. If it just terminates in a open line then connect it to the city sewer,( Caution! Some local codes forbid dumping run off into the city sewer). Or dig yoiurself a dry well. Good luck, Tom

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