We have a walkout basement with 5" diameter drain at the bottom of the steps outside the basement door. We have a sump pump in the basement to pump rain. Our problem is that if debris like leaves covers the drain the drain blocks and water enters through the basement door flooding the basement. Outside of monitoring leaf blockage we continue to live in fear of flooding in our basement. I am looking for solutions.

We are below the water table where we live close to Lake Ontario, so we have a sump pump to eliminate ground water entering our basement. I believe your problem would be eliminated if you changed the grade at the back of your house (downgrade to take water away) and put extra extensions on your downspots from your eavestroughs. I know what a problem it is. We have been in our house ten years and have flooding from unrelated problems that the sump pump can take care of.

You might try building yourself a wire cage out of hardware cloth to keep back the leaves. There are green plastic cones that you can buy to do the same thing.

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Originally Posted by dodger32

we have a walkout basement with 5" diameter drain at the bottom of the steps outside the basement door. We have a sump pump in the basement to pump rain. Our problem is that if debris like leaves covers the drain the drain blocks and water enters thru the basement door flooding the basement. Outside of monitoring leaf blockage we continue to live in fear of flooding in our basement. I am looking for solutions.

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Perhaps installin a Domed Roof Drain Cover, (see image) might just be what you're looking for. This what they use on roofs to controil leaves. Regards, tom