[power198]

I am having a basement poured and was going to do the rough plumbing myself. I was going to run a floor drain to my sump pump and needed to know how much of a grade I needed to have for it to drain properly and also how far up from the soil do I need to have the actual drain itself?

[hkstroud]

It's 1/4" per foot grade on the drain and stub the pipe up about 12 to 16". Have the concrete finisher "pull down" the floor about 1/8"around the pipe. After the floor is finished cut off the pipe and install the drain.

Here is a suggestion. If you have a basement chances are that you have a basement stair well and have a drain there. These are prone to getting stopped up by leaves, grass clippings and every other kind of debris. When I did mine I put an overflow in the step a couple of inches up from the floor of the stair well. I was real proud of myself, though I had solved the problem of blocked stair well drains. I was wrong, I soon found out that it only takes one tulip popular leaf to stop the drain. The rising water then carries the remaining debris to the overflow and stops it up. After giving the problem a lot of thought I realised that anything I did on the outside was subject to blockage. However, a drain just inside the door was not.
What I wish I had done and would do if ever doing it again, would be put a trench drain just inside the door. This might look a little strange, might not be the most comfortable under foot and might create some difficulty if ever finishing the basement floor but would insure that if the outside ever got blocked, I still would not have flooded basement.

Just a suggestion, but should relieve the question of "Did I clean the basement stair well" while on that Caribbean cruise.

[ballengerb1]

I think Harold gave you great suggestions and directions here. Don't forget a trapped drain is not necessary if this floor drain is going to a sump pit, saves a few bucks.

[speedball1]

t's 1/4" per foot grade on the drain and stub the pipe up about 12 to 16". Have the concrete finisher "pull down" the floor about 1/8"around the pipe. After the floor is finished cut off the pipe and install the drain.

It's very seldom I disagree with Harold but unless I'm missing something the floor drain has to be installed first and then the floor sloped to it.
Harold was bang on with 1/4" to the foot slope and Bob was correct when he mentioned that the floor drain didn't need a trap,(see image) to drain into a sump. Good luck on your project. Tom