The perimeter drain question- basement - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

bnentrup · 08-09-2009, 09:22 AM

Well, I am about to the point where I need to decide on perimeter drains. The plans that my engineer and I drew up include 1-perimeter drain on the outside of the footer. His opinion is that the inside do little good, and also does not recommend a sump pump.

My basement will be just 3' below current grade (building up the area around the excavated area)... -- 3feet below+ 3' built up+ 2' of basement above the final grade. 1- side of the basement will be daylight- where I will have 2-garage doors. I know that info has little play in the question, but just wanted to add in case.

That stated, I am not going against my engineer, but rather would like to proceed on caution- since 250' of drain costs just $69 here-- a cheap insurance policy if needed.

Here are the questions:
1.) On my outside drain, I am sending to daylight about 400' back of the property. Already trenched this (3-hours of work and little cost since I already had the backhoe). Drain cost was about $120. I am framing 1/2 of my footers above the final grade, and hand-digging the remaining depth by hand below grade. Therefore, I will not be able to dig below the grade without hurting the form... should I just dig after formed to get the gravel and pipe to the lowest part of the footer. Or, is there any harm in placing the drain and gravel about 1/2 the length down for the footer (I am doing 12" deep footers).

2.) Inside: again, not specified: but shouldn't it be a good precaution just in case I do have water pressure that builds up? How can I connect the inside drain to the outside and avoid a sump pump? I know that I could just have a 4" pvc union included in the footer, but is this the best route?

3.) sump? If I keep the slope towards the garage door, and have the perimeter drains installed correctly, do I need to mess with a sump pit?

thanks Guys

tgeb · 08-09-2009, 04:40 PM

If you have a drain to daylight, a sump pit and pump would not be required.

I would not run the daylight piping with the rolled ADS pipe, it will get crushed.

You could install weep holes in the footing to allow any water that might get to the interior to drain out.

Interior piping and a sump pit might be a good idea if you are in an area that requires radon mitigation.

A sump pit is always nice when the water heater or the washer starts to leak.

cleveman · 08-09-2009, 07:38 PM

Put in a sump pit and hopefully never use it. Easier to put in now than later.

cleveman · 08-09-2009, 07:41 PM

Put tile all around the inside perimeter and through the footing. Just run tile through the footing and put the sump pit near the connectioin.

scrapecc · 08-10-2009, 12:52 PM

It might also be a good idea to throw in a clean out if you can. Thats what i would do if i put a t in to connect the interior and exterior.

jmacd · 08-10-2009, 01:59 PM

A "TY" for clean out not a "t", also sleeve the footing and use ridgid pipe sdr35 for daylight pipe. Also use ridgid pipe for footing drain and it should be along side of the footing not above. Inside and out with a pit. You should also use fabric top and bottom of stone bedding.

woodchuck2 · 08-11-2009, 09:10 AM

My question is since you already have done some digging do you have any kind of water condition to worry about? Did you hit a spring when digging the foundation? If there is no water condition then i wouldnt bother, just my opinion.

LNG24 · 08-14-2009, 10:28 AM

Funny, I just re activated an old thread on installing a B Dry system.

In my area, homes that never had water, do today. Either because of recent uphill developments that change the water table or add to it or because we have received almost weekly 100 year flood rain fall. Not bad if it happens every 100 years, but its happening every week now. Its so bad that we are at the point where any rain fall is causing Flash Flooding.

So all I can tell you is that between Radon and Potential Flooding, Installing an interior Perimeter Drain that flows to a properly installed pit and then is tied into the exterior drain is your best method.

Pipe and Gravel are cheep compared to having to do it later. I know some of the basement companies are now offering to put their system in new basements so the house can be sold with a lifetime guarantee of a dry basement.

Not a bad selling point at all.