Flooded Basement

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Derrick52

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My house was built with a deep basement such that the weeping tile was about 3 feet below the line to the sewer. The basement floor was cut to install a sump to pump groundwater to the storm sewer. After a serious flood I raised the floor by adding crushed rock and then a new concrete floor over this. On one half I raised the floor 3 feet and on one side by 1 foot. This is because the house is a side split. Most times the ground water level is below the old floor but during heavy rain the water level can rise above the lower new floor level even with 6 sump pumps. I think this is because the water is coming from the weeping tile into the sump.

Would sealing the sump below the old floor cause any problems? I would still have the sump above the old floor to the new floor level (1 foot) to pump out any water during high rain fall events.
 
i cant really picture your setup. If you have an exterior weeping tile that is being directed to an inside sump than that, in my opinion, is wrong.
 
You picture if right. There was a hole cut in the basement floor to the weeping tiles. Ground water is normally below the old floor but can rise above the new floor in very heavy rain. Sealing the sump should reduce inflow to what a sump pump can handle for a day. |But would this do any harm to the basement walls or foundation?
 
water is going to take the path of least resistance, seek its own lever, run downhill, & fill a void ( you can't make a hole in a sink full of water,,, whether or not the drain tiles are below the footer's immaterial as, by the time it could run down to the tile, its found an easier path on its way to daylight ( least resistance ),,, 1st, i'd increase the capacity of the pumps on the high side to handle the high levels during the heavy rain,,, sealing a sump will only redirect that water somewhere else - better to manage it in place im-n-s-h-fo :beer:
 
Thanks. I had 7 pumps however the power went. I kept 2 going with a generator. The next day the water was below the original floor level. My thought was to seal the sump at the original floor level. The sump would still exist from the original floor to the new floor - one foot. There is crushed stone between the 2 floors. Any seepage could still be collected in the sump, however the inflow should be much less allowing the volume to be managed with less pumps
 
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