AndrewE
New Member
Hello,
I have a small patio outside my basement door, and I think they put the wrong drain in the bottom of it. I think they just used a shower drain. So, it clogs up with leaves all the time. The water builds up and usually isn't a problem but once it spilled into my basement. I've tried everything to fix this (other than cutting through the concrete and putting in a proper drain box). If it matters, the drain discharges into the sump, where there is a sump pump. I tried a round atrium drainage gate (NDS 6 in. Plastic Round Atrium Drainage Grate in Green-80 - The Home Depot) that extended upward from the drain to keep out the leaves. It worked great except it wasn't properly fastened into the drain. The most I could do is silicone it around the edges. Two problems with this solution: First, people would trip over it, which I mitigated by piling rocks around it. Second (and the real problem) is that the puppy thought it was a toy and pulled it out of there. So plan B was to get a rubber floor mat and put a mesh fabric against the drain. For the mesh, I used one of those soap strainers that let the water through. So from bottom to top, it's the soap strainer, then some rocks to protect it, then the rubber mat. Eventually, the soap strainer got clogged too. So then I substituted a fish tank filter medium (basically plastic balls) for the soap strainer. That didn't work either. Currently, I have a fairly large steel wool scouring pad between the drain and the rocks (with the floor mat above it). So far so good, but I'm not optimistic.
Anyone deal with the same issue? If so, how did you solve it? Any other ideas? Thank you!
I have a small patio outside my basement door, and I think they put the wrong drain in the bottom of it. I think they just used a shower drain. So, it clogs up with leaves all the time. The water builds up and usually isn't a problem but once it spilled into my basement. I've tried everything to fix this (other than cutting through the concrete and putting in a proper drain box). If it matters, the drain discharges into the sump, where there is a sump pump. I tried a round atrium drainage gate (NDS 6 in. Plastic Round Atrium Drainage Grate in Green-80 - The Home Depot) that extended upward from the drain to keep out the leaves. It worked great except it wasn't properly fastened into the drain. The most I could do is silicone it around the edges. Two problems with this solution: First, people would trip over it, which I mitigated by piling rocks around it. Second (and the real problem) is that the puppy thought it was a toy and pulled it out of there. So plan B was to get a rubber floor mat and put a mesh fabric against the drain. For the mesh, I used one of those soap strainers that let the water through. So from bottom to top, it's the soap strainer, then some rocks to protect it, then the rubber mat. Eventually, the soap strainer got clogged too. So then I substituted a fish tank filter medium (basically plastic balls) for the soap strainer. That didn't work either. Currently, I have a fairly large steel wool scouring pad between the drain and the rocks (with the floor mat above it). So far so good, but I'm not optimistic.
Anyone deal with the same issue? If so, how did you solve it? Any other ideas? Thank you!