Bad Drainage on Patio Outside Basement Door

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AndrewE

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Ellicott City, MD
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!
 
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 think it’s solved with drain defender. See photos. 2E0AF2DA-9D39-4DCE-A3AB-1DE1A2504DF7.jpeg0D05052C-5BF7-4229-AA7C-A4ABB53E46A5.jpeg
 
Another choice, now that I think of it, might have been a pulverizing sump pump, but then you be paying an annuity to the elec. company, in return for periodic drain strainer cleaning. :(
 
Here is another suggestion: Rather than cut the concrete to install the correct type of drain box, create a drain box on top of the concrete. Build a 'step' in front of the basement door using PT lumber -- with thin notches cut out every few inches along the perimeter, covered with SS screen. This would create a large drain area around the new step. Fasten it in place with short SS rods placed in holes drilled in the concrete; one bolt in each inside corner, rising a couple of inches above the concrete, should be sufficient. You wouldn't need to actually bolt the step down, which would make it easy to lift the new step up if you need to service the drain.

You could make the step the size of the mat currently in front of the door. If the height of the step would be awkward with the steps coming down, I would simply fill the entire triangular area with a PT platform -- which would allow the water to drain through.

Home Depot sells a micro-mesh stainless steel screen product for gutters that would work well around the perimeter of this step. Search their website for: Gutter Guard by Gutterglove, 4 ft. L x 6 in. W Stainless Steel Micro-Mesh Gutter Guard (20-Pack). This would block leaves and grit that would clog a standard drain grid.

I hope this is helpful,

Mark
 

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