Is this "french drain" installed inside the foundation under the concrete
floor? Or is it a perimeter drain around outside the foundation wall? If it
is the first, your water may be coming in through the wall or wall/floor
seam. If it is the latter, it may be water table coming up through the
ground under the floor.

If you have both systems, you should have no problems.


"Postal68" wrote in message
. ..
I have a French drain with a sump pump in my basement.

For 11 years I NEVER got any water down in my basement, the drain took
care of business.

Now suddenly in the past 2 years I have had 3 major floods (including this
morning) where the water has soaked /ruined my carpets in the basement.

Any ideas why the French drain would suddenly stop working. The Sump Pump
is working fine. It is turning on and off and ejecting the gathered water
from the sump well.

Would blockages/debris that fell into the drain area around the perimeter
of my basement wall be the culprit?

Or could it be a case of the ground outside being so saturated the water
has nowhere else to go but in my walls/French drain and the French drain
can not handle the capacity of water coming in.

Option 3:
I had home construction done (new siding, windows, doors, deck) about 2
years ago. Could they have damaged something? I have looked all around the
areas that they added new doors, windows, deck, ect.. and I can not find
any water seeping in.




By the way, I am in NJ where we were hit with 7-10 inches of rain in the
last 15-20 hours and a state of emergency was declared.