Puddin' Man wrote:

Location for new sump pit, etc

Greetings,

I inhabit a small brick bungalow, built in 1954, poured-concrete
foundation, about 800 square feet. Perhaps twice a year we
get hard/fast rains (i.e. 3" in 12 hours) which cause a
hydrostatic water problem in the basement. The water "pushes
up" from underneath the basement floor.

I need to specify/install both a sump pit and a sump pump. I am
modestly competent (not expert) at such DIY projects.

My immediate problem is to choose a location for a sump
pit so as to avoid pipes etc buried under my basement
floor.

A diagram might be helpful (if you can view this as
"plain text" (in Notepad or ?) it will be most helpful):

_____________________________
| K P | K - Kitchen vent, runs from
| ' | roof thru wall into basement
| ' | floor.
| ' | F - Floor drain
| ' | S - Stack
| ' | V - Stack vent in front yard
| F | P - Candidate location for
| ' | new sump pit.
| ' |
| ' |
| ' |
| S |
| ' |
| ' |
| ' |
| ' |
| ' |
| ' |
| ' |
| ' |
| ' |
______________________________
'
front yard '
'
V
'
================================Sewer line in street

Note that the single quote "lines" from K to F etc
are where I "assume" a pipe runs under the basement
floor. Do these look reasonable?

The sump pit will be about 24" in diameter and about
24" deep. I will place the edge of the pit about 15"
from a wall. I've drilled 2 holes thru the basement
floor: it appears to be (surprisingly) only about 2"
thick. I currently *hope* to be able to cut the hole
with a 'diamond' blade on a standard-duty circular
saw.

How much trouble might I be getting myself into, here?
What to look for? What to avoid??

Please note that I do not have $1400 (or whatever)
to hire a contractor for this ...

I have scoured the net for detailed instructions on
pit location, specs on pit size, etc and have found
almost nothing. If anyone knows of a good source of
info, please let me know.

How much crushed rock outside the pit basin? One
fellow told me 1" all around. A net article suggested 6".

Any/all suggestions, info, etc would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
David

I know you were originally thinking of tying the pump dischg into
the stack. Looking at your dwg, is there any chance that you could
simply dump the outlet pipe into the floor drain? They are typically 4"
and should handle the flow.

BTW, the diag looks reasonably accurate.

If you have to cut into the stack, you'll need a P-trap and also
a vent line to the roof (or to another vent). Or...they may let
you use a mechanical vent, like:
http://www.studor.com/

A check valve will probably be reqd too.

You can saw the floor but if used dry it will make a hell of
a dust mess. For a small hole I would prefer to bust the floor
after drilling a few holes at the perimeter.

I like more stone around the pit. And be sure to elevate the
pump above the bottom of the sump so that it doesn't suck in
mud/debris.

Jim