some of us here in the northeast have been having water problems. we've
lived in this house 15 yrs with a dry basement which is now flooded. it
seems like water is coming in 3 different points but we are not sure how. it
began fri 10/14 after a week of heavy rain and has continued, weather's been
dry since fri late night but water is still coming in at this point (sun
nite 10/16). we've got 3 pumps running and my husband shopvac-ed for hours
and got it pretty dry only to have it fill up again. now we know the water
table is high but it just seems odd. our plumber and landscaper have both
been here and suggest sump pump. we're fine w this but we think it may need
2-3 for all the areas. so any suggestions are helpful
thanks
Susan--

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/harrimanhike/

We live on the East coast of Mass.

Our basement got water in it too, some places of up to 2" of water.

It seem to come from our basement windows, they are so small but do not
open at all.
I have run our dehumidifier, fan down there. It is finally dry now, but
a lot of stuff got soaked with water and I had to throw it away.

shirley

Susan wrote:
some of us here in the northeast have been having water problems.
we've lived in this house 15 yrs with a dry basement which is now
flooded. it seems like water is coming in 3 different points but we
are not sure how. it began fri 10/14 after a week of heavy rain and
has continued, weather's been dry since fri late night but water is
still coming in at this point (sun nite 10/16). we've got 3 pumps
running and my husband shopvac-ed for hours and got it pretty dry
only to have it fill up again. now we know the water table is high
but it just seems odd. our plumber and landscaper have both been here
and suggest sump pump. we're fine w this but we think it may need 2-3
for all the areas. so any suggestions are helpful
thanks
Susan--

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/harrimanhike/


Your recent rain has been rather unusual and strained the normally
efficient systems to take care of it. It may be several days before the
water table gets down to anything close to normal.

I would guess that a single sump pump will do the job for you. Be sure
to get a good one, not the cheapest builder's special. The better ones have
larger motors and can pump a lot more water than the cheaper ones. It will
not be often that you will see the kind of problem you had this last week.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
...
Susan wrote:
some of us here in the northeast have been having water problems.
we've lived in this house 15 yrs with a dry basement which is now
flooded. it seems like water is coming in 3 different points but we
are not sure how. it began fri 10/14 after a week of heavy rain and
has continued, weather's been dry since fri late night but water is
still coming in at this point (sun nite 10/16). we've got 3 pumps
running and my husband shopvac-ed for hours and got it pretty dry
only to have it fill up again. now we know the water table is high
but it just seems odd. our plumber and landscaper have both been here
and suggest sump pump. we're fine w this but we think it may need 2-3
for all the areas. so any suggestions are helpful
thanks
Susan--

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/harrimanhike/


Your recent rain has been rather unusual and strained the normally
efficient systems to take care of it. It may be several days before the
water table gets down to anything close to normal.

I would guess that a single sump pump will do the job for you. Be sure
to get a good one, not the cheapest builder's special. The better ones
have larger motors and can pump a lot more water than the cheaper ones.
It will not be often that you will see the kind of problem you had this
last week.

I would agree with Joseph; one pump ought to do it, though you might have
some water on the floor in various places since you have no drain tiles to
get the water to the sump pump efficiently. You just can't have anything
that can't get wet directly on the floor. If that's a problem then yeh, you
might need several sumps.
You might also consider a backup sumppump; both to give some protection
during power outages, and to supplement the main sumppump if it gets
overwhelmed. I like battery powered, but the majority seem to go for water
powered.

Time for a pit and pump. one pump tied to let a floor drain drain into
the pit. A Zoeller or Basepump backup second water powered pump will
ensure saftey. www.zoeller.com

Get a good dehumidifier to

I live in Baltimore, and though I have had many leaks over the 22
years,** this is the fist time my sump pump woudn't handle it.

The original one rusted out, and I replace it with iirc the only one
they sold, but at least it was basically an identical pump which I
knew would go in simply. The new one has plastic pipe and won't rust
out. I should have looked for a bigger one.

So I agree that this was a very unusual rain, and you might well go as
many years as you did before without another wet basement.

Still, one sump pump might be a good idea. Now mine works so well
because there is perforated, corrugated, plastic pipe (black) a little
below and along the base of my basement walls, outside, and the pipes,
one from the front, and one from the side and rear, go under the
basement floor and into the sump. So there issn't much water
pressing on the cinder block walls trying to get in***

***(Waterproof basement paint works well if it is leaking through the
walls. It worked well in 1962 and I'm sure it has been improved by
now.)

** from burst humidifier tubing, burst washing machine hoses, leaking
water heater, burst temporary hose in the kitchen sink, water coming
out of the basement sink (I live next to a stream and the water can
overflow the manholes of the sewer that runs parallel to the stream,
water overflowing the sink when I forgot the sink was plugged to stop
the previous water and I did my laundry anyhow, AC drain didn't work
for some strange reason until rerouted to make it drop 3 feet first
and then go to the side instead of dropping 2 inches and going to the
side and then going down.

I've yet to have my pipes freeze and break. That must be coming next.


On Mon, 17 Oct 2005 04:53:30 GMT, "Susan"
wrote:

some of us here in the northeast have been having water problems. we've
lived in this house 15 yrs with a dry basement which is now flooded. it
seems like water is coming in 3 different points but we are not sure how. it
began fri 10/14 after a week of heavy rain and has continued, weather's been
dry since fri late night but water is still coming in at this point (sun
nite 10/16). we've got 3 pumps running and my husband shopvac-ed for hours
and got it pretty dry only to have it fill up again. now we know the water
table is high but it just seems odd. our plumber and landscaper have both
been here and suggest sump pump. we're fine w this but we think it may need
2-3 for all the areas. so any suggestions are helpful
thanks
Susan--

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/harrimanhike/



Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let
me know if you have posted also.

Sometimes its a losing battle with the water table so high. Even with a
sump pump it cant keep up sometimes. Water will just go back in. I know
a lot of people here on Long Island that had pumps running constantly
during the flood and it did not help.
Then again water tables can be so irregular. I got an inch of water in
my basement, and yet my neighbor down the block whose house sits lower
than mine diod not see a drop of water in his basement.
Go figure.

Same problem here.
A waterproofing contractor has recommended installation of a "French Drain"
system with sump pump.
Would like comments from anyone who has experience with this system,
especially over the past week.
Long Island soil has a lot of clay, which hinders drainage.

Bill on Long Island

"Mikepier" wrote in message
oups.com...
Sometimes its a losing battle with the water table so high. Even with a
sump pump it cant keep up sometimes. Water will just go back in. I know
a lot of people here on Long Island that had pumps running constantly
during the flood and it did not help.
Then again water tables can be so irregular. I got an inch of water in
my basement, and yet my neighbor down the block whose house sits lower
than mine diod not see a drop of water in his basement.
Go figure.