Water Drainage Suggestions

[cral12]

Shot in the dark, but thought I'd ask here.

The Issue:

We have a powerful suct pump in the basement which pretty much constantly (especially in spring) pumps out a fair amount of water.

Problem is that Basement Systems, when they installed it (previous house owner) they used a pipe (I'm guessing 5-6 inch wide) that bring the water out past the house to the edge of the lawn (short width - strip between me and neighbour).
What happens is, because of slope and the lay of the land, the water drains over about half of one section of the driveway and is eroding it.

Potential Solutions:

We've contacted Basement Systems, but unfortunately not much help. They said they could dig it down for us, but may not solve the problem.

We're thinking about installing something like concrete splash pads (carved out cement blocks) - a series of them from the house along the edge of the driveway and lawn out to the side walk.

***
Any thoughts or recommendations, greatly appreciated.
Any companies that would help with this sort of thing.

Thanks

[return to the red]

usually when they plumb your sump pump in (depending on city regulations) they will plumb it directly into the city sewer.

It's a good problem you have because that means your ground water is going into your sump and not into other parts of your basement! In terms of what to do either extend the pipe to the city street or install some drain channel, that you can get grates for. A plumber may be able to plumb your discharge line directly into your sewer BUT you would have to check with him on local codes whether they allow this or not

[cral12]

Thanks RTTR - the pipe has to be 2 meters from the city street according to Basement Systems.

[oilyfan]

Could they not tie the drainage into your sewer?

Edit: I guess you have to check code, apparently that much water over multiple homes will overwhelm the water treatment plant.

[topfiverecords]

As far as I know Calgary has 2 sewer systems so there's the ability to connect weeping into the storm system.

[oilyfan]

Yes but how does he get access to the storm sewer system?

[red sky]

I am pretty certain that it is against code to pump the sump into the sewage line. The main question is why is your sump filling up as much as it is. How is the grading around your house? Is it angled away? Sometimes that doesn't matter if you have a high water table.

[Rhettzky]

Originally Posted by oilyfan

Yes but how does he get access to the storm sewer system?

Probably doesn't have access to a storm line. Most areas in the city require you to connect to the main. If there are no storm mains available or grades that make it impossible to tie in they usually use a sump. City will not usually allow storm ties to sanitary especially if the water table is high because it introduces constant flow.

I work with water resources and might be able to help if you can describe the site a bit better. What kind of surface and size of area does the sump discharge to right now? Is there significant slopes? A pic would help too.

[cral12]

Thanks Rhettzky (great handle!)

Here's a couple of pics - see if this gives you a better idea:

[cral12]

Can't seem to get photos uploaded:

Here's a couple of links to the pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thehock...n/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thehock...n/photostream/

Any input greatly appreciated. If I can provide more specifics, let me know.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by cral12

We're thinking about installing something like concrete splash pads (carved out cement blocks) - a series of them from the house along the edge of the driveway and lawn out to the side walk.

This is probably your best bet. If they're flush with the edge of the driveway you'll barely notice them as well.

[Flacker]

As stated,you would be best to use something like this. Picture supplied is a Burnco product:



https://shop.burnco.com/departments/...%7CSPLASH.html

[Ducay]

Or why not just run piping (or even adapt to a downspot) and run it to the end of the driveway?
Heck you could even put it below the sod with a grated exit at the end of the run.


I still don't get how you have a sump running so constantly. Are you on the Elbow or something?

[cral12]

Thanks all.

Yes Flacker - I actually saw the same splash pad - problem is, is that we would need a series of them and they are meant (I think) just to be used as one.

We also found this drainage channel system - online at Lowes:
http://www.lowes.ca/search/drainage-channel.html

- Problem with this one is that you'd have to dig down and then what happens towards the end as it goes up against the sidewalk.

Aye-yi-yi...frustrating...lol

The wife, of course, wants it visually appealing as well. We're talking tonight and thinking if we could get one to customly install a concrete channel for us along the side of the driveway. Who would I even contact to do such a thing - landscape company? Driveway company? Concrete company? (overthinking...lol)

[cral12]

Ducay - yes - high water table I guess...close to to Elbow (close enough, at least) - and we're on the higher portion of our community.

I should rephrase that it's not constantly, but with any precipitation a lot of water expelled and fairly constant at that time.

[Rhettzky]

I sent your pics to one of our drainage technicians so hopefully he can provide a few solutions. I'll keep you posted.

[Rhettzky]

He says you should change the landscaping area to enable the water to convey to the street faster. You could talk to your neighbour and convince him to rip up all the grass in between your houses and put gravel. Then install a splash pad at the outlet of the pipe (and your roof drain) and also install a stone block barrier down the edges of both or your driveways to create a kind of channel. This would help get keep the water off your driveway and convey it to the street and would be very cost effective.

You could try it for one season without putting the gravel in and seeing if it makes a difference as well.

[cral12]

Many thanks for this Rhettzky.

Probably a doable DIY project, but if one wanted to get someone to do this for you, any recommendations on a company to do it?

[Rhettzky]

I'm really not sure as i've never had to get any work like this done before. Any landscaping company would probably be good. Maybe check out some reviews online.