System in my New Basement?

[Lasareath]

I plan on using the basement of my new house as my main system room.

There is currently no french drain or sump pump.

My cousin has put in French Drains and sump pumps in the past and he offered to help me install one in my house.

When I went to see the houses the past couple of times there was no mildew smell or any traces of water.

Will a French Drain be enough?

Should I build a Platform and get my system 8" off the floor?

Or should I just build a raised floor after I put in the french drain?

Thanks,

Sal

[appadv]

I have french drains in my basement and installed a sump pump. Better be safe than sorry.

Also it's a good idea to put in a subpanel and run some 20A dedicated circuits for your HT gear.

Have you seen my basement build thread? All I have left is to do the drywall for the ceiling...

[Lasareath]

I have french drains in my basement and installed a sump pump. Better be safe than sorry.

Also it's a good idea to put in a subpanel and run some 20A dedicated circuits for your HT gear.

Have you seen my basement build thread? All I have left is to do the drywall for the ceiling...


I'll try to find your basement thread,

The location where I will have my system already has electricity that has been run by the previous home owner. But I have no idea if it is 1 circuit or 3 and I don't know if it is 15 or 20 amps

The question I have is a French Drain and a Sump Pump enough?

Can water still make it to the top of the slab with a French Drain?

[4406bbl]

An interior french drain and sump with a drycore system will work,just make sure you drill a few holes in every concrete block below grade if it is not a poured foundation,and use cloth covered drain pipe so dirt does not plug it. The Best way is to french drain outside of the building,waterproof the block and use a barrier against the block to direct the water to the drain pipe then to the interior sump. On interior walls it is best to glue 1-2" foil faced insulation board to the block,seal all seams with great stuff then frame and insulate your walls,that way if there is ever a leak it can never touch your drywall,fiberglass,or floor. Leave the foil face about an inch off the floor and cut a few drain slots in your bottom plate to give the water a place to go if it ever gets there.

[Lasareath]

I just met the guy next door and he's been there 7 years and his house is exactly like mine. He has never had a puddle of water. No collected water ever in 7 years. Only visible moisture through the concrete block walls in a few locations.

I also spoke to the guy I bought it from and he's lived there his whole life and he never had any water issues in the basement.

I'm going to wait till the thaw is over and in May I will start building out the basement. I will use the dricore floor system and I will install an automatic dehumidifier that will drain automatically as well.

Hopefully I should be OK.

[hearingimpared]

Sal, wait until there are a few good drenching rains in April to see exactly how your basement deals with water. There is nothing worse than mildew for you and the gear. The reason you probably don't sense mildew is that the previous owners had the basement treated before showing the home. I ran across this when I was house hunting.

[Hobbyguy]

Hmmmm.....maybe I misunderstand french drain. My house had french drain tile (until we added on). Our house is slightly downhill and the drain tile was a 5 foot wide path 10 feet away from the house uphill and ran a path downhill away from the house. It was between the house and the hill. It was full of large gravel with pvc pipes, and the pipes exited downhill. We had two sumppumps and they NEVER ran. The drain tile was a foot under ground and the depth was always about a foot deeper than the house foundation.
Now we lost the drain tile and both sump pumps run ALOT during the spring....I hate that. This next year I will be adding the french drain tile again.

[hearingimpared]

Hmmmm.....maybe I misunderstand french drain. My house had french drain tile (until we added on). Our house is slightly downhill and the drain tile was a 5 foot wide path 10 feet away from the house uphill and ran a path downhill away from the house. It was between the house and the hill. It was full of large gravel with pvc pipes, and the pipes exited downhill. We had two sumppumps and they NEVER ran. The drain tile was a foot under ground and the depth was always about a foot deeper than the house foundation.
Now we lost the drain tile and both sump pumps run ALOT during the spring....I hate that. This next year I will be adding the french drain tile again.

I thought a french drain was a small trench sloped around the perimeter of the basement.

[Lasareath]

I thought a french drain was a small trench sloped around the perimeter of the basement.


It can be, some people cut the 1.5" wide channel straight through the concrete slab until they get to the dirt below, then they add loose stone or gravel in the channel. this help to keep out bugs.

When the water seeps through the concrete block wall and runs down the wall into the channel it goes under the slab and finds its way to the the lowest point which is usually the sump pump well.

I'm gonna wait to May and see what it looks like.

Today I hooked up my Panamax Regenerator and it showed an incoming Voltage of 129 Volts!!!! WOOHOOO

[Solumnus]

As a plumber I think everyone has given you the right advice so far. Don't drill holes in your foundation though.
If you can wait until May and see what happens, that would be ideal. Then you would know what to expect in the future.
A french drain and sump pump combo in a basement is always the best solution. You can also just use a sump pump, or neither, but it depends on the soil make up and water table in your neighbourhood.
You could talk to a few more neighbours and see what they have to say as well. If no one uses them, and nothing happens in May, I would just run a Pump if you really want to.

PS: Any Electricians out there? Other Trades?

[Lasareath]

As a plumber I think everyone has given you the right advice so far. Don't drill holes in your foundation though.
If you can wait until May and see what happens, that would be ideal. Then you would know what to expect in the future.
A french drain and sump pump combo in a basement is always the best solution. You can also just use a sump pump, or neither, but it depends on the soil make up and water table in your neighbourhood.
You could talk to a few more neighbours and see what they have to say as well. If no one uses them, and nothing happens in May, I would just run a Pump if you really want to.

PS: Any Electricians out there? Other Trades?


Thanks Solumnus,

I do have a floor drain in the middle of the basement and it works very well, I've tried it out and the Previous owner says that he used it to drain the heating system.

Do you think that this floor drain is why they never seen water?, That it always swallowed up any water from under the slab before they saw it?

[4406bbl]

No,if there was a water problem it would show and the floor drain would not help below slab moisture, from the pics you posted of the home most of your basement is above grade and the drainage looked good so I would bet they never had a problem nor will you.

[Hobbyguy]

[QUOTE=Lasareath;1011192]It can be, some people cut the 1.5" wide channel straight through the concrete slab until they get to the dirt below, then they add loose stone or gravel in the channel. this help to keep out bugs.

When the water seeps through the concrete block wall and runs down the wall into the channel it goes under the slab and finds its way to the the lowest point which is usually the sump pump well.

Maybe the building codes are different in Wisconsin. My below grade walls all have 2 feet of gravel up against them. When water hits the gravel it goes down to the drain tile. Water never gets close to the walls.

[Solumnus]

No,if there was a water problem it would show and the floor drain would not help below slab moisture, from the pics you posted of the home most of your basement is above grade and the drainage looked good so I would bet they never had a problem nor will you.
I agree. :)

Looking forward to seeing pics in the future of the finished product. :D

[cnh]

I don't think it's a bad idea to raise the system off the floor just in case. I have a system in my basement and water was never a problem until one particularly bad winter when the ice became so thickly packed that it would not allow the snow above it to be absorbed by the ground. There is a gap between the garage and the back of the house of about 4 inches even though the garage is attached in the front. Well water made its way down through that and the unfinished floor begain to gradually flood. The system is in the finished part of the basement. I bought a sump pump and that pretty much saved me. But the system was in a built in which is a foot off the ground.

Years later my water expansion tank (furnace device) failed and started to leak water onto the finished room with the carpet floor. Some minor water damage but the system was never in danger. So to be safe...get a platform of some kind just in case. It gives you the time you need to respond. Should you need to. A simple sump pump can be bought at any hardware store and used to drain the water. We have a utility sink in the basement that I use. But an actual drain wouldn't hurt.

But it does look like your OK. In another horror story. My father flooded his basement a bit when his water heater blew. So even if there is no flood threat, other leaks can take you out.

Care is the word...

cnh

[4406bbl]

You cannot gaurd against every basement water problem in any home, keep in mind that the speakers are replaceable if there is a disaster and they are cheaper than the prevention measures. On one home I did we relocated all water and drain pipes in a basement room and poured a 6" tall curb to frame the walls on so the rest of the basement could have 6" of water and the rest would be dry, but how far do you want to take this. If you rely on a sump pump then you need a battery backup also,it never ends. The main thing is to design everything so it never traps water when something happens. Pretty soon you will spend more than it would cost to add a 15x24x9 wing that needs no water prevention.

[jdwmap]

I used to have problems with a leaky basement, i painted the walls with some paint made for leaky/seeping water and it slowed it down a lot. I also redid the gutters outside of the house to move the water away from the house faster and that helped more than anything.

I eventually fixed it by moving to a house on a hill that lets all the water run down to my neighbor and my basement is dry as can be . . .