Will French Drain be 100% effective?
Eugenius
Hi,
The subject says it all. My basement has the dreaded water seepage problem.
Most of the time the sump pump can handle it, but sometimes like yesterday
it cannot(I live in north NJ). A friend of mine had french drains installed
around the interior of his basement, and swears its been bone dry ever since.
I'm skeptical, I would like to know if FDs are really 100 percent effective
before I spend the money (~ $5000 OUCH!!). Anybody have any opinions?
TIA,
Bill.
ADeWittKS
> Subject: Will French Drain be 100% effective? From:
> bil...@newton.crisp.net (Eugenius) Date: Fri, 25 Jul 1997 13:25:08
> GMT Message-ID: <EDvME...@nonexistent.com>
My basement, finished in '87, flooded in 90 and 93. After putting a
french drain, sump system on the single offending wall in 94, its been
bone dry since. $1000 bucks.
Andy
Robert Beyer
adew...@aol.com (ADeWittKS) wrote:
I believe nothing is ever 100% effective. French drains may work well
for some people and not for others. I don't have any and ALMOST NEVER
get water into my basement. That is until we had those torrential down
pours last spring (I also live in NJ near Trenton) and back in the
winter of 1994 when we had the ice strom then the snow on top of that
and then when it rained in February the water couldn't get at the
ground so it ran off and into my window wells. My parents have French
drains in their house (in Pennington, NJ) and they are usually water
free, until the flow exceeds the capacity of the drains or debris (an
errant sock from the laundry basket) clogs the drain. A friend who
lives in East Winsor (sandy soil) who never had water in his basement
got some 3 years ago during a down pour when the water finally found
the chink in the armour. My opinion of basements in NJ is that any one
can get wet under the right conditions. Some may be dry for 20 years
until the right combination of rain/snow/ice comes along.
My first line of defense is to reduce the water near the foundation in
the first place. Keep gutters clean (a major hassle for me). Water
that over flows gutters and runs into the ground next to the house is
headed for your basement. Route downspouts away from the house. Some
people put plastic down for several feet extending from the house uder
the top couple inches of soil. If you live on a slope (as I do) try
to route water away from the house before it gets there.
One other thing, French drains are just a collection system.
Good luck
(dry for now) Bob Beyer
Dan Lee
I have a french drain in my basement. There's good news and there's bad
news. The good news is that a french drain will help dry out your basement
because it drains all the water away from the perimeter. The bad news is
that it drains ALL the water. So depending upon how high the water level
is in your ground, your french drain could be constantly running. Mine
usually runs all spring and all fall depending upon how much rainfall we
get. If your water level is high, there probably is a lot of water around
the perimeter of your basement that is seeping in. The basement wall is
holding back the water. The french drain will drain all water until the
water level drops below the level of the french drain. This results in
your sump pump constantly running. I put in a second pump with a battery
backup in case of mechanical or electrical failure with the primary sump
pump. I also built a sound enclosure for the two pumps because I was tired
of listening to them.
Regards
Dan
danh...@millcomm.com
In <EDvME...@nonexistent.com>, bil...@newton.crisp.net (Eugenius) writes:
>Hi,
>
>The subject says it all. My basement has the dreaded water seepage problem.
>Most of the time the sump pump can handle it, but sometimes like yesterday
>it cannot(I live in north NJ). A friend of mine had french drains installed
>around the interior of his basement, and swears its been bone dry ever since.
>I'm skeptical, I would like to know if FDs are really 100 percent effective
>before I spend the money (~ $5000 OUCH!!). Anybody have any opinions?
Nothing is 100 percent effective, and the effectiveness of "french drains"
depends a lot on what you mean by that term. Some people use it to refer
to any sort of drain tile scheme, while others limit to installations
involving drain tile and a dry well.
In your case a dry well is not likely to help a lot unless the well is
located in an area where the surface elevation is significantly lower than
the ground around your house.
If you're simply talking about tearing up the floor of your basement and
installing drain tile, with the tile draining into a sump pump pit, then,
given a decent installation job, all but the most severe case of a wet
basement should be cleared up (providing the power doesn't fail).
However, depending on soil conditions, etc, there may still be significant
dampness in the walls.
A 100% complete job has three loops of drain tile, one beneath the floor,
one on the outside of the footing, 6-12 inches below the finished floor
level, and one on the outside about halfway up the wall. With soil that
drains well, though (ie, not clay), the third loop is probably
unnecessary. Even this job still depends on the pump not failing, though.
Dan Hicks
Hey!! My advice is free -- take it for what it's worth!
http://www.millcomm.com/~danhicks
Thomas A. Gauldin
On 30 Jul 97 03:05:53 GMT, danh...@millcomm.com wrote:
>
>A 100% complete job has three loops of drain tile, one beneath the floor,
>one on the outside of the footing, 6-12 inches below the finished floor
>level, and one on the outside about halfway up the wall. With soil that
>drains well, though (ie, not clay), the third loop is probably
>unnecessary. Even this job still depends on the pump not failing, though.
>
better ones now use a permeable layer applied against the foundation
that permits continuous drainage down to the footing drains. Our own
home has 1" of compressed pink fibreglas insulation "stuck onto" the
hot-sprayed butyl membrane. Its little different from normal
insulation, but has been compressed to the point where the pressure of
the backfill won't affect it. There are other products that
incorporate continuous drain channels moulded from PVC as well.
The entire idea is that a home should have adequate drainage away from
the foundation by correctly sloping the soil away from the house.
However, any soil can permit some drainage along the foundation. The
compressed fiberglas or channeled PVC then gives this water an
unobstructed path to the footing drain, where it is carried away.
Tom
Tom Gauldin Here's to the land of the Long Leaf Pine,
Raleigh NC The Summerland, where the sun doth shine.
(919) 870-0958 Where the weak grow stong, and the strong grow great,
Here's to Downhome, the Old North State.
Degerberg
>Most of the time the sump pump can handle it, but sometimes like
yesterday
May I suggest a second sump pump, first as a back up and second to handle
the volume. It worked for me and then I got (I think they are called
helmet guards )covers for my gutters which stopped the cellar leak after I
drilled 1/2" holes in the floor to let the water drain out.
Grandfather Bob
Modesty in the face of talent is hypocrisy