Hey Dan, I go with the connection into the sewer solution.
You gently slope the bottom of the well to one point, either a corner or the middle of a wall furthest from the door and contour it to the mouth of a 3 inch drain. You might like to install one of those one way check valves before you tap into the sewer to keep the sewer from backing up into the door well particularly if you have ever had water come up the floor drain in your basement. I have installed exactly that sort of drain in the bottom of my basement stair well which is about 7 feet deep and which generally fills pretty completely with snow each winter and apart from keeping it clear of leaves, it works remarkably well. Your idea of a dry well might be adequate particularly if the ground is more or less dry or the cap is clay which keeps water from penetrating but a lot will depend on the amount of rain the hole will collect. You need enough volume to at least immediately hold what ever you expect to collect at any one time, long enough for it to evaporate and/or penetrate the soil. Your property is quite high I understand so it should get away pretty quickly. Is it practical to run a drain to the hill-side and just allow it to dump over the edge? ----- Original Message ----- From: Dan Rossi To: Blind Handyman List Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 11:37 AM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Hydrology OK, so does anyone know anything about hydrology? I have started digging my basement door. I actually got further in 2.5 hours last night than I expected. My concern is drainage of the pit. I will slope the slab away from the house and put at least four inches of gravel under the slab. Here is a question. The slab will be about 24 inches below grade. If I were to use a power auger and bore a couple of 12 inch diameter, three or four foot deep holes at the low end of the slab, (obviously before it is poured), and fill those vertical holes with sand and gravel. And if the upper ends of the shafts were open to the slab. What would happen when it rains? Would water from the surrounding soil just fill the vertical shafts preventing water from the slab to drain into the shafts? That would make the shafts pretty useless. What would happen if I fitted 12 inch diameter PVC pipe down into the shafts, assuming you could find pipe that big. That would prevent water from the surrounding area from flowing into the shafts from the sides, but the bottom would still be open. Does that make any difference? OK, the real real question here is , is there anything I can do to prevent my door pit from becoming a swimming pool? The best solution I can come up with is illegal. The down spouts for the house are tied into the sanitary suer system, the house is grandfathered for the time being. I could try and tie the drain for the pit into the same drainage for the down spouts. I am not allowed to do that, but if no one is looking. dot dot dot. I am willing to do whatever it takes to do it right, it's just a matter of more work and probably a bit more money, I am just not sure what will be the best solution. OK guys, let's hear what you've got. -- Blue skies. Dan Rossi Carnegie Mellon University. E-Mail: [email protected] Tel: (412) 268-9081 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
