Re: Unclogging drain in walkout basement

On Aug 8, 8:07 pm, aemeijers <aemeij...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
fftt wrote:
On Aug 8, 5:14 am, aemeijers <aemeij...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
buffalobill wrote:
On Aug 8, 6:51 am, PB2 <pbane...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi,
We recently purchased a house with a walkout basement. After some
heavy rain, we discovered that the drain in the walkout does not drain
properly. Water pooled during the rain (fortunately, not enough to
make it inside) and drained over the course of a few hours.
Any tips on how to unclog this drain? How do I know if it leads to the
sewage system? If so, can I just pour Draino into it? I was going to
try to open the grate to see if I could fish stuff out.
I'm new to home ownership, so any tips are appreciated.
Thanks,
PB
with goggles and rubber glove protection, loosen the cover on it and
have a look in. scoop out any muck with a garden trowel or your least
favorite serving spoon into a trash basket with a heavy duty trash
bag. there should be a trap like under a sink to separate the sewer
gas from the drain you see. but have your neighbors recommend an
experienced plumber to snake your drains including any roof and
basement connections. let him explain how your sewage system works,
and follow his advice.
-b
Basement floor drain, in most cases, does NOT go to sanitary sewer or
septic, if installed properly. (Exception for old urban areas that had
or have combined storm/sanitary systems.) It should go to sump pit
and/or foundation drains, which should either lead to a drywell or
daylight exit. Drano will be useless, since the clog is probably not
organic. OP should call local generic roto-rooter company to get the
drains snaked, and maybe have a camera run down them, if cleaning the
trap right under the grate does not help. BTDT, but in my case the drain
pipes themselves had failed, due to rust or heavy minerals clogging them
like an old teakettle. Drain Guy's heaviest auger got stuck 3 feet in.
Still not sure how I am going to address that, since my sump pit is bone
dry even in heavy rains. It would cost thousands to cut the slab and
replace them, and would not pay back on resale, so I may just fill the
drain holes with sackcrete and forget them.

--
aem sends...

Does your drain "daylight" somewhere?  If oyu know the location oyu
could snake the line from there whilst put water up the drain to
flush.

Otherwise snake from basement to sump & use a vacuum to suck out the
debris.   If oyu can access the drain & the sump location it might be
possible to pull a "pex-like" re-pipe with minimal digging

cheers
Bob

Not sure who you were talking to, but if you were talking to me...

Floor drains and wall standpipe for washer, both no longer work. I think
floor drains and foundation drains (if any) used to drain to daylight
where driveway used to be, before they plugged up old single car garage
door  under the bedrooms, and filled in the front yard. I think the
washer drain used to go to a drywell, that got destroyed when they did
the family room/2 car garage addition on main level. The wall standpipe
and floor drains MAY be connected- when I moved in, I tested washer
standpipe by running a hose into it for five minutes, and it seemed to
work fine. However, an hour later, all the water reappeared on basement
floor. At the time, I thought it came up through floor drain, but I now
think it came in at base of wall, since I later had some seepage there
before I regraded yard. No sign that floor drains are hooked to sump- I
think it is just a hole in the floor. As mentioned in previous post, I
tried cleaning out the dirt from the drain traps, and having lines
powered-augered, no joy.

Bottom line is, I think that along with the floor drains, the foundation
drains are failed or missing. (Very sandy around here- they may had
decided they were not needed.) Sump pit has been bone dry since I moved
in, and my basement slab is above street level, so I'm not terribly
worried about groundwater coming up. If I can manage to address some
outside drainage issues (like the pipes idiot previous owner put in that
direct downspouts straight down along the barely-sealed basement walls,
and the improper flashing under the sliders that I can't fix till I tear
down the deck), I'm pretty sure basement will stay dry. Thus, it is hard
to justify breaking basement slab and installing new drains. Cutting off
the wall standpipe with an angle grinder, and mudding it and the floor
drains over with concrete, would be the low-buck solution, and make it
clear to next owner that only drain from basement is the collector pipe
on wall that leads to the septic.

Now if I could just figure out some way to make basement sink usable-
right now it just drains onto the floor over the failed drain. Perhaps
one of those plastic boxes with the built-in pump. I could route sink
and washer into it, since the current extended extra-tall drain hose for
washer makes it drain slow.

Aren't undocumented middle-age houses fun? All this would simpler if
previous owner hadn't 'finished' the basement. Bare concrete is so much
easier to diagnose....

--
aem sends...

I was talking to you and based on your latest post it seems to me oyu
have a good handle on the situation....I was hoping that the drain
would daylight somewhere and oyu could it bring it back online.

I think your idea of the "sump pump in a box" is a good idea ......my
former boss used one that allowed him to have an "old school" darkroom
in is garage.

I got rid of my "undocumented middle-age house"; built in the early
60's / late 50's. It had at least a half dozen owners and was a
maintenance / repair nightmare.

I was in the crawlspace doing some re-piping, wet & muddy when I
noticed two single conductors (looked like old TW) coming down out of
the subfloor & disappearing into the dirt. I had my helper throw the
main breaker, finished my work & got out of there.

cheers
Bob



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