POOPWATER!! Or: How to reclaim your basement after a sewer back-up

[peanut]

A French drain acts like a holding tank for flash floods and excess surface water runoff.

Excess surface water runs into the trench ,which as Ernie says is filled with course aggregate and in some cases a perforated clay drainage pipe. The water then gradually drains away from the trench leaving the surrounding area free of standing water.

It also prevents standing water from penetrating and saturating the building foundation , substructure and walls.

Another useful technique for removing excess surface water after heavy rains is to create a patio decking in the area that floods using concrete pavings or timber decking raised on piers .Following heavy rains, surface water runs under the decking and drains away slowly leaving your external areas dry and free of surface water.

I still think the best solution is as I suggested,... to cap off all waste and soil outlets below ground level and pump them up to a higher point and reconnect to the soil & vent pipe. That way its impossible to get backflow again when your valve sticks or packs up.

 

[TurboFarviknugn]

once done get 2 gallons of "MICROBAN" and a bug sprayer wet down all surfaces and wood, it is a microbiologic which eats ANY bad bacteria and leaves area livable again, has a pleasant smell also. have you dis assebbled your backwater valve to ensure it is working properly ?

 

[DirtyErnie]

HI!

Plumbers came to change out the check valve. The flapper was dried up and warped. Right now we're trying to figure out how the drain tile around the foundation is hooked up. I think I got that mostly sorted out this afternoon. Hopefully we can get a camera up the pipe to verify that, and maybe then send a rooter up there to clean the mess out. After that, new basin, fix floor, plumber is done.

Then we can get started with the real fixin'.

City Council meets Wednesday with the regional 'Metropolitan Council' to figure out who's to blame for the 40 houses in this town that got the same treatment as mine did. I expect a lot of council members pointing fingers, and I figure there'll be 3.3 dozen angry homeowners with pitchforks and torches as well. Could be fun.

 

[fredintoon]

HI!

Plumbers came to change out the check valve. The flapper was dried up and warped. Right now we're trying to figure out how the drain tile around the foundation is hooked up. - - -

Hi Ernie,
flapper? The sewer non-return valve everyone in our town installed after the second annual "100 year rain" shitstorm was a rubber ball that floated up "with the flow" to seal against a bronze ring. Looks to be a better design than a flapper valve.
The design norm at the time was for the basement weeping tile to drain under the basement floor and into a catch-pit above the sewer vent pipe. The sink, wash-basin and bathtub drains were also fed into that system.
The NRV was installed in the sewer vent pipe to prevent sewage backing up which meant the basement still flooded but at least it was rainwater instead of sewage.
2 coping strategies when seeing sewage bubbling up.
1) Don Daymond.
Put a soccer ball over the weeping tile/sewer access and jam it there with a 2x4 against the floor beams.
Stopped the flow until the weeping tile water's ~8' of head pressurized the basement floor to crack it open and let everything out all over.
2) Vic Kroger.
Turned on every water tap in his house.
pre-flooded his basement with chlorinated tap water to keep the shit down in the sewer.

 

[DirtyErnie]

Fred, i like those strategies (minus the part about pressure cracking the basement floor)

the Non-Return/Backwater/Sewer Check Valve they put in is an in-line version. The flapper is angled slightly so it's normally closed. when you put water through the sewer line it will open up and let everything go through. if anything tries to come back up, it's pressure + gravity keeping the flap closed will shut it all off.

The drain tile arrangement you talk about sounds pretty close to what they put in here. there are weep holes drilled through the foundation at/below floor level. Sometime this weekend I'll take a jackhammer to where we think the end of the drain tile pipe is and try to get that figured out.