DIY Sump Basin and Pump Install 

I appreciate the feedback, glad you enjoyed the process!

Thanks, glad you found it helpful!

Thanks! Glad to hear this will help out your son!

Thanks!! Sump is working great, no issues whatsoever

Thank you!

Thanks, glad you enjoyed the video!

Thanks!

I don't work with PVC very often. Saw works good enough for occasional use, although the cutters do make a nice clean cut

@@TwoFourSevenDIY I think I picked mine up for less than $8 several years ago and I've used it countless times. It's just a nice tool to have around I think.

Thanks!

Thanks man, appreciate it!

Thanks man. I bet 3 people get it done in a fraction of the time though.

@@TwoFourSevenDIY Yeah about 4 hours.

Thanks!

Thanks!

Good suggestions. I didn't think about the possibility of blowing a fuse ... I'll look into changing that. Water enters from the sides of the basin That's exactly what I have planned. 4" landscaping tile surrounded with gravel to collect both sump water and ground water and direct it all far away from the house

@@TwoFourSevenDIY LOL, The only reason I mentioned the dedicated outlet is because I had 'sump pump' discussions at work (I'm an electrical engineer) a number of years ago with fellow engineers and we all brain-stormed drainage for our houses for some weird reason. I had dual sump pumps (but one also being a battery backup combo) all in a single pit - two completely separate systems. "Yeah, I'm covered" I thought. One day the comment was made: "Are they on the same breaker?" Duh!...single point failure! Took care of that when I finished the basement. So now they are on separate, dedicated breakers. And to top it off, a Generac whole house generator!

The fabric will just end up creating a barrier clogged with silt over time ...

Thanks!

Thanks!

Unfortunately, French drain is going to be the only reasonable way to do it. Solid pipe up here in the north will cause freezing problems ... at least for the length I have to go. It will be solid for probably 15yds away from the house and then transition to French drain tile which will go roughly 120ft give or take, eventually emptying to daylight

Hmm, didn't realize that. I've always used a pair of needle nose. I'll have to try that next time and see which I like better

Thanks!

It's possible. However without some way to direct the water to the area of the sump, I'm not sure it would be very effective.

Yup it essentially butts up against the side of the basin where I drilled additional holes, and has a couple of inches of gravel in between. Should work the same way, if you think about it, gravel is what made early French drains so good at directing water in a certain direction.

Best practice would be to put it at the lowest point, yes. Any water that may intrude through the foundation will naturally flow along the floor to the lowest point where it will drain into the top of the basin. However, if your issue is like mine where ground water rises up the drain. You could potentially move it elsewhere. As long as there isn't a huge difference in height (the slab should be flat so there shouldn't be) you could probably put it as close to the lowest point but not interfering with the the washer and dryer. Most slabs are poured on top of gravel so your sump basin would be down in the gravel layer allowing water to filter toward the basin when the water table rises and then your pump would work to remove that water collecting below the slab.

@@TwoFourSevenDIY awesome! Thanks for the reply. Greatly appreciated :)

No issues whatsoever, works like a champ

Well, I would say that overall, a French drain system would always be better than a sump pump as the French drain will keep water away from your foundation in the first place. But if you have a decent place to outlet the sump water where it will drain away from the house then just a sump is a good option as it's cheaper and much less labor intensive

@@TwoFourSevenDIY Thank you! Looking for opinions from people who have done just a sump pump cause doing the french drain is a big mess and a lot of money..

From my youtubing, 3 important considerations are roof guttering, Soil Falling away from foundations, and finally drainage - with the drain being away from the house and not directly against the wall.

Your house doesn't have to be in a flood zone for you to get water. As you say, storm water is enough for your basement to have standing water. You may be putting the horse before the cart by asking which solution works for your situation. Do you have an idea how the water is entering your house? Is it in one specific area/corner or does it come in from various parts of the foundation wall?

@@delt19 Comes all over around the walls down where the wall meets the floor

I saw that too, I steered away from doing that ... my thought process was that over time the cloth would become gunked up with sediment and water wouldn't flow as well into the sump pit.

It's been a couple years now, I honestly don't remember ... 3 maybe?

Jack hammers destroy everything in the house and crack windows. He did it correctly since the house is occupied.

@@johntorrington2672 what Jack hammer you talking about? The one used to fight godzilla? Lol. I have dewalt small hammer drill, using hammer mode I can do a manicure in a flash of time. It’s XXI century, there’s ways to pamper yourself using technological advancements

@@matbob7249 Well, if you want quick and easy with no vibration, just rent a core drill with an 18" wet bit! My hand would fall off going through a 4-6" hardened slab with those little hammer drills.

@@johntorrington2672 concept would be believable if I would not have tried that mini jack. It is by far my favorite tool and I have full dewalt collection. You drill with it on hammer drill mode first, of course, which goes like through the butter. And you chisel on hammer mode in between holes, I dropped sump pump through slab in less than 2 hours. Amazing tool but not for commercial of course

It's the power for my pole barn

Honestly I'm not really sure. Dehumidifier stays on auto in the basement so I'm not really aware of how often it's running vs not

Yup its a lid. Both kinds of basins I talked about come with lids (Usually sold separately tho)

In the video, you can see the narrow drain channels along the walls in the concrete floor. The channel to the left where the door is has holes drilled down to the gravel beneath. I found that out when I used an expandable plug to try to plug the drain and the water just came up through the holes. The basement itself definitely has some water issues. It's a 60 year old home ... basements in my area at least weren't really built to be a finished living space back then. A French drain system around the foundation will help big time and is on my list of projects to complete in probably the next couple years or so ... Ideally the best solution would be to dig around the entire exterior foundation and waterproof the outside of the foundation but that's a pretty massive project so I think I'm just going to do the French drain and call it good.

Yes, the ground water rises from under the foundation, without holes, no water would enter the basin.

It is a hammer drill ...

Both pipes are essentially against the outer wall of the basin, several more holes drilled where they face the wall, they should drain into the pit at the same rate as if they stuck directly into the basin. Even though the one edge of the basin stuck up a little, that area of the floor is a low spot so should any water end up on the floor, it still will flow to that corner and in. Yea, I know I should have had more gravel but it just seemed like an unnecessarily large hole to dig for ground water that only presents itself as a problem a couple months out of the year.

@@TwoFourSevenDIY They are called weeping tiles I would have put them in the pit .

Yes. The holes are drilled to allow water to seep into the pit. Pretty positive I mentioned it in the video.

This is the basin: www.lowes.com/pd/Jackel-High-Density-Polyethylene-Structural-Foam-Basin/1000600009 I'm not sure about your second question. Water either collects and is pumped away or it doesnt.

No, my concern was that the fabric will become clogged up with sediment over time and block flow into the basin. I can say that other than an initial .5" layer of sediment that lined the bottom of the basin immediately after installing, no additional sediment had collected since then.

So after a couple years has there been any issues with this? We have the same issue in our house that was built almost 60 years ago. I am considering doing the same.

No issues whatsoever.

The gravel under the foundation was just a bit larger than what I wanted to use. Plus between the clay and large stones that came out of the hole, I would have had to buy some to add to it anyway. Not saying it couldn't have been reused, just personal preference I guess

@@TwoFourSevenDIY thanks for your reply. Nice job. I have to put one in my basement this year and my brother's basement too. His floor looks just like yours.

Good luck!

I explained why in the video. I also explained that it was a mistake and why it shouldn't be glued.

The hole is referred to as a weep hole. It prevents the pump from developing an air lock and burning up. Be sure to angle the hole so the water sprays down and not against the wall of the pit

@@TwoFourSevenDIY thanks bro..is that all pumps or just one that you have?

All sump pumps that I'm aware of

@@TwoFourSevenDIY thanks

4" is best if you want to avoid the possibility of water not draining all the way and freezing. But the 2" I used has worked fine through all the sub zero temps so far this winter.

@@TwoFourSevenDIY What temps exactly?

So far the coldest it's seen was -5 for a couple days, kicks on several times a day, drains completely without problems

'63

I left the pipes in place they terminate just outside the basin so they would still direct water into the basin

Like a champ!

This is what I used... www.lowes.com/pd/Sakrete-0-5-cu-ft-Gray-Gravel/1000489233

It's been several years since I made this video and there is no more silt on the bottom than there was from day 1 of install. The water seeps into the pit slowly, there is no water flow strong enough to carry silt into the pit. There is also plenty of information out there saying that using drain fabric can be detrimental in the long run as it can become blocked by sediment and then preventing water flow into the pit. Jump on Google and give it some research to make your own decision on whether to use it or not ... that's how I made my decision.

It has one

I beg to differ, but that's the thing about home improvement, 100 different people will tell you it should be done 100 different ways. I did enough research and studying to determine this to be the best route.

I assume that's because I didn't want to.

So far I've had no issues.

What?

@@TwoFourSevenDIY insualtion in the rim joists

It's an unfinished basement

@@TwoFourSevenDIY yeah mainly for the floor above that’s why we do it not for the basement

Thanks for the tip. I'll have to do that next year when I replace the basement windows.

Which coupling?

It's been a while since I installed it but I'm pretty positive the installation manual required using a weep hole

Yup, it was a mistake, I pointed it out in the video.

Yea, I know that's a thing, but because of the clay content, I didn't want it to get clogged up with clay over time and stop water from being able to enter the basin effectively

@@TwoFourSevenDIY How has it been without the cloth and how big are the holes to the pastic basin itself?

Everything is fine without the cloth, water is crystal clear, very small amount of sediment on the bottom. I believe I used a 3/8 bit when I drilled the holes

@@TwoFourSevenDIY how many holes? I have 1/3 powered punmp.... Is that aworthy pump? Baracuda

I didn't count the holes, it's not an exact science, you can see in the video about how far apart I spaced them. 1/3 hp can handle 7 to 10 vertical feet of lift with one 90 connected to 3 to 25 feet of discharge pipe Depending on brand 1/3 is good for anywhere from 2000 to 4000 gallons per hour

Seems like condensing a 1.5 day project into 32 minutes isn't too big a deal to watch :)

@@TwoFourSevenDIY It was definitely worth my last 32 minutes. Great video! Great work!

Thanks man, glad you liked it!

How would you have done it?

Probably a concert saw but that’s just me

Most people don't just have a concrete saw at their disposal. I also mentioned in the video that a jack hammer would have been nice too. The hole drilling method is actually pretty common to get a clean break for those who don't have those tools but do have a hammer drill

@@TwoFourSevenDIY it worked but I’d rather shell out $100 to rent a saw for a day then spend a whole day drilling holes and it would have taken about 2 minutes to cut that out not to mention the couple hundred hits with a sledge 4 cuts two hits with a sledge and you saved half a day of time

I would have rented a small hammer for 20 to 30 dollars from Depot lot easier but what he did should work .

I did. I mentioned in the video that after I did it I realized I should not have