My basement went from a damp mess to bone dry in two weeks with a simple french drain

I've been fighting water in my crawl space for years, but this spring it got bad. After a heavy rain in April, I had a full inch of standing water down there. I was about to call a pro who quoted me $5,000, but my dad said to try a french drain first. I spent a weekend digging a trench along the wet wall, about 18 inches deep, filled it with gravel and a perforated pipe, and sloped it to a sump pump I installed in a pit. I ran the pump's outlet hose 30 feet out into the yard. The next big storm came, and the pump kicked on for about an hour total. The floor was just damp, not flooded. Two weeks later, it's completely dry and smells normal for the first time ever. Has anyone else done this kind of fix and had it hold up long term? I'm worried about the pump failing.

3 comments

3 Comments

sandra_moore3014d agoMost Upvoted

That sump pump is key, but you should have a backup. I've heard of people using a battery backup or even a water powered one so it still runs if the power goes out during a storm.

adam41414d ago

It's like we never plan for the backup to fail too...

fionamurphy14d ago

Actually, water powered backups need really strong city water pressure to work right. If your pressure is low during a storm, it might not do much. A battery backup is the more reliable choice for most homes.