Finally got the sump pump installed. Hardest part was digging the hole which was 22" of mostly rock with a little clay mixed in. No more leaky basement!
Original post:
One thing to check for your health and family: Radon
Since you’ve now got a pit, you also have the prime location for a mitigation system. At a minimum, you can get a Radon test kit at the hardware store (I know Menards carries these) for about $20 that has a sticky card that you mail away for analysis after a set time.
Even better you can get reliable digital meters now to get real time info, and you can test all the rooms in your house.
Municipalities by me will loan out radon testers. Obviously varies by location, but worth checking with the town.
While thats true, a digital meter is at about 5x the cost of a one-time disposable test. I didn’t want to scare him off (or delay the test) because of cost. If the disposable test shows a positive reading for radon, I’d recommend skipping the digital meter anyway and hiring a company that does professional readings as well as installation of mitigation systems.
Thats a great suggestion. Thanks!
Since you’ve got an open outlet you should consider putting a dehumidifier next to it with a drain that empties into the sump.
Seconding the dehumidifier suggestion. One rated for basement/crawlspace, not the consumer grade crap at the big box stores.
That must have been a royal pain in the ass digging in a confined space like that. Good job.
The space wasn’t as bad as you’d think. Breaking up rocks a few inches at a time with a rotary hammer and scooping it out with a post hole digger was the “fun” part.
Awesome effort!
That’s a half-life 2 corner with a medkit in a box behind that pipe
Thats a big slope
For sure. But, since it hasn’t moved in 50 years, I’m gonna let it be.
Edit: …at least for now.
They are going to want to take steps to secure all that dirt, sometime around … yesterday?
Amazing! The flex coupling is smart af, it’s so much easier when you want to take the pump out.
I’ve been slowly optimizing my set up. My next step is to create an interconnect to allow both pumps to discharge to one line (currently three pumps, two lines) so that I have redundancy should one of the lines freeze or clog. I have issues with iron ochre, so clogging is an issue for me. Hopefully freezing isn’t but who knows lol.
That’s actually the check valve. The store had those and more permanent PVC ones. I saw the rubber one and thought I would be really glad I went with that one whenever the pump has to be replaced.
Oh! Yeah, it will be handy for sure. My floats are finicky so I get a lot of air entrainment. Having the check below the water line lets me add a tiny hole for air to escape and correct that.
Gratz! No one wants a wet basement.
