How can I control water in my basement without a sump pump?

Question

I dug the floor of my cellar down to allow more headroom. There was a thin coat of concrete, then clay. We removed the clay in the area and laid flagstones.

Within a week water was rising through the flagstones. We took up the flagstones and put in in a sump pump with water piping all the way round. We graveled it and the boarded over it it has worked well for over 5 years.

I now want to backfill it and take the pump away. How can I do so, and if I replace the concrete floor where would the water go?

Answer 1

Permanent sump pumps are a common feature of homes in the U.S. Perforated piping, or "drain tile" (a reference to archaic techniques) remains in place below the concrete slab, usually embedded in washed rock. The sump pail is located in a utility room and the pump runs as needed, often year-round.

You'll need to build such a system and leave it in place, or you'll need to divert the water outside the home, perhaps using a "French drain" (gravity-driven) piping system.

Answer 2

If you are located on a hill, you dig a trench below basement level, sloping at least 1/8" per foot downhill, on the downhill side until it reaches daylight (comes out on the surface, or in a drainage ditch), install a pipe, and connect it to your sump.

Otherwise, you don't remove the pump unless you want an in-basement swimming pool.