If you have been having accumulated water in your basement or have just moved in to a newly developed house, I have two words for you; ‘sump pump’. If you have experienced a flooded basement and damaging of your floors and furniture you probably know how handy a they can be.
What is a sump pump?
For those who may not know what a sump pump is, this is a pump that is used to remove water that has accumulated in a specific spot, for instance your basement. If flooding happens quite regularly in your basement it is advisable to own one which in this case will sack all the water and redirect it to a place of your choice that is not problematic.
We all know that flooded basements can be a total nightmare, if the water rises to floor level it could greatly damage your floor as well as your furniture. Rotten floors and dump furniture can easily be prevented by installing a sump pump.
What does it do and how does it work?
As I have mentioned above they are mostly used to drain out water from mostly basements. This is normally a last resort since they cannot be used to prevent the water; instead they are used to drain it. In more detail sump pumps are installed at the lowest part of your basement. They then pump out water from the lowest part of your basement before the water reaches the floor level. As the ground water level rises it is directed to the sump hole. When the water reaches critical level it starts to pump it out through a pipe that leads to an area that is less problematic and away from your foundation.
Why do I need one?
As you may or may not know most home owners are likely to have to deal with a flooded basement at some point. Especially in new homes, since the Federal clean water act no longer allows in many municipalities to drain rain water collected by gutters into sewer systems. This water therefore has a great likely hood of ending up in your basement. If that’s not convincing enough according to the American society of homes inspectors more than 60% of American homes suffer from below ground wetness.