Considering replacing my sump pit liner sometime this summer. As the pictures show the existing liner is deteriorated. Bulging out and interfering with the pump float. How do I go about this? If I just tear out the old liner all the crushed stone (about 4” from the surface) will fall into the bottom of the hole. Also how do I go about cutting the new liner to accommodate the drain tiles?

 

I cannot see any details from the "cute" tiny photos. I can usually get easy enlargeable photos using what I use on all other sites. I refuse to just add more garbage programs and systems and potential spam email.

If you could just post the photos in a different manner, I could easily give some help since I have installed and replaced a few sumps.

I don't know if it is a big evil plot of the site for commercial purposes or just the way you chose to post. If my post is deleted or altered, I will just drop the DoItYourself site for going to in the future.

Dick

 

Cmon Dick....you've been here for a while. Are you telling me you haven't seen full size photos ?
The board has a per picture limit of 50k. Yes... it can be a little small but most sites don't host any pictures so that's a major plus for the DIY site in my eyes.

It looks like Norm just uploaded small pictures. No problem.

Norm.... you can use larger pictures and the board will resize them automatically or go to a site like photobucket where they will allow you to put pictures for free. There.... you could load BIG pictures and post the link here.

 

I think you are going to have to start over from the beginning. Excavate around the outside of the old pit liner, maneuver the old liner out, reshape the pit by excavating some more, put in the new liner, and backfill.

Use a saber saw or reciprocating saw to cut the holes in the new liner for the perimeter drain pipe ends. The reason for getting a reasonably tight fit around the drain pipe ends is to minimize dirt coming in.

Trying to keep the old liner and shoring it up with bracing from the inside is not practical because it detracts from the volume of the pit interior which in turn shortens the sump pump run cycle.

I think that sump pump performance would be improved if you construct a larger pit (using brick since they don't make plastic liners big enough). I suggest about 3 cubic feet or about 20 gallons of space below the perimeter drain pipes.

 

I use use IMGUR, but when I posted these I used small because the original size was way too big on the preview. Then I didn't have a chance to preview before I was called away. You say that a large pic will automatically reduce them down?

Dick, I use an add on in my browser that allows me to expand, reduce or rotate a photo. Best add on I ever used.

Lets try again. I'll leave these at full size.

 

Dick, try Irfanview, free no spam, easy to use. This took me about 30 seconds.

 

Norm -

Thanx for quality photos that made it easy to see the situation. After looking at the photos, it is obvious the the existing "sump" was not much more than cheap large garbage can that could not stand up to the loads and conditions. Apparently there may be some coarse rock that determined where the liner would fail. It almost looks like the pit the prevented from rising by the slab being poured over the upper lip.

To replace the pit, you need to have a new sturdy one available and a pump to bail out the water that will come in and prevent a good installation. I had to put interior drain tile in my basement and picked what was apparent the wettest soil area and close to a discharge point. I installed the sump first, but had to run the pump for a few days to lower the water level to be able to put in the rest of the interior drain tile I knock a hole in the floor a foot or so larger than the sump, punched a few hole to prevent it from floating.

Then, I made sure it was below the bottom of the floor slab and braced it down, while the pump was running for a couple of days. I filled the gap between the sump pit with a mixture of coarse concrete sand and 3/4 rock. Then I poured the 4" slab over the edges of the pit and left the braces pushing down in place for a few weeks. I was lucky the drain tile was not located, so I could cut holes and lay my level interior drains around the basement. After that is was just a matter sawing and knocking out sections of the slab around the basement, digging out the wet muck and replacing some sand and rock mixture under the pvc drain tile and then covering pvc with the same sand and rock and pouring a bunch of Sakrete.

One thing about a drain tile system is that it usually does not see the water immediately when it rain since it takes time (maybe a day) for it to run off, soak into the soil and then find its way into the drain tile. My pump would run off and on for a week or so after a big storm, but collected all the water that eventually got to the pvc.

I hope this give you some background on one installation.

PJ and ray - I have several good photo programs that I use for photo restoration and editing/cropping/color correcting, but some image types are not worth adding more programs and staying is not worth the trouble, even though I have the horsepower and memory capacity.

Dick

 

WOW! Both Dick and Allan say I need to do some exstensive work. I was hoping for a simpler solution. I thought the old liner could be ripped out and a new one slipped in without any concrete work. I'll need to re-think my plan of attack.

Yes, I would like to have a much bigger pit and maybe that will be the way to go. At least in mid-summer when it's dry I have little or no ground water coming in.