Egress window well drain to interior drain tile
#1
05-12-17, 10:10 PM
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Egress window well drain to interior drain tile
Hello,
I've successfully now cut my concrete wall and installed a 5' x 5' slider window, but now need to connect the drainage before filling it n with gravel. I currently have the hole dug down to the footing, and my home uses an interior drain tile system. The city inspector says what they see most often is to undermine the footing to expose the rock under the basement floor slab and stub the drain tile at least a foot into the rock. This way water is directed to the existing sump bucket.
I've purchased a 4" perforated drain pipe with sock, and have about 1.5 tons of 1" clean rock being delivered in just a few days.
The soil down there feels very much like clay, and currently very wet after some torrential storms. I have a couple of fans running at it 24/7 trying to help air it out. The idea of digging down and under the footing 2-3 feet to get it into the pre-existing rock sounds like quite a chore. Is it really as simple as just digging that out, shoving the pipe with the sock tied off at the end, and filling it up with the clean rock? Also, where exactly should I place filter fabric - against the soil before I lay down the soil, and then behind and up alongside the well?
Just want to make sure this thing drains right. It would horrify me to see this giant well fill up with water and have to dig it all back out again because it isn't working. Thanks!
I've successfully now cut my concrete wall and installed a 5' x 5' slider window, but now need to connect the drainage before filling it n with gravel. I currently have the hole dug down to the footing, and my home uses an interior drain tile system. The city inspector says what they see most often is to undermine the footing to expose the rock under the basement floor slab and stub the drain tile at least a foot into the rock. This way water is directed to the existing sump bucket.
I've purchased a 4" perforated drain pipe with sock, and have about 1.5 tons of 1" clean rock being delivered in just a few days.
The soil down there feels very much like clay, and currently very wet after some torrential storms. I have a couple of fans running at it 24/7 trying to help air it out. The idea of digging down and under the footing 2-3 feet to get it into the pre-existing rock sounds like quite a chore. Is it really as simple as just digging that out, shoving the pipe with the sock tied off at the end, and filling it up with the clean rock? Also, where exactly should I place filter fabric - against the soil before I lay down the soil, and then behind and up alongside the well?
Just want to make sure this thing drains right. It would horrify me to see this giant well fill up with water and have to dig it all back out again because it isn't working. Thanks!
#2
05-13-17, 02:56 AM
Welcome to the forums! Fill out your profile. We don't know where you are located and it is important for us to know that so we can direct good information based on that location.
You say the inspector suggested running a torrential rain into your basement and allowing the water to enter your house to be handled by a sump pump? Please tell me I am wrong. The window well should be drained away from the foundation either to a natural drainage slope or into a dry well so it can be dispersed safely.
As I said, where you are located may change things, and others will chime in here on your solution once we know.
You say the inspector suggested running a torrential rain into your basement and allowing the water to enter your house to be handled by a sump pump? Please tell me I am wrong. The window well should be drained away from the foundation either to a natural drainage slope or into a dry well so it can be dispersed safely.
As I said, where you are located may change things, and others will chime in here on your solution once we know.
#3
05-13-17, 06:07 AM
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Thanks Chandler, I'm from the St. Louis, MO region. We had some unusually heavy rainfalls this past week, but that's over for now. We also live very high up and at zero risk for flooding on my property. There is a slope in my backyard, but it is a gentle one and if I were to dig a trench and run a pipe down, it wouldn't reach daylight before my property ends. A separate well has been strongly discouraged to me by several contractors because those tend to freeze up in the wintertime.
The sewer pit in my basement is just on the other side of the wall and a few feet over. The pump in that well rarely needs to turn on and is typically dry. I'd really like to tie into that if possible. My basement walls are 8" poured concrete. The top of the footing is about even with the basement floor. If I were to stub the outside pipe a foot into the gravel as the city inspector is suggesting, wouldn't it dump the water in an area that the existing interior drain tile would be able to pick up and dump into the pit where it can be pumped outside through the discharge pipe?
The sewer pit in my basement is just on the other side of the wall and a few feet over. The pump in that well rarely needs to turn on and is typically dry. I'd really like to tie into that if possible. My basement walls are 8" poured concrete. The top of the footing is about even with the basement floor. If I were to stub the outside pipe a foot into the gravel as the city inspector is suggesting, wouldn't it dump the water in an area that the existing interior drain tile would be able to pick up and dump into the pit where it can be pumped outside through the discharge pipe?
Last edited by toolbox978; 05-13-17 at 06:41 AM.
#4
05-14-17, 07:27 AM
A dry well, gravel filled or not, against the foundation is not a good idea. (Also a bad idea is a gravel or mulch filled depression around the perimeter of the house to support plantings or shrubs.) You do not want a body of water harbored against the foundation and that could find a crack above floor level and seep into the house at its leisure.
If the window well is in a place where the surrounding ground is sloped so no rain water gets in other than that falling into the window well straight from the sky, then you can get away with piping it down and through the footing or foundation wall to the inside drain pipes. Water must not pool up around the window well and gutter water from the roof must not go in.
Note: An egress that is as large as a basement bulkhead must be covered with an awning or bulkhead so most of the direct rainwater is also diverted away.
Undermining the foundation footing with a 5 inch transverse channel to pass a drain pipe through will not compromise the house structure provided that the pipe is installed quickly and backfilled and tamped before more soil under the footing can collapse into the channel..
If the window well is in a place where the surrounding ground is sloped so no rain water gets in other than that falling into the window well straight from the sky, then you can get away with piping it down and through the footing or foundation wall to the inside drain pipes. Water must not pool up around the window well and gutter water from the roof must not go in.
Note: An egress that is as large as a basement bulkhead must be covered with an awning or bulkhead so most of the direct rainwater is also diverted away.
Undermining the foundation footing with a 5 inch transverse channel to pass a drain pipe through will not compromise the house structure provided that the pipe is installed quickly and backfilled and tamped before more soil under the footing can collapse into the channel..
Last edited by AllanJ; 05-14-17 at 07:44 AM.
#5
05-15-17, 12:30 PM
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Well, I've dug underneath the footing towards the basement floor over 30", I can feel that I've reached the other side of the footing. I'm as far as my arm can reach, and not too sure how I can dig any farther, so I reached in with a camera and took some pics.
The first one here is a picture taken in the hole on the inner side of the footing. You can see a smooth object with a pattern on it, and some moisture and gravel nearby.
The second is a picture of the pipe coming into the sewer pit in the basement, which is wrapped in a sock that seems to match the same pattern in the first picture.
So I think I've found it! Next step is to line the hole with a sediment filter, drop in my socked drainage pipe next to the inner drain tile, and fill it up with 1" clean rock.
If anyone has any other suggestions of things I can do before finishing up this project to make sure I don't have any problems please let me know.
The first one here is a picture taken in the hole on the inner side of the footing. You can see a smooth object with a pattern on it, and some moisture and gravel nearby.
The second is a picture of the pipe coming into the sewer pit in the basement, which is wrapped in a sock that seems to match the same pattern in the first picture.
So I think I've found it! Next step is to line the hole with a sediment filter, drop in my socked drainage pipe next to the inner drain tile, and fill it up with 1" clean rock.
If anyone has any other suggestions of things I can do before finishing up this project to make sure I don't have any problems please let me know.
#6
05-11-18, 04:45 PM
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