Hi guys,
We got hammered in my neighborhood (fairview park, cleveland, ohio)
with a torrential downpour tonight. About eight houses on my street got flooded, some with raw sewage coming back into the basements. Only through the grace of God were we spared. The house to the left of me, and the house to the right of me were hit hard.
Two questions…
How did we avoid it?
Should I get a backflow valve put in asap.
There has been flooding on the street for the past three years, the city is putting the onus on the homeowners saying everyone must disconnect their downspouts to “reduce the possibility of flooding”.
What do you guys think??
Thanks, Gary
Replies
I think I'd move. Having water run in your basement windows is a slight improvement over having it back up out of the sewer, but it's not a solution.
No flood water in my basement in 13 years, and no sign of any in the 26 years before I bought it. (I have had the sewer back up, but that's because I neglected reaming out the tree roots.) If the basement ever does flood, it'll be the least of my worries, because it'll mean Kansas City is under 5000 feet of water.
Should I get a backflow valve put in asap.
Yep.
There has been flooding on the street for the past three years, the city is putting the onus on the homeowners saying everyone must disconnect their downspouts to "reduce the possibility of flooding".
They are right. Plus, connecting your downspouts to the sewers increases the city's waste water treatment costs so you get to pay more taxes, too!
Water volumes build up fast on a roof. On a 30' x 40' house, you'll get 840 gallons coming off of the roof per 1" of rain. That is a lot of water to add to the sewers.
I did some quick research and found water usage figures per person estimated at 70 gal to 139 gal per person.
Cleveland has an annual rainfall of 35", so on a 30' x 40' house, you're bringing 29400 gallons of water off the roof per year.
At 139 gal person daily, you're using 50735 gallons per year (almost all of it ending up in the sewer); at 70 gal/person, it's 25550 gal per year.
For a family of four in that 30x40 house, at 70 gal per person, running the downspoutts to the sewer is increasing the sewer input by about 25%; about 12% for the 139 figure.
Those seem like significant figures to me.
I couldn't find a per gallon cost of treatment, but did find these aggregate sewage treatment for cleveland: Cleveland Division of Water, OH, Fiscal Year 95: $96,719,000
Thank you Bob for your advice. I have spoken to a plumber who is familiar with the installation of these. The only thing holding me up now is that there is old tile on the floor containg asbestos. I have to get the tile and mastic removed before he can safely work down there.
Do you have any idea though as to why we didn't get flooded and the neighbors did?
Gary
I'm guessing the house is pre-60s since it has asbestos tiles. Maybe you didn't flood because your drains are clogged enough to slow the flow in in, but lets enough out so the drains haven't backed up on you yet ((That's basically a SWAG - "stupid, wild azzed guess" {G})
Bob,
Good swag. The house was built in 1940-41. Great old house, just needs certain things brought into modern times. Any other advice? I like to hear you opinions and knowledge.
Gary
Thanks for the kind words.
Assuming things are pretty similar way out east where you are {G}, you have a pretty well built house.
2 things to look for: settlement under/around the cellar stairs (framing tends to be a bit light there in that age house) and in many of them The wood post under the cellar stair landing (common - I'm guessing the stairs go down 1 side of the house and have a landing for the driveway side door) often goes into/through the cellar slab and is prone to termites.
Oh, yeah. Probably have a central return on the heating system and there is no longer a gap below the doors now because of the carpeting. You need a gap (typically 3/4" - 1") for proper air movement.
Also, get all of that craap out from the crawl space under the front porch (Going on averages here {G})
Wouldn't hurt to make sure the elec panel ground goes to the water main itself, and isn't connected to the closest pipe with some plastic replacement pipe braking the ground continuity.
Bob,
Will check the stairs to the cellar. I had the hot water heater replaced when we moved in. We also had the whole electrical panel redone. We had three fuse panels converted over to a 100 amp, 30 breaker siemens box. I will have the furnace replaced before winter hits.
Every square inch of the carpet has been torn out of the house. We had all the floors refinished on the first floor. The second floor has hardwood, and we will live with that for awhile.
We just fininshed having the kitchen remodeled. It was a total gut job, and it came out beautifully. (If anyone wants to know the name of the contractor, let me know).
Before I can get the backflow valve installed, I have to get some of the old floor tile removed by an abatement contractor. You were right, about the tile..the WHOLE basement floor is covered with the stuff. I'll probably re-tile over the laundry area once that valve is put in.
Thanks for the advice, Bob. Anything else?
Gary