We have a 1950’s built house with an approximately 1,000 sq. ft. basement (25×40’ w/ a cinder wall running the length down the middle splitting the basement). We recently fixed up one side into a nice media room, I want to begin working on the other side. The unfinished side has two rooms, a bigger room and a utility room (approx. 12 x 12’).

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Before finishing off the second half of the basement, I’d like to correct what I think is a problem with the floor and water drainage. I worry about water from two places – water from appliances (washing machine, water heater) and water that enters the house from heavy rains. Both these issues are in the smaller utility room – the appliances are there and we have a basement door to the outside in that room. I’m doing what I can for the appliances, such as stainless steel braided hoses w/ auto shut off. I’ve also installed a water detector that sounds an alarm if water is on the floor.

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By far my biggest problem is from heavy rains. When we get a soaker (such as over the last several days), water flows down the steps where it drains through a 4-5†drain. Works fine, except when the drain gets clogged by leaves. So we keep it clean, but that doesn’t always do the trick. For example when a passing hurricane came through last year, the rain was so heavy that it picked up leaves and other debris on the lawn & sent them down the stairs, plugging the drain. Luckily I was home & happened to go into the basement & found an inch of water spreading through half of the basement. My wet/dry vac did the trick, but I worry about what would happen if I wasn’t home, especially since I’ve fixed up the basement.

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The previous owner of the house put in a sump pump in the utility room in a corner. There is no other drain in the room. When water comes through the door, it covers about half the floor and spreads quickly to the adjoining room (currently unfinished) and then to the finished room. The weird thing is the floor is higher in the utility room where the sump pump hole is. So even if we get flooded, it would have to be quite deep in order for the water to drain in the sump pump hole. In the meantime, probably three quarters of my basement would be flooded.

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So I’d like to do a few things, including putting a drain in front of the basement door that flows to the sump pump. But it seems to be a basic thing to do would be to get some concrete work done so the water flows directly to the sump pump in case of problems from the outside or inside (broken hose, etc.).

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So my short question (after a long-winded explanation) – would having concrete work done to change the slope of the floor be my best bet? Or would some other approach be recommended?

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Thanks,

Bob<!—-> <!—->