Sinking the Sump Pump

Sometimes I wish I could interview previous homeowners to ask them what they were thinking.

When I purchased this foreclosure, the house came with a musty smell...like water or mold was sitting somewhere.  Well, it only took one peek into the crawlspace to figure out why.  The area was very, very damp.  It didn't have standing water, per se, but you could tell it was wet and muddy.

So I decided to check out the sump pump.  And that left me with unanswered questions.

Ok, so picture this:  The house DID have a working sump pump.  The problem was two-fold.  First, the sump pump pit was nowhere close to deep enough.  Recommendations are 36 inches deep.  This was maybe 6 inches.  Second, the sump pump itself wasn't actually IN the pit!  It had been tied to a floorboard.  What is more, the pump float would extend ABOVE the sump pump pit.  I kid you not, the ENTIRE crawlspace would have to flood (and was obvious that it had) before the sump pump would even kick on.

Sigh.  And this sounded like a good idea how???

The sump pump as I found it.  Barely below the ground held up by a rope tied to a floorboard!

My work was cut out for me.  Not only did I have to dig a new sump pump hole, but I needed to install a new sump pump pit.  My problem was that the ones I purchased wouldn't fit through the tiny crawlspace entry hole!!!  We would have to cut one down the sides, fold it half, and then make it work!  After much going back and forth, I decided to just stay with the current smaller pit.  But I did take several large river rock stones and place them both on the bottom of the pit and around the outside for easier flowing of water.  I stole these from my outside landscaping project!

By far the hardest part of the entire job was the digging.  You have to understand that the ground was saturated with water.  It's pure mud.  And very, very wet mud.  And every inch that I dug would just allow water to pool into the new hole.  I had to dig by hand through water!!!  And the water was relentless!  The more I dug, the more water filled the hole!

Digging out the original pit.  The more I dug, the more water rushed in!

This mud was tough to get out!  It was so heavy and sludgy.

Finally getting the new unit ready to pump.  Working below water in the blind!

I elected to install a backflow protector valve and electronic water sensors.  As you can see, the pump is always in the on position with the float tied up.  But electronic sensors sense when the water is full and needs to pump.

The backflow protector valve.  One water is pumped out, it's not coming back!

This was a much-needed project.  As you can tell, this house has basically been sitting on top of a lake for who knows how long, creating a perfect breeding ground for mold and mildew!

In the pictures, you can see the water line on the styrofoam where the entire crawlspace had been flooded before the pump kicked on.  That's not good.

This was one of the more difficult projects to accomplish quite simply due to the large amounts of water that kept rushing in.  Frankly, I probably didn't dig as deep as I should have.  I was growing weary of the project, and it was becoming almost too difficult to work in the water.  The pump could have benefitted from being another foot or so deeper...but the work I did do made quite a bit of difference.

It wasn't one of the more fun projects...and certainly won't be seen to be appreciated.  But it's one of the most important.  I'm glad that one's behind me...