French Drain Vs Sump Pump

If you do a sump pump all you need to have done is hammer out a couple holes in your concrete floor and drill a couple 5 gal buckets full of 3 8 holes like swiss cheese install them in the holes flush fill.

French drain vs sump pump. A perforated drain pipe is installed. These drain lines lay in the ground with a minor slope to use gravity to your advantage and drain water away from the basement. Unlike basement sump pump french drains offer passive draining instead of an on and off pump. French drain collects subsurface water it flows to sump pump which lifts it p and sends it out to discharge.

However unlike the french drain the trench drain is a surface drainage structure. Basements in homes constructed before the 1980s generally don t have underground pipes to collect water. Drain pipe is placed underground it should be covered with 2 in. This french drain controls the water delivers it to the sump pump s and discharges it out of the house.

Of soil and attempts should be made to have ample slope to drain the pipe. For these reasons alone a french drain can require a lot of effort with minimal effectiveness. They may still have a sump but the water collection system is different. There s nothing french about it it s named after the man who invented it henry french.

There s a lot of confusion between french drains and trench drains because they sound so similar and because the french drain does incorporate a trench. If these conditions are not met it would be better to allow the water to drain across the surface. It s a necessary part of an interior french drain system. A trench is dug along the inside foundation of the home.

This system comes with a lifetime guarantee that your basement floor will not have any. The cost of a new sump pump plus the labor to install it ranges from 650 to 1800 most homeowners spend about 1200. Usually interior systems drain to a sump pump but in rare cases they can be run to daylight. The entire system of pipes sump and pump is called a french drain.

It is usually dug 2 to 4 inches deep. Sump pump disadvantages vs french drains. I also recommend a battery backup to keep the system working should the power fail. Installing a french drain may require an inspection and permit to ensure your home s drainage fix doesn t become your neighbor s problem.

To remove water from the basement you can either install a french drain or a sump pump. Then i would install a couple of sump pumps not a french drain. Some super systems feature sealed lids with built in floor drains alarm systems and a host of other features. Catch basin collect surface water a great comb.

Sump pumps have come a long way.