Quicksand Fans

I have new gutters, and the new gutters have leaf-guards. With the heavy rains we're getting, much of the water is ignoring the gutters. Problem with that is it's draining into a flower garden Some idiot previous owner put a cement ridge around the garden that is *just high enough* to cause water to flood back into the basement through the air vents if too much water gets into the flower garden. (This is our first major rain with the new gutters, so I didn't know this was going to happen)

I think I'm going to take a hammer out and solve this problem. Bah. If Home Depot was open, I could just set up a quick siphon, but it's not.

I'd say you have a malpractice case against the gutter installer, which you will probably undermine by attempting to fix it yourself. Call them back first. THEN mitigate damages if they balk.

YerK wrote:I have new gutters, and the new gutters have leaf-guards. With the heavy rains we're getting, much of the water is ignoring the gutters. Problem with that is it's draining into a flower garden Some idiot previous owner put a cement ridge around the garden that is *just high enough* to cause water to flood back into the basement through the air vents if too much water gets into the flower garden. (This is our first major rain with the new gutters, so I didn't know this was going to happen)

I think I'm going to take a hammer out and solve this problem. Bah. If Home Depot was open, I could just set up a quick siphon, but it's not.

I just left voicemail. (I have things set up downstairs to deal with the water for now, so we'll see...)

Either you're in a monsoon or your leaf guards were improperly installed (installer didn't leave a big enough gap for the water to flow into). Have fun arguing with them.
Could be worse, at least yours isn't leaking from the bottom up. Had to spent 4K last summer putting an interior drain in mine. Oh the joys of home ownership....

Mynock wrote:Either you're in a monsoon or your leaf guards were improperly installed (installer didn't leave a big enough gap for the water to flow into). Have fun arguing with them.
Could be worse, at least yours isn't leaking from the bottom up. Had to spent 4K last summer putting an interior drain in mine. Oh the joys of home ownership....

Um. It leaks from the top to begin with, then, if there is enough rain, it starts seeping in along the bottom of the wall and up out of the hole I broke in the floor to install the pump.

Just now, there is water flowing in enough that I can't turn the pump off without the water pooling up and flowing across the floor. With the little pump going, it travels through a regular water hose into the downstairs shower, where it trickles into the drain and can be heard like our own little babbling brook downstairs.

It stopped raining yesterday, and wasn't forecast to do anything else for a while, but now it's snowing. No telling what life will be like in the morning.

Damn, I thought it was just the gutters leaking that was channeling it inside. You have the same problem I did. Sorry to hear that man. If you go to have it fixed (an interior drain system is pretty much your only option) the only suggestion I can give you is to shop around ALOT. You wont' believe the differences in price you'll get. One of the more popular franchises called "Bee Dry" wanted 16K dollars I laughed the guy right out the door and got it done from a local guy for 4K and the system has worked for 8 months so far.

Thank Goodness I bought a single level slab Ranch...no basement to flood. However, the city drainage right of way has filled up over the years in places that cause some of the yards to retain lots more water than they should. One fool deliberately re-contoured his yard to block water from entering the catch basin this right of way is supposed to drain into. The city wont make him fix it, and a few of us have swamps as back yards as a result. I'm in Cincinnati and we've had over 60 inches of rain this year... Every drop that falls is a new record. I agree with you about the "joys" of home ownership!

Wayne

Slab will definitely solve the problem, but the cool thing is now that the basement's dry I'm going to put in another bedroom and a living room down there. Finishing it off will cost me maybe another 5K in materials and will add double that to the value when I get around to flipping the place.