We've been living with a swampy mess in our backyard from our sump pump discharge for years and I've had enough! Our sump pump discharges outside of our home into our backyard about two/three feet from our foundation. We've tried redirecting the water with hoses, but end up with the same swampy mess wherever the hose ends.
We would like to bury the hose to eliminate the standing water, but I don't know where to start. I've gone to Home Depot to buy a drainage hose with slats cut into it for better drainage. That's as far as we've gone.
Can anyone point me in the right direction? How far away from our home do we need to direct the water? How far down do we need to dig the trench? Do we need to put gravel in the trench before laying the hose? Our town does not allow us to direct the water into the sewer. If we bury the hose, does it need to have an outlet at the end or will the water absorb into the ground? I'm worried about burying the hose and then having a sink hole in my backyard from the water underground.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions or solutions!
Ok , surely someone out there can help this person?
Any reason why you can't discharge to the street ?.
The reason I say this is that getting the water completely OFF the property is the one sure way I know of where you won't have ground water issues (returning back to the sump).
If you use perforated pipe, you may not have the water up on the surface, but the constant moisture below may damage your grass roots, etc.
If you have a storm sewer in front of your house, that may be the way to go.
Other than that.....regarding burying the pipe.....since I go to the street, I only buried the pipe a few inches deep (6 max). I'll never have a freezing problem since my pipe's pitch is pretty good, and any water will always exit the pipe before it freezes.
I did not use perforated pipe.....just straight PVC.
Hope that helps.
Thanks for the info. It is illegal to route our sump pumps to the city sewer. We don't have any type of ditch in front of our house either. I was able to contact a contractor and was told to bury the perforated pipe 36 down and 150 feet away from the house. Sounds like a lot of work, but it's worth not having a swamp in my yard.
Are you sure they meant it was illegal to use the storm sewer vs. sanitary sewer line?
You can use perforated pipe to distribute the discharge over a larger area. The length of perforated pipe would depend on the type of soil - long for clay, shorter for sand.
You should use non-perforated to carry the water away from the house and switch to perforated when you get to where you want it to drain.
Dick
I too have the swamp problem! Only its my front yard, same rules as other poster. I also hate the two ugly white gutter pipes I've loosely attached to a stumpy little two foot PCV pipe sticking out of the house. The newspaper delivery person and the mailman cut across my lawn and keep crushing those pipes too! So I was looking here for a simple inexpensive more attractive solution to drain away from my house.
I am new to homeownership, physically fit but completely clueless to home maintenance and repairs. Lot to learn, anyone with a comment on my drainage issue?
Originally Posted by cj7727
Thanks for the info. It is illegal to route our sump pumps to the city sewer. We don't have any type of ditch in front of our house either. I was able to contact a contractor and was told to bury the perforated pipe 36 down and 150 feet away from the house. Sounds like a lot of work, but it's worth not having a swamp in my yard.
Carmel Corn is right. Make sure they are not confusing sanitary sewer with storm sewer. Where I live, everyone routes their sumps out to the street, and let it go down the storm sewer. It is basically treated the same as rain.
Dumping into a sanitary sewer is illegal because of the added water volume going into the sewage treatment facility.
Before you dig 150 feet worth of 36 inch trench, think about what will happen at the end of the run.......if there is any chance of that water coming to the surface and running into a neighbor's property, that would also be a problem.
Tags: need, burying, sump, pump, discharge, drain, hose, pipe, perforated pipe, away from, away from house, from house, storm sewer, sanitary sewer
