Holy Hole! Basement Storm Water Ground Filtration System

I normally work from home, but today I had to go to Detroit. I was nervous about leaving with all of the work being done. I am a control freak and I did not like the idea of being gone while Perimeter was ripping up the yard.
As you can see from the “Garden” tab and previous posts, I love gardening and flowers. I didn’t want them “moving” anything and accidently killing it and ruining all of my hard work.

I have mixed feelings about the result…..

Craig the plumber showed up this morning to go over his plan for the day. I am so glad I was able to meet with him. He knows something about flowers, and so he understood that I didn’t want the yard crew to touch anything. He called up Steve from Perimeter to talk to him about the path of of the sump pump to the in-ground storm water filtration system AKA giant hole. Craig made sure that my flowers would not be touched.

Needless to say I was still a little shocked when I got home at 6:30pm tonight and saw the Bobcat parked in the front lawn and the tread tracks through the yard and the lean. UGGHHHHH. Now, after thinking about it I understand this is part of the work getting done and that Perimeter will re-seed the grass once it’s done. Even though I think we will just re-sod the area. I also didn’t expect the huge trench from the house to the hole and the fence being partially removed.

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I will say, everything was done very meticulously and with as little disturbance as possible, and not a flower was touched! So, thank you Craig for taking the time to make sure things went as well as possible while I was at work.

Craig layed the new piping in the basement today. The piping he used is the corrugated black flexible pipe that allows ground water to penetrate in addition to the storm water as it flows to the sump pump. The sump pump was replaced with a new pump that is up to the new code. As a complete surprise a BONUS battey back-up system was installed. I say bonus because this was quoted to us at ~$900. We were going to wait until B-Dry completed their installation to add the back-up battery. Craig was planning to install it until I explained that we did not agree to have it done by Perimeter (I wrote on the contract “do not do these extra items….”). He made a call and for whatever reason they threw it in as part of the deal.  SO, I have NO problem laying some sod (~$100) in return for untouched flowers and  a ~$900 battery back-up system installation.

there are my gold shoes!

The battery back-up system is designed to:
Keep the sump pump pumping water out of the basement in the event of loss of power.

Our neighbors have lived in their home for 27 years. They also have a B-dry system with a sump-pump to keep their basement dry and mold free. Several years ago during a heavy storm the power went out, and as it continued to rain cats and dogs their basement flooded. Since the power was out the sump pump was unable to kick in and pump excess water out of the basement and into the yard. Several inches of standing water covered their floor. Standing water in a basement is an utter disaster for whomever it happens to. Thank goodness we now have the battery back-up. During the storms over the 4th of July weekend, my parents lost power for 5 days. They are only located 45 minutes away. I can’t imagine if that happened here.

This is a link from a fellow blogger who experienced a horrible sump pump failure The Haskins Family.

The system we are having installed retails for $250-$450 (depending who is selling it). It is a Zoeller Back-Up Sump Pump System. Here is the information from the website:

12 Volt DC backup sump pump systems

 

• Application- for clear water, emergency backup usage when power is off or the primary pump(s) fail
• Extra protection when the primary AC pump fails due to power outages in storms, brownouts, wiring or electrical problems, when the primary pump fails due to damage, mechanical malfunction or obstructions in the pit, or when the primary pump fails to keep up with excessive water due to rain or overloading
• No other system offers the reliability and protection provided by the Basement Sentry® Series.
• Model 510 provides high capacity protection and recovery capabilities for dewatering in critical installations including residential locations, commercial locations, basement storage facilities, communication vaults or computer vaults (see performance data)
• Zoeller’s time tested design experience gives you the needed performance and reliability

Pumps:

• 12 volt, highly efficient with noncorrosive pump construction (supplied with 6’ leads)