Basement drain cover

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Booboo3604

Active Member
So I figured I would reach out for advice seeing as though I can't be the only person to ever experience this and maybe someone knows of a simple solution. I have a split level home with an open basement stairwell probably about 5 feet below ground level. This drain has been hell. Up until a last year I would have to have it snaked every six months and even then it would flood when we would have days of heavy rain. The water comes in through the basement door. Anyways, in June I ended up having the entire drain redone and a second sump pump installed just for this one drain. Thought the problem was fixed. I get back from vacation yesterday only to find out that the water came in while I was gone. We play with the water hose to see if maybe its coming in through the house somewhere else. Nope, it took like 6 leaves to be pushed down the stairs in combination with the suction from the drain and the drain was clogged.

My question is this. What do people use to prevent anything from getting on these covers and blocking the water? We are kicking around the idea of putting on an awning to atleast try and move some of the water away from the drain itself but this still doesn't help for the water that does make it down there. And when I got home, I only pulled off what looked to be some chunks of pollen and dirt that apparently collected on the drain and made the seal. There were no leaves so it's not like I didn't keep the area cleaned. Short of standing out there the entire time it rains and picking any and everything off the drain every 10 seconds, what can i do to prevent this from happening?

Thanks in advance for any insights anyone might have!
 
Misfit

Misfit

Lawful neutral
I just bought a rubber mat with holes in it that I was told will keep the leaves and stuff off the drain while allowing the water through. I'll still have to clean it out from time to time but at least it won't flood after one storm.
 
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DQ2B

Active Member
We have the same problem. Keep saying I'm going to have a dry well dug out but still haven't spent the money to do so. Doing as above poster said for now.
 
Chasey_Lane

Chasey_Lane

Salt Life
Booboo3604 said:
So I figured I would reach out for advice seeing as though I can't be the only person to ever experience this and maybe someone knows of a simple solution. I have a split level home with an open basement stairwell probably about 5 feet below ground level. This drain has been hell. Up until a last year I would have to have it snaked every six months and even then it would flood when we would have days of heavy rain. The water comes in through the basement door. Anyways, in June I ended up having the entire drain redone and a second sump pump installed just for this one drain. Thought the problem was fixed. I get back from vacation yesterday only to find out that the water came in while I was gone. We play with the water hose to see if maybe its coming in through the house somewhere else. Nope, it took like 6 leaves to be pushed down the stairs in combination with the suction from the drain and the drain was clogged.

My question is this. What do people use to prevent anything from getting on these covers and blocking the water? We are kicking around the idea of putting on an awning to atleast try and move some of the water away from the drain itself but this still doesn't help for the water that does make it down there. And when I got home, I only pulled off what looked to be some chunks of pollen and dirt that apparently collected on the drain and made the seal. There were no leaves so it's not like I didn't keep the area cleaned. Short of standing out there the entire time it rains and picking any and everything off the drain every 10 seconds, what can i do to prevent this from happening?

Thanks in advance for any insights anyone might have!
Click to expand...
This might sound silly, but I'm wondering if you can get a long hose (like for clothes dryers) that would extend the hole/opening? If there is a way to attach it so that it is elevated a few inches, that should keep debris out.
 
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OldHillcrestGuy

Well-Known Member
A neighbor of ours goes away 3-4 months at a time to either Florida or Myrtle Beach she has alot of trees in the yard, and has a stairway with a drain at the bottom, she has bought a plastic crate like those stacking crates or milk crate to put over the drain. It seems to do the job. Its not that nice to look at, but if your away and unable to keep an eye on the drain cover this might work.
 
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Booboo3604

Active Member
Thanks for all the replies. I'm going to try a few and pick up both a rubber mat and a crate to see if that seems to help. The water is sent out of the house on different side than the stairwell so thankfully, its not recirculating the water. I'm just a little preeturbed that it flooded again after I was told with a second sump this would no longer be a problem.

Now just trying to dry out the half a room of carpet that got wet. Pulled out all the padding that was even slightly damp and have a floor fan running underneath the carpet. Definitely frustrating to drive all day home from vacation to open the door to that!

Thanks everyone for the ideas!
 
itsbob

itsbob

I bowl overhand
Booboo3604 said:
Thanks for all the replies. I'm going to try a few and pick up both a rubber mat and a crate to see if that seems to help. The water is sent out of the house on different side than the stairwell so thankfully, its not recirculating the water. I'm just a little preeturbed that it flooded again after I was told with a second sump this would no longer be a problem.

Now just trying to dry out the half a room of carpet that got wet. Pulled out all the padding that was even slightly damp and have a floor fan running underneath the carpet. Definitely frustrating to drive all day home from vacation to open the door to that!

Thanks everyone for the ideas!
Click to expand...
They sell drain covers that stick up about 3 inches (maybe less) they look like a grated cylinder that attaches so the grate, or could replace the grate. Leaves and sticks will catch on the sides, and the water will just flow over the leaves and sticks to get to the drain. It can be a trip hazard but water won't be pouring into your door.



Or convert to a bulkhead entrance..

We're thinking of the awning ourselves, as the leaves and sticks are horrendous, but out grate has a big enough "bulge" that it's never been totally blocked. Not as much as described above, not a cylinder but a convex shape that sticks up about an inch or so (maybe your grate is on upside down, is concave instead of convex?)
 
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nutz

Well-Known Member
Booboo3604 said:
Thanks for all the replies. I'm going to try a few and pick up both a rubber mat and a crate to see if that seems to help. The water is sent out of the house on different side than the stairwell so thankfully, its not recirculating the water. I'm just a little preeturbed that it flooded again after I was told with a second sump this would no longer be a problem.

Now just trying to dry out the half a room of carpet that got wet. Pulled out all the padding that was even slightly damp and have a floor fan running underneath the carpet. Definitely frustrating to drive all day home from vacation to open the door to that!

Thanks everyone for the ideas!
Click to expand...

Have you called whoever installed all of the new stuff? Did they place the second pump in the bottom of the stairwell or ? Being on a different side doesn't guarantee where the water is running to/from.

I think itsbob was referring to one of these, but they aren't really used for any walkway applications.
 

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Booboo3604

Active Member
nutz said:
Have you called whoever installed all of the new stuff? Did they place the second pump in the bottom of the stairwell or ? Being on a different side doesn't guarantee where the water is running to/from.

I think itsbob was referring to one of these, but they aren't really used for any walkway applications.
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I haven't called them thus far as I am working on trying to get the basement dry first. And really, its not like anything they installed is malfunctioning. Like I said, we ran the test with the water hose and when the water could make it to the drain, it worked perfectly.

The drain in in the back of the house and the water is pumped out on the side of the house. The drain goes to the sump pit that was installed right inside behind where the door swings open. The pump pushes the water out of the wall (perpendicular to the door) where it meets the concrete thing on the ground for the gutter and that side slopes away from the house. There is actually a privacy fence coming off that corner of the hosue as well. If that makes any sense....
 
C

Caution

New Member
nutz said:
Have you called whoever installed all of the new stuff? Did they place the second pump in the bottom of the stairwell or ? Being on a different side doesn't guarantee where the water is running to/from.

I think itsbob was referring to one of these, but they aren't really used for any walkway applications.
Click to expand...

I used that on the old house. But to keep the leaves and debris from even getting to that I made a 6" tall circle out of 1/2" rat wire and put that outside of the cover you had pictured. The ratwire caught the debris before it made it to the drain cover. I ended up building an awning then closing the sides in with screen later. Mainly because we started doing daycare and wanted to keep the kiddies from falling in there.
 
acommondisaster

acommondisaster

Active Member
Townhouse we own has this problem; and we have an awning over it. Our final solution was to pull up the carpeting and put down ceramic tile floor. We can't guarantee that renters are going to keep the drain clean and to date we haven't figured out anyway to keep it clean, other than going there and physically cleaning it ourselves, which we're not about to do. The rubber mat sounds like a sort of good idea, though I'm afraid with neglect, it would get slippery and we'd wind up getting sued. I'm to the point of thinking that we should put something in the lease that any damage caused by neglecting to keep the drain clear will be the responsibility of the renter.

The neighbors have a couple of trees in their backyard, which is where most of our problems come from and the wind brings them down the stairs, despite the awning that covers the entire stairwell. Maybe you need to be very diligent about keeping leaves raked.
 
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