Ideas For Removing 5-6 ft of water in basement?

Question

Looking at a short sale where there is literally 5-6 ft of standing water in the basement. Don't know how long it's been there but we want to get it out of there before it hits the floor joists and subflooring of the 1st floor (including the nice hardwood floors in the living room and dining room).

Our only idea is to get a couple of submersible pumps and pump it out into the street sewer.

Any other ideas?

Our only idea is to get a couple of submersible pumps and pump it out into the street sewer.

Any other ideas?

David Chwaszczewski · Answer

I would be concerned that a pool pump motor may burn out.  Don't think they are designed to pump out that much water at one time.  I think @Steve Babiak idea is great!  I would contact the local fire department first and ask if they would do it and in return make a donation to the department, also you could write off the donation at tax time. Just a thought.

Let us know how it goes please!

Jon Holdman · Answer

We went through this last fall.  Go to a tool rental store and rent a submersible pump.  This will be the cheapest part of this entire process. I don't have the receipt handy but I think is was maybe $30 for a day.  One pumped about 4' of water out of our 900 sq.ft. basement in a few hours.  You will need to keep it from getting clogged with debris as its pumping, so you can't just plug in an and come back later.

Where you put the water may be a challenge.  Down the sanitary sewer is a better option than the storm sewer since who knows whats in it.

Then get a big shop vac and go to work to get what's left.

Then get dehumidifiers and run them until its really dry.  Check with a moisture meter.  I rented two dehumidifiers for a week then bought another off amazon.  Since you're in a damper area than Denver, just buy two right off the bat.  Getting things dry will take time.

Rip out anything that can be.  Flooring, sheetrock, even the studs if they're really soaked.  We had most of the water out within a few hours and the sheetrock, flooring, debris and the remaining in under a day. And its very dry here.  Still took several weeks with the dehumidifiers to get the studs down to an acceptable level, especially the floor plates.  Hollow core doors will be full of water, too.

CDC and FEMA have information on their sites for cleaning up.  If this has been standing a long time you might have to pull out a lot of saturated building materials.

Tim E. · Answer

Sounds like your only option is a sludge pump or similar.  Not sure whether the muni will frown upon pumping into the street.

Account Closed · Answer

Get a submersible pump.  That's what the pool company used to drain our pool for all the maintenance after we bought our house.  Drained 30,000+ gallons during a single day.  Something like that should handle a few feet in a basement no problem

Tom La Rosa · Answer

Hows it going ?

I just heard a story about a small hole in a plumbing pipe that caused the same problem. Easy plumbing fix.

Steve Babiak · Answer

The submersible pump is definitely the proper answer.  A pool pump might work.

But check with the fire department and see if they can pump a basement and how much they might want to be paid.

Erik Hitzelberger · Answer

My very first house had this problem.  The existing sump pump had failed.  I bought a new one since I was going to have to do this anyway.  I used a generator to pump it down to a few inches, than hooked it up to the plumbing that was intended for the sump and got the rest of the water out.

As Jon mentioned above, you then need to get as much as possible out.  In my case this included the furnace, water heater, studs, electric, and a rabbit carcass.  After that, clean the floor, walls, etc and start putting it all back together.  Good Luck!

Jerry W. · Answer

You will possibly need a small portable generator for power for the sump pump.  usually the power is shut off in units with flooding.

Chris K. · Answer

I'm curious to see some pictures of this basement if you are able to get some.

Tom La Rosa · Answer

@Ibrahim S  know it as a sump pump. probably rent it from Home Depot or wherever.

it looks kind of like a kitchen garbage disposal with a hose attached. works like a powerful vacuum. just run the hose to where you want the water to go ( choose wisely ) and plug in the pump.

god knows why the water is there, that will be another issue.

Ideas For Removing 5-6 ft of water in basement?

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