86'n It

That  was Marc's quote when the sump pit was completed and successfully drained water from the basement into the alley.  It may be an overstatement, but maybe not considering all the back-breaking work he put into this project.

We didn't know that our basement even took on water thanks to the 3 year drought that Asheville has been in since we bought our house. So it was much to our surprise when one evening this winter, we came home to 4" of standing water. We rushed to Home Depot to get a waterfall pump, because our basement was of course sump-pit-less. (What did the old owner do before the drought? Just let the basement fill with water? Throw a couple of boxes of adult diapers down there?)

This project had SO many steps. First there was the cutting and removal of the concrete. (Which we discovered is 6" in some places and 2" in others -and no, not because it was sloped to drain.)

Here is Marc trying to chisel by hand before the depth discovery and then, what I am sure is a big "check" on his man list, using a jackhammer.

Next was the removal of well over 35 buckets of dense red clay - no wonder the water was coming in the basement and not draining. Water doesn't drain thru this clay!

Then he put the pipe in. We were running from the closest thing we have to a "low point", installing a floor drain there and running it to the sump pit in a corner.

Then was the outdoor part. Luckily, we got a 50+ degree weekend here! Marc dug a trench from the house to our wall. The wall already had an old terra-cotta through drain in it. So we t'-ed into the existing terra cotta to let the water drain thru the wall into the alley!

Finally, he poured new concrete over the trench and installed the sump pit pump. Isn't she a 'beauty? Then we tested it with joy and anticipation normally reserved for 3 year olds at Christmas. It worked!! Now we don't have to be scared of big rains and melting snow! YIPPEE!

p.s. 6 days until my due date! I'm feeling great, but pretty much the same. I'll try to post to let y'all know when our little girl arrives!