SUMP PUMPS AND BACKWATER VALVES KING CITY
To ensure that your basement is fully waterproofed and bone dry, we advise all our clients to utilize sump pumps and backwater valves. These are great tools to re-direct water away from the home’s foundation.
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SUMP PUMPS FOR KING CITY RESIDENTS
Interior waterproofing is a great way to keep your basement dry, in an age where the global climate is changing. That means warming temperatures, and more regular, and heavier, precipitation. Heavy rains and snowfalls are overwhelming the aging sewer infrastructure across our community. One of the unfortunate by-products of all of this has been flooding in neighborhood homes.
A sump pump is a device that pumps out water that has collected in a basin via the home’s basement waterproofing system, out to an area that is non-problematic, like a storm drain. The old method of draining a weeping tile was to connect it to your home’s drainage system. But that is deteriorating and can’t keep up with the increase in precipitation we are now seeing.
Call Canada Waterproofers King City for a free onsite waterproofing assessment of your home.
One of the true nightmare scenarios for any homeowner is sewer back flow – where there is a massive rain storm, the municipal drainage infrastructure gets overburdened, and water and sewage backs ups through home’s drainage and sewer pipes – through toilets, sinks and showers – back to where you live.
A backwater valve is a device that prevents all that. This device is an absolute “must-have” in any home. It’s a one-way valve. If for some reason the city main becomes overwhelmed and begins to back up into the adjacent basements, the valve will close automatically.
When a sump pump is installed the old weeping tile connection to the city sewer is disconnected. That will help avoid flooding in your home.
The sump pump is installed inside the basement along the wall – as long as there is a place to discharge the water (so the water doesn’t flow back into the house). The crews at Canada Waterproofers King City will excavate, remove and dispose of the soil, and install a water tank (also called a sump liner).
Next step is to set up a connection from the existing weeping tile (or the new weeping tile, if installed) to the side of the tank.
Our technicians will then encase the tank with gravel (3/4” clear), re-cement around the tank, install a submersible pump, then test the system (discharge water to the exterior). If all checks out and meets our high standards, we’ll put a lid on the tank, bolt it down, and you are good to go.
In the event of a power blackout, there are two back-up systems, so that your home always has an operating pump system. One is a separate pump that runs off a marine battery, so if there is a power failure or a primary pump failure, you are protected, since the back-up pump will automatically switch on. This gives you the peace of mind you need. The back-up device can continue to pump water out of your basement without the aid of main power for up to 24 hours.
There also is an alarm, that automatically switches on when the battery pump kicks in, so you will know when the main pump is not functioning.
Then there is a pump that is powered by your water supply in your home. Water turns the pump turbine, which then pumps water out of your basement. With this pump there is no time limit as to how long it will run. As long as your water supply is on this pump will work.
You will need a minimum ¾” water supply line from the city coming in your house in order for the pump to work correctly. If you have the supply line, and it’s located close to your sump pump, then we feel this is the ideal way to go. It’s one of the most reliable pumps on the market.
A backwater valve takes one day to install, either inside the foundation wall or outside of the home entirely. The crews at Canada Waterproofers King City will conduct a camera inspection of the sewer to determine the ideal location for the valve.
A crew from Canada Waterproofers King City will excavate where the sewage connection leaves the house (normally in the front of the house), inside or outside the foundation wall. The building code stipulates that the valve has to be within a maximum of three feet from the front wall and you cannot have a Y Pipe connected within three feet behind the valve, or you risk having the sewage back up into the house.
Install the city-approved BWV with down-stream, clean-out access in the front of the valve. Have the valve inspected by the city. The Canada Waterproofers King City crew will support the pipework with gravel and then back-fill and compact the ground, followed by inside concrete finish and outside gravel finish. Clean-up is the last step.
Keep in mind – when installing any new fixture a permit from the city is required. Ask us about it.
Check out our drain section to read more about backwater valves and how important they are for flood protection.
If you take the correct precautions, waterproof your basement in large part by using technology like sump pumps and backwater valves, then you’ll never have to experience the stress and upheaval of a flood.
Give Canada Waterproofers King City a call and we’ll come by for a free, no-obligation assessment of your home.
Thank you,
Canada Waterproofers King City team