two floods in a month in Chicago 7/25 and 8/17 3am due to extreme rain never before on really bad storms hasnt flood besides these 2 big storms happened in between these two and nothing zero water in bsmt. it comes in thru bsmt drain & it's all rain water was wondering if disconnecting these and rerouting will help? where do these drain to? Is this a factor in perhaps it flooding
Do have to say that on the days it flooded (had about 5 inches of water) we received biblical amounts of rain in SW Chicago by Midway any help will be great thanks!
by jupavalos
9 Comments
Where do the drains lead? Do you have a sump pump? Not sure what is flooding from your description.
Are the drain pipes clear? If clogged they won’t allow water to flow properly and cause flooding.
No, when you get that much rain in an urbanized area there’s really not a lot you can do. Without having sealed off your basement.
It comes through the basement drain? Then that’s plumbing pipes, not stormwater pipes. Separate systems.
Insurance might cover plumbing backup
Do you have an overhead sewer (goes out the basement wall usually about a foot or two below the brick ledge) or underground line? Those downspouts tie into your sewer line. Yes, capping them off and rerouting the downspout to splash off onto the ground will help, but a check valve on the sewer line will really do the trick, if it’s an underground (runs under the foundation) line. I live in your area as well and have a similar set up. Luckily I have an overhead sewer and I rerouted my downspouts. My recent issue was seepage from the brick ledge, which I patched up back in July after those big June storms.
You left out every important detail needed for people to assist you.
I always prefer to see where water is going. Unless the water here is going into a close system, like a solid drainage pipe leading to a sewer, I’d pull them all out and direct the water on the surface. The fact that your basement is flooding means whatever system underground is being utilized has failed.
Pull the drainage out, direct the water above ground safely away from the house, then explore the underground system to determine its failure and weaknesses.
Yes- first thing we did in our 50’s ranch was reroute all of the gutters from the perimeter drains, which were allowing excess water to leak into the basement.
Our village installed all gutters into the main storm sewer with gutters going into the ground like this…in 1952! The tiles from homes to storm drains were ceramic. They have collapsed and clogged from roots and vegetation underground they are no longer functional. Additionally, large storms would overload the entire system and there was no where for the water to go other than inside our homes. We flooded at least 12 times in 10 years.
We cut the downspouts and extended them away from the foundation. We rerouted our sump pump to empty far from the house. We reworked the landscaping around the house to ensure a slope away from the foundation. We have had no flooding issues since.