I have a full basement in a cold climate (North Dakota). The previous owner had a raw hole broken out of the cement floor that must have served as an emergency sump pump hole. We haven't had water in 8 years and did landscaping around the house to slope water away from house. Due to Radon issues, we filled and sealed the hole and finished the installed a subfloor with Dry Core in the event of moisture in the basement. This year we have a really high water table and water is in the basement – had to rip up carpet, etc. Now I am wondering if I should break through the floor again to install a sump pump. A contractor said he could do an outdoor sump pump for us, but I do not have an electrical source nearby, which will raise the costs and headache. I am also uncertain if the cold climate will require me to remove the pump every year or what kind of hassles are associated with an outdoor sump pump. What would you do? Start over in the basement or put in an outdoor pump. My Radon mitigation system is also a worry if we install a pump inside the house– not sure how this will effect the deal.
Water – Should I install an indoor or outdoor sump pump, or both
basementradonwater
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Best Answer
I wouldn't even consider one or the other... both.
An outdoor sump pump in our could climate (I'm in Minnesota) is a real pain in the neck. A good friend of mine has one in his old house and he has to bring it in every winter and put it back out when the snow starts melting, which often means a few hours digging to find the top of the sump pit, then every couple days checking and adjusting the position of the pump as the solid ice on the bottom of the pit melts. Worse was the year it melted, then re-froze with the pump in it... I recall he had a number of very unpleasant things to say about it the next day at work. ;)
Depending on your levels of radon, the mitigation could be pretty simple. Several of my co-workers have a small bathroom exhaust fan in the utility room where there sump is located that ducts out of the house. It's on a timer that runs it for X minutes every Y hours, depending on what the levels were in their house. Most of us agreed that that was better than having to deal with flooded basements every few years.