DIY Vacuum French Drain

[Weshall1991]

My garage is located in the unfinished "basement" of my home. While convenient, I am quite susceptible to water, especially with all the rain we have had in Maryland. My home was built with a floating slab in the basement ( very old home), so I have a channel approximately 1.5 inches wide by 1.5 inches deep between the walls and the floor, and the channel has a solid concrete bottom. This channel is located on three sides of my garage, with the fourth side being my garage door opening. The channel does not slope in any way, and is higher in some parts and lower in others randomly. Obviously, the expensive solution is to install a drain system and have it run to a sump. But I only get water in rare instances and not a lot of water. Currently, the water that gets in seeps down the wall and into the channel, and if enough gets in, it runs over onto the floor. The attached pic is close to what my floor looks like, but the channel has a concrete bottom.

Here is my thought, and I was hoping to get some input or ideas from the forum. If I ran 3/4 or 1 inch pvc pipe in the channel, with small holes drilled throughout, and connected it to a wet vac, could I effectively create an above ground vacuum french drain? It would be about 50 feet of pvc, with two 90 degree elbows.

My concern would be whether suction would be possible with hols drilled in the pvc? I would have the wet vac connected to a wifi smart outlet, and set it to run when water is detected by a sensor. Any thoughts?

 

[DGersic]

I don’t think the average shop vac will move enough air to make this work.


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[JamesW84]

The best solution is obviously to keep the water from getting there in the first place. Check your grade on the outside of the wall and make sure it slopes away from the foundation. Try to find out where/why the water is getting in. Is there a crack in your foundation wall?

The bottom of your "trench" is probably the footer.

 

[Captain Spaulding]

Your basement construction is normal. The floor is just a slab that sits on the footer and the gap around the edges is from the slab shrinking.

Your problem is water accumulating outside the basement. Improper grading, clogged downspouts, leaking gutters or settled fill are the common causes.

Work from the outside to solve the problem. Anything you do on the inside is treating a symptom, not the cause.

 

[jeffmattero76]

Assuming that the bottom of the channel is relatively level, couldn't you dig a hole in one corner, drop in a sump pit and a sump pump, and let any water in the channel run into the sump, and be pumped out?

I realize that may leave a small amount of water in the low spots of the channel, but it SHOULD stop the water from overflowing the channel and coming out on the floor.

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[spudley]

Your basement construction is normal. The floor is just a slab that sits on the footer and the gap around the edges is from the slab shrinking.

I've never encountered concrete shrinking 1.5".

 

[xyster101]

I agree with checking outside first. Make sure gutters are going at least 10ft away from the house, water is graded away from the house.

I think you idea would work, you can run it the whole way but drill less holes. Maybe put a 3/16" hole every 2 feet and see how the suction is. If it works you can add more holes. If it doesn't work you can put tape over a few holes.