andyvh1959
Well-known member
The attached sketch details the cross section of my 1973 built tri-level home. I live on a heavily wooded very sandy soil city lot in Green Bay. Many large mature maple and oaks, in the 120'+ hieght range. In heavy rain events I do get just a bit of water ingression in my office end of the house which is on the ground/slab level along with the foyer and east entrance area. The basement stays dry, no water ingression unless it rains really hard/long, then only minimally as I have good gutters and downspout piping to direct water well out from the house. I know there are tree roots in the drain tile as far as I can feel up into the drain tile. Water does definitely get through, but I have always wondered about cleaning out the remaining feeder roots after I took out at least three large oaks and one maple that were closest to the den end of the house.
I've toyed with the idea of getting access to the drain tile from the SW corner of the house to locate a vertical pipe from the drain tile up high enough to just above grade, with a capped access at the top. From that I could "flood" the drain tile with a chemical solution to clear out the feeder roots every few years. At the dryest time of summer, I'd plug the drain tile in the sump pit, then fill the drain tile access pipe with a chemical solution to clear out any feeder roots. Let it soak for a while and then take the drain tile plugs out of the sump pit to drain the remains. Crazy idea? Not worth the effort? Can I even access/find the drain tile? Just hire a pro to auger/snake the crud out of the drain tile as far as can be accessed?
In my basement the sump pit is in from the basement wall maybe 20". The drain tile, far as I can tell, routes into the sump pit parallel to the basement wall. So I even wonder if I can reasonably access the drain tile from outside of the foundation walls. The basement in my house is only about 16x20, just under the living room section of the house. Everything else is at slab level, like the den/office, foyer, back entrance. Also, given the house was built in 1973, probably whatever mature tech was back then, the drain tile may be cement, certainly not plastic/ABS or anything similar. May even be clay tile.
I've toyed with the idea of getting access to the drain tile from the SW corner of the house to locate a vertical pipe from the drain tile up high enough to just above grade, with a capped access at the top. From that I could "flood" the drain tile with a chemical solution to clear out the feeder roots every few years. At the dryest time of summer, I'd plug the drain tile in the sump pit, then fill the drain tile access pipe with a chemical solution to clear out any feeder roots. Let it soak for a while and then take the drain tile plugs out of the sump pit to drain the remains. Crazy idea? Not worth the effort? Can I even access/find the drain tile? Just hire a pro to auger/snake the crud out of the drain tile as far as can be accessed?
In my basement the sump pit is in from the basement wall maybe 20". The drain tile, far as I can tell, routes into the sump pit parallel to the basement wall. So I even wonder if I can reasonably access the drain tile from outside of the foundation walls. The basement in my house is only about 16x20, just under the living room section of the house. Everything else is at slab level, like the den/office, foyer, back entrance. Also, given the house was built in 1973, probably whatever mature tech was back then, the drain tile may be cement, certainly not plastic/ABS or anything similar. May even be clay tile.
