While we were in the last stages of refinishing our basement we had what felt like three weeks of rain. The floor had not been placed down yet which was a great thing since one afternoon I came home to this…

The culprit was this corner of the basement and totally unrelated to the broken valve which caused the problem this summer.  Before the basement was finished we only had water issues in the back right corner. We installed a bulkhead door and dug down to the foundation, added crushed gravel and pipes going out to the back yard. No more water issues. Until now. The water was coming in from some cracks in the foundation which were quickly sealed up again.

To give ourselves some peace of mind we decided to bite the bullet and add a sump pump. The storage room is now completely empty so we had the sump pump installed in the back right corner, the problem corner. A hole was dug through the foundation about three feet down and the pump was inserted. It filled up with water immediately. The water then vents outside. We got a backup battery on the sump pump as well, just in case power goes out.

I apologise for the completely unglamourous mid-construction pictures. Eventually the floor was laid out and it now looks like this (minus the dust).

It doesn’t take up much space at all. We will be installing storage shelves next to it so it won’t be noticeable at all. We gave up in little floor space but gained a lot in peace of mind!