DIY Crawl Space Guide: Sump Pumps and Basins Week 5

Water infiltration in your crawl space isn't just annoying – it's a serious threat to your home's foundation, air quality, and structural integrity. In this comprehensive guide to crawl space sump pumps and basins, Michael Church of Crawl Space Ninja delivers game-changing insights for homeowners battling moisture issues.

Most homeowners make critical mistakes when selecting and installing sump pump systems. Michael reveals why cast iron or carbon steel pumps with substantial warranties are essential investments rather than budget options that fail when you need them most. You'll discover why the placement of your basin might be completely wrong – even if a professional installed it – and learn the surprising truth about where your basin should actually go (hint: it's not always against the foundation wall).

The installation details make all the difference between a system that protects your home for decades and one that fails prematurely. From the perfect basin depth to the critical components most installers skip, like quick-disconnect couplings and check valves, Michael walks through each element with clarity and purpose. You'll understand why monitoring technology isn't just a luxury but essential protection for your investment.

Whether you're tackling a DIY crawl space project or evaluating a contractor's proposal, this episode provides the knowledge to make informed decisions about your home's moisture management system. Ready to transform your damp crawl space into a dry, healthy foundation for your home? Listen now, and don't forget to subscribe for more expert guidance on protecting your home from the ground up.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introducing Crawl Space Sump Pumps
• 0:53 Recommended Products and Equipment
• 2:24 Basin Necessity and Placement
• 4:33 Best Practices for Installation
• 6:29 Tying Into Water Management System
• 8:09 Episode Closing and Resources

Transcript

Speaker 0: 0:00

Hey there, ninja Nation, michael Church with Crawl Space Ninja. Today we are continuing week five of our Crawl Space Repair Challenge and we will be covering the subject of crawl space sump pumps and basins. This is a very important topic if you have flooding in your crawl space, so let's get started and talk about what we will be discussing today, which will be the products needed Is a basin even required, the placement of that basin and sump pump, best practices for installing that basin and sump pump, monitoring whether the basin and sump pump are working properly. More specifically, the sump pump itself and then tying that into the water management system. If you have not had an opportunity to watch week four of the Crawl Space Repair Challenge, which is the water management system, I'll put a link to that video up here at the top right.

Speaker 0: 0:53

So the recommended products we always recommend you use a very powerful sump pump. These sump pumps take on a lot of water and are running often, so we want to make sure we use a sump pump that can withstand the heat of running often, and normally that would be a cast iron or carbon steel sump pumps, and a lot of times you can tell the quality of the sump pump to the warranty that is offered with it. So we always recommend at least a three to five year warranty and we recommend a high efficient pump either a one third at the lowest up to a three quarter horse and even a one horsepower, depending on how far the water has to travel up and out. But we typically install a half horsepower sump pump which does a little over 4,000 gallons per hour. So make sure you choose a really good brand, like Wayne is a really good brand to choose on a sump pump. Make sure that sump pump basin is a perforated basin. Yes, it does need to have holes in it and it needs to be a high capacity basin with the ability to seal the lid on top. We don't like open basins whenever we're installing these in crawl spaces. And, of course, I recommend, if you haven't had a chance, make sure you check out ShipShape. This is a check engine light for that sump pump that you're going to install. It can also check the dehumidifiers, your HVAC system and other at-risk areas of your home, because the worst thing you could do is pay all this money to get these sump pumps installed and then not know if they're actually working or not. So ShipShape is a great way to know that. By the way, shipshape is available on our DIY store and we can install that. If you're in our service area.

Speaker 0: 2:29

A few other products I'd recommend you check out the Dranger Drain. This is a great product. I know a lot of waterproofing people that have been in the industry for years that have never heard of this product. It allows water to enter the basin lid without allowing soil gases to escape. It's a great way to push that dehumidifier water into the sump pump. It also inhibits odors coming out of that sump pump basin. You want to make sure you have a check valve. Check valves will stop the recycling of the pump to minimize pump burnout and, of course, a rubber coupling, which I'll show you what that looks like here in a little bit. We use these as quick disconnects so that we can maintenance the pump easily.

Speaker 0: 3:03

So is the basin needed? You tell me this sump pump here was installed in a basin and look how nasty it is. We feel like basins are needed in order to protect the sump pump and to keep as much of the soil contaminants out of the sump pump as possible. Of course it's not going to stop all of it, but it does do a good job as a first line of defense to protect that sump pump. It's also protecting that sump pump in other ways, by not allowing critters to get down into that basin. This is how we install a sump pump with a sealed basin that is attached to the vapor barrier Basin and pump placement.

Speaker 0: 3:37

This is a great example of the basin installed next to the foundation wall. This is Hydraway being installed inside of a crawl space, but keep in mind that the basin does not have to be against the foundation wall. I want the basin in the lowest point of the crawl space, even if that is in the middle of the crawl space, and then you would tie the foundation wall to that low point basin with Hydraway or other drain tile. That's one of those misconceptions. Everybody thinks it has to be right next to the foundation wall and chances are yours may need to be next to the foundation wall, but always go for the lowest point in the crawl space first. I would also suggest that you put it in an area that is easy to access if you can, but you always want to go with the lowest point first, and then, of course, you want to install these basins about every 140 linear feet. That is not a rule, it's more of a guide that us waterproofers go by to make sure that we're not putting too much water on that basin.

Speaker 0: 4:34

And a good way I like to explain it is that I'm sure you probably have gutters around your house. Imagine if you only had one downspout. That downspout would not be able to keep up with all of the gutters. So having a basin every 140 linear feet is kind of like having downspouts that can handle all the water that enters that water management system. And, of course, if you have a footer, this is also important. A lot of times we'll see this with homes that have been added on. You bought a house that was from the 50s and then the 80s they added a new room or a new section. There's a footer that separates that old crawl space from that new crawl space. You would need a basin in each section of those footer separations. So make sure that you create a new water management system for every time there is a footer separation and unfortunately you don't always come across that until you start digging out that water management system.

Speaker 0: 5:26

Best practices for basins make sure you dig that hole about 25% deeper and 25% wider than the actual depth and width of the basin itself because I want to make sure that we put enough aggregate around that basin. But before you install that aggregate make sure you line that basin with a pond felt. That'll keep mud out, because even though you're putting pea gravel or three-quarter inch gravel around that basin, that soil can still get into that basin and that felt really helps stop a lot of that soil from entering that basin. Make sure you install the basin at the top level of the soil. As you see here we've got the basin level with the soil and then we've got that sealed lid that goes on top of that basin and we like to tuck that plastic into that basin. So if for some reason you do get a leak from above, from a plumbing leak, that water can still flow down to that basin and that dranger drain that I mentioned earlier is going to allow that water to get into the sump pump so that it does not turn your crawl space into a swimming pool. Best pump practices or install practices would be running the plumbing to the subfloor.

Speaker 0: 6:33

I'm using this picture again because this shows a great example of how we install the sump pump. We have the sump pump inside the basin and the check valve is attached directly to the sump pump, which you can't see in this picture. That one and a half inch line is coming out of that basin lid to that quick disconnect coupling. So when we do maintenance on it we can just quick disconnect it right there, quick disconnect coupling up to the subfloor. The reason why we put it up to the subfloor like that is because these sump pumps are little jet engines and if you come out of the lid and 90 straight out the foundation wall, there's a good chance that it could bust that one and a half inch line or at least rock loose those joints. So we like to take it all the way up to the subfloor and then come back down, as you can see here, and then go out underneath the soil to a pop-up emitter that is outside the crawl space or the basement. It's got its own dedicated electrical outlet and of course we install that Drain-Dra-Drain check valve, quick disconnect and seal the lid, as I mentioned before.

Speaker 0: 7:33

Let me know what you think about this video so far. If you don't mind giving me a quick like down below, that would be wonderful. And of course we welcome your comments. You wanna make sure you tie that basin and that pump into your water management system. This is a great picture of how we tie in Hydraway to that sump pump basin. So all the water that's being gathered by your waterproofing system is pushing all of that water directly into the basin without having to go through the aggregate and work its way through the perforated basin. You want to speed up how that water exits out of the crawl space or the basement. Tie that Hydrowaste system into the sump pump basin. Thank you for watching this video. If you want to do a consultation with me, we've got that available on buymeacoffeecom. Forward slash CSNinja. I hope you'll check out my book Crawl Space Repair Myths Busted. We hope you'll subscribe to our channel.