Yes, This is Actually an Improvement!

With all the snow and fluctuating river levels, I decided it was time to call A & T Plumbing to get the backflow and flood prevention measures in place for the basement. This is phase one: locating pipes under the floor and determining where the sewer line is. It was a little scary at first, but I'm very pleased with the outcome.

Basically, all of the floor level pipes and drains in the basement have been abandoned (including the basement bathroom, but it's a small price to pay), and I now have an overhead sewer line, which means it runs along the basement ceiling instead of under the floor. Laundry or sink water from the basement goes into an ejector pit (kind of like a sump pit) and is pumped up and out. So theoretically, the lowest point for the sewer line is now on the first floor, thereby (hopefully) eliminating any chance of sewage backing up into the house. There's a check valve on the ejector line, though, just in case. I thought the whole solution was very creative and ingenious, because it solved my problem without having to disrupt things too much. And it was a LOT cheaper than a whole backflow prevention system. I got a couple quotes on that, and it was upwards of $10,000.

What's amazing, is these two guys got all the work done in about 2.5 days, including cleaning up all the dirt and rubble, pouring new cement and mopping my floor!

I also had them put in a new sump pit and pump, since groundwater could still be an issue. Behold.



Also, check out my adorable new laundry sink. I had a huge old cast iron sink that took up half the laundry room. I think it weighed about four tons, and it wasn't attached to anything, just perched precariously on a metal stand. They broke that up with sledge hammers and carted it out, replacing it with this little mini sink that serves the purpose just fine. So now I have room for the washer and dryer to actually be located next to each other *and* less risk of broken legs or feet. What a bonus!



Here's the finished system, so to speak. You can see where it goes up into the old main stack and across the ceiling into the next room, where it ties into the main sewer line out to the street. I never thought I'd be this exciting about plumbing.
(Click on the picture to see it bigger)




This is the ever-important backflow prevention valve.