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storm drain problem
almost 2 years ago, I bought this house, on city water but not city sewer, most of house on basement but bathroom & one bedroom on crawl space. have a couple of serious problems & I am completely ignorant about septic systems.
on humid summer nights, my whole property, outside, smells like sewage. year round, entire inside of house has faint sewage smell, except in the basement. have checked basement & crawl space, no sign of a leak. smell seems to come from the ca/heat vents, no odor comes from the plumbing. when I bought the house, the basement had water damage, I was told from the previous owners having the electricity shut off for nonpayment & thus the sump pumps not running. I have had no problems with water in the basement since I've lived here, but...
my house was empty for two years before I bought it, I live alone, & I dump rid-x down my toilet faithfully every month, & I have not yet experienced a problem with my septic system. however, the previous owners apparently did. I had a plumber come & help me figure out my plumbing & what the previous owners did is horrible & undoubtedly illegal. they rerouted the bathtub & kitchen sink drains so they don't go into the septic tank, they empty into the sump pits in the basement. the only things that go into the septic tank are the toilet & bathroom sink. the plumber & I followed the pipe that the sump pumps send the water out through & when we went out to look at the pipe where it goes underground, we found that it has been filled with sawdust & wood chips & who knows what else. the previous owners attached a hose above where they filled the pipe & the hose sends the water from the sump pits into my driveway. we figured that for some reason, the drain didn't work causing the basement to flood.
I am going to have the tub & kitchen sink drains put back into the septic system when I replace the whole system next month. my neighbors on both sides said that when they bought their houses, their septic systems had only 55 gallon drums, so I'm sure that's what I have, too. but what about the pipe from the sump pits? where exactly does that pipe go? is it supposed to go into the septic tank, too? or does it just go deep underground? one of my neighbors has a storm drain too & he has never had a problem with his. I'm afraid of flooding my basement but it is not acceptable to continue to have a puddle in my driveway, even when my bath & dish water are no longer contributing to that puddle. what would cause the storm drain to flood the basement often enough to make the previous owners block it off & what can I do to fix it? I have no idea how this thing is supposed to work. any advice would be greatly appreciated.
on humid summer nights, my whole property, outside, smells like sewage. year round, entire inside of house has faint sewage smell, except in the basement. have checked basement & crawl space, no sign of a leak. smell seems to come from the ca/heat vents, no odor comes from the plumbing. when I bought the house, the basement had water damage, I was told from the previous owners having the electricity shut off for nonpayment & thus the sump pumps not running. I have had no problems with water in the basement since I've lived here, but...
my house was empty for two years before I bought it, I live alone, & I dump rid-x down my toilet faithfully every month, & I have not yet experienced a problem with my septic system. however, the previous owners apparently did. I had a plumber come & help me figure out my plumbing & what the previous owners did is horrible & undoubtedly illegal. they rerouted the bathtub & kitchen sink drains so they don't go into the septic tank, they empty into the sump pits in the basement. the only things that go into the septic tank are the toilet & bathroom sink. the plumber & I followed the pipe that the sump pumps send the water out through & when we went out to look at the pipe where it goes underground, we found that it has been filled with sawdust & wood chips & who knows what else. the previous owners attached a hose above where they filled the pipe & the hose sends the water from the sump pits into my driveway. we figured that for some reason, the drain didn't work causing the basement to flood.
I am going to have the tub & kitchen sink drains put back into the septic system when I replace the whole system next month. my neighbors on both sides said that when they bought their houses, their septic systems had only 55 gallon drums, so I'm sure that's what I have, too. but what about the pipe from the sump pits? where exactly does that pipe go? is it supposed to go into the septic tank, too? or does it just go deep underground? one of my neighbors has a storm drain too & he has never had a problem with his. I'm afraid of flooding my basement but it is not acceptable to continue to have a puddle in my driveway, even when my bath & dish water are no longer contributing to that puddle. what would cause the storm drain to flood the basement often enough to make the previous owners block it off & what can I do to fix it? I have no idea how this thing is supposed to work. any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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