Where do I start on this???

[TripleTriple]

Hi all, I have been reading around and finally joined this forum in search of some help. I will try to keep this short
and to the point.

My wife and I just cleaned out another basement flood. We have found that there are 2 sources where the water is
entering, the first was a leak in the basement wall which was fixed, but now backing up from a floor drain.

About 2 weeks ago, I noticed that the toilet in the basement, when flushed, would make the shower drain in the same
bathroom 'gurgle' but no flooding etc. This seems to happen every year.

Now when it rains, the basement toilet when flushed (just water) starts going down really slow like its blocked.
When the toilet starts this behavior, shortly after water begins to come up through the floor drain. This is only
when it rains..

Our eavestrough down pipes were connected into the ground which we have since removed 1 of the 2, the 2nd will
be disconnected tomorrow.

There are no external clean out access points and the basement is all carpeted with a raised floor. Could somebody
please tell me where to begin with this issue? I just dont know where to start and am really getting fed up with all the
water lol.

Any and ALL advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[johnjh2o]

Are you on a septic system? If so it maybe getting flooded with ground water.

 

[TripleTriple]

Are you on a septic system? If so it maybe getting flooded with ground water.

No im hooked into the city.

 

[Chris]

Do you have a lift station pump to bring the sewer from the basement to an elevation where it gravity drains to the street?

 

[journeyman]

Is your basement sitting below street level?

 

[TripleTriple]

I have no idea what type of system, this is our first house and have never looked into anything on this.

Our basement is at least 5ft below the level of the road.

Just to update one thing, I removed the eavestrough down pipes, both of them. Im curious to see what happens later this week as more rain moves in...

Im starting with rerouting the down pipes to the lower slope in the yard and driveway. Something tells me this may at least stop the water from coming in. I had to use a pool pump to empty out last time.

 

[johnjh2o]

Talk to the city. It sounds like you may be on a combination storm water and sewer system that gets over loaded during heavy rains. If that is the case then you may need a backwater valve installed.

 

[TripleTriple]

I just did a bit more searching for my area. Found an article where my street is mentioned. Strange thing is, we are close the the lake mentioned and if im understanding this correctly, should have had this problem more often than we have.
http://www.birchcliffnews.com/six-possible-flooding-fixes/

So where are these 'back water valves' installed? Im assuming as close to the front of the house as possible? Does the line have to be dug up first? or is there an easy instal type?

We are selling in a few months and dont want to add any heavy projects to an already long list..

 

[johnjh2o]

If you have a basement and the waste line is accessible at a point before any fixtures connect to it the back water valve can be installed in the basement. If not then your only option is to install it outside the building.

 

[journeyman]

You will have to dig up the main sewer and install back water valve with clean outs

 

[TripleTriple]

So another update... This week the weather has been nice with no rain. Now we havent had any water coming in, but the shower drain still randomly 'gurgles' when the adjacent toilet is flushed.

On top of this, the smell of sewage keeps appearing at random, and again there has been no rain. What should I be looking at ?

The smell is a very recent problem, even thought we had a dead mouse somewhere in the basement... it gets pretty bad.

 

[Zanne]

My guess would be that there is a clog or improper venting. Improper venting can actually cause a clog. It can also cause the water to be siphoned out of the P-trap which then allows sewer gases to come up.

I wonder if your toilet and shower are wetvented and the toilet is causing the shower's p-trap to be siphoned.

 

[TripleTriple]

Is it possible that a clog in the system could be related to the eavestrough lines that connect to the floor drains in my basement?

Im thinking to try and snake the floor drain from the drain closest to the rear of the house and run the snake forward toward the front..

We are expecting some heavy rain over the next few days and am getting worried.

 

[Zanne]

I honestly don't know about the eavestrough lines. I hope one of the experts can answer. If you are able to snake the drains, it probably wouldn't hurt. I just don't know if it would help. Whatever you do, avoid any sort of chemical drain cleaners though.

 

[phishfood]

Call in a plumber, have him snake the main drainline through the toilet flange. The most likely problem for the gurgling is a clog, and the most likely problem for the smell is a wax ring.

 

[alexkharden]

+1 for the improper venting. My wife and I just bought a house last year and had this problem in both bathrooms. What I ended up doing was buying a 50' heavy duty plumbing snake. I dragged it, and the water hose, up onto the roof and fed the snake down into each of the vent pipes until it reached the clog. (all three vent pipes were clogged). Then I directed the water hose down the pipe and kept bouncing the snake up and down on top of the clog until i broke through it. Eventually I had all three cleaned out to where I could put my ear to the pipe and listen to the water draining freely down into the sewer lines. Now, no gurgling and no smell!

Edit: Spelling

 

[phishfood]

I don't mean to sound like a jerk, but I keep seeing the bad venting idea being brought up. Have to say that clogged or improper venting is rarely ever the cause of a fixture not draining. While you might be able to clear a clog through a vent pipe in many cases, the clog is actually in the drainage section of the pipe, not in the vent itself.

 

[Zanne]

LOL. I keep bringing up improper venting because that is what caused a lot of the clogs in my home-- but then I didn't have ANY plumbing vents. The plumber was mystified and said he had installed them when he originally did the work but for some odd reason the tenants ripped them all out. Although I suppose that is more an issue of "nonexistent venting" rather than "improper" venting.

 

[alexkharden]

I brought up the bad venting because it was the exact cause of my problems. All three vents were clogged. I attribute that to 1, a very large maple tree towers above my house and 2, none of the vent pipes had caps on them. My guess is that those pipes were completely filled with those little maple seed helicopters.

Is that this gentlemans problem? No clue, I just know for a fact it was mine.

 

[journeyman]

I have to agree with phishfood. In 11 yrs of plumbing i have never come across a clogged roof vent. Plumbing systems have other roof vents to get air into the system. You dont want to cap roof vents. You have a clogged mainline.