07/30/2025
Some quick thoughts and a few notes about your homes drainage systems.
Reach out for any professional assistance. 586-215-2851
As we are now offering basement waterproofing to the public I wanted to share some information about how your house handles ground and rain water.
1900s-1970s~ Weeping clay tile systems- This is a foundation drain tile bleeder. Your weeping tile system that goes around your entire house enters into under the floor area in your basement here at (typically) multiple points around the house.
Once under the floor, or “house-side”, clay or cement pipes connect to the cast iron floor drain pipes.
In the first half of the 1900s most sanitary (sewer) and storm drains merged just as they leave the house for the city street connection.
As the populations grew and suburbs rapidly expanded, we started to get separate systems to handle the storm and sanity systems because every time it rained heavily, the systems would get overwhelmed and with storm water and wastewater mixing, any backups in a basement would include both (gross).
During this time period, it wasnt as popular to have sump pits in basements. So if you do not haveve gave a sump pump, your systems may be linked as they leave the house.
For homes with sump pumps, the sewer and sanity are separate, and storm runoff goes to the sump, then either outside to a basin, or to the city storm system.
When metro Detroit was expanding, you would frequently see gutters also draining into clay crocks protruding from the ground below your downspouts. This is where the water ended up (pictured above) so you can imagine, all the groundwater, roof water, and rainwater collected from each house hitting the system that also manages sewage.
You can retrofit basements to separate the systems, adding sump pumps and pits, and you can install backflow preventers on your main line so if the city systems fails or is overwhelmed, you dont bear the burden of your basement being a relief for the overflow.
Egress window!- when we connect your egress window to the drain tile system, it goes wherever your weeping tile system goes. That’s another important thing to note because if you have a failed weeping tile system, you have a failed drain for your window.
Modern systems- Post 1970s - All systems now in residential applications haveve separated draining for many reasons, but most importantly to not overwhelm municipalities. The caveats with these systems is corrugated pipes. Corrugatedated plastic replaced clay or cement tiles. These systems are also prone to fail because they are nowhere nearest as rigid. They can be crushed easilyily and tend to fill with debris.
The best option is to get your weeping tile system repairs and functioning again, but is not always cost effective.
You can also core drill the footing of your home when installing the egress drain to run a new drain line to a new sump, or at least into one of your floor drains that is not root filled or clay filled.
