talk to me about sump pumps please!

[Susan Lisman]

my husband and I considering a brrrrr property and there is water in the basement and nary a sump pump to be found.  All of the other homes I have visited this age have had them in place - but I know little about them and even less about installing them - better yet, having them installed. 

Meanwhile the current tenants were running the drier while we were there, and all I could think of was the liability of have electric components and puddling water.

I have now been to this home twice, the first time there was some dampness and today in a real rain there were actual puddles in the basement  If anyone has any advice on this, I would love to hear it.  I should say that this does not scare me off yet - it is an older home and I get that this is not an abnormal issue, i just want to know what I am getting into.

I am also open to other solutions - sealing the walls and so on... any advice welcome

[Steve Babiak]

@J Scott gave a good answer.

I can tell you that at one of my properties, when I was having this done, what was estimated to be roughly 3 days work by the contractor turned into more like ten. This was due to the concrete and the type of foundation and floor slab - this basement had what is called a monolithic pour and that can result in thicker areas for the jackhammer crew.

I have been able to find prices below $100 per linear foot of perimeter, so I think his projected prices might be high - at least for SE PA.

Now, if the property is inside the City of Philadelphia, this water could be due to how the storm drain and sanitary sewer system in Philadelphia are one and the same, not separate systems. Blockage at the street can cause the rain from the downspouts to get backed up and escape - especially in the case of some older properties where the clean out access is not screwed on. So you might want to see if this can fix the problem.