[OceanStateTunin]

So I bought a 100 year old house up in Maine. It has a tiny 11x13 full basement and on each side of that there is a crawl space. Outside walls are field stone until it hits grade then it is brick and inside to crawlspace walls are brick. The outside walls let in a lot of water when it rains Due to lack of gutters. (I was TOLD that with gutters on a house in this area it will always have ice damn problems since the winters are so extreme)

Anyway I removed the old boiler, water heater and everything since they were pretty poor shape due to rust. I want to be able to put my new heat pump water heater and stuff in here with no issues.

First thought was to line the inside walls with plastic sheeting from the top to the bottom (Also act as a vapor barrier) then install plastic on the floor (cut around chimney) and cement the floor, insulate walls.

But I am questioning if I should put a sump pit in. Ideally it is such a small location I would like to avoid this but fear hydrostatic pressure. Basement floor is mostly sand and house is built on a hill much higher then the surrounding grade.

Do I risk more damage if I do not do a sump pit?

 

[ront02769]

Thirty years ago my uncle, who was one of the main contractors in the Levittown area of nj, gave me some advice when I was building my house....and that was install interior drains leading to a sump.....and just cement over it. If you DONT need it, no worries. If you DO, punch a hole in the concrete and put the pump in. So since my engineer told me no way that I would get water in the basement in the next hundred of years or so....I ignored the advice....and got water a couple of years later....and ended up having to put in a sump pump at the low spot which basically relied on water coming o er top of the floor and running into it. So long story short, Oif the place is torn up, take precautions now while it is cheap. Ron

 

[Knucklez]

i have 100 year old house with field stone foundation and 1" thick concrete mix-by-hand floor. i'm lucky, no water ever. both neighbours have a tidal flood every year. so you never know where the ground water is going to flow or maybe if it will change a couple decades later. i'd put in a sump, even if you don't need it. also a back-flow preventor valve on the sewage drain while you're at it.

 

[jomama45]

Do I risk more damage if I do not do a sump pit?

Yes, absolutely. All of the other work you do will be useless if you don't create a "weak point" to collect and remove of the water..........