trying to locate my drain tile

[mickey]

Hi, I'm a newbie. I have a window well without a drain in it. All the other windows have drains going to tiles and then to the sump pump.

My question is how can I tell if there is drain tile under that window.

The house was built in 1985. I can't figure why there is no drain in that window unless there is no drain tile under it. It is the closest window to the sump pump.

I'd like to dig down and add a drain but don't want to unless I know I will find some drain tiles down there.

[TJ1962]

Possible that the builder just forgot to put one in.

Putting a stand pipe in is fairly easy: Dig out well about 3-4 feet. Then use a hole digger-auger to dig down ontop of draintile. Insert a standpipe-draintile fill with gravel.

First you should do a water test to confirm this is needed. It may be the window itself that has a leak. Run water on ground if no water enters wait, then run water on window itself.

[mickey]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm ready to dig. I'm just wondering if there is any drain tile there to dig to.

Nothing surprizes me anymore. When we dug for a pool we found a 42" by 80" window buried in the backyard! I'm guessing one of the builders must have broken it, buried it, and claimed it never got delivered. There's another one just like it 15' away, on the house!

How can I find out (before digging) where the drain tile really is?

[TJ1962]

The drain tile "should" be next to the spread footer about 6-8 inches away from the foundation wall.

If you run water at other window wells and water goes away, then it would appear that the drain tiles in working order. My concern is the statement that this is nearest to the sump pump. If the discharge line to the sump is leaking this also may be causing the water problem.

As to finding scrap building material buried..........so common it is ridiculous.

[mickey]

Thanks again.

The sump discharge at one point did go straight down next to the window and come up 10 feet away. With Chicago land weather it froze and burst causing it to leak back down into the drain tiles, keeping the pump running, and eventualy burning it out. I have re-routed it away from the house since.

Now, that you bring that to memory, there must be a drain tile there! Thanks! I now feel confident that I will be able to tap into something other than clay when I get to the bottom of this!

[TJ1962]

Possible that the builder just forgot to put one in.

Putting a stand pipe in is fairly easy: Dig out well about 3-4 feet. Then use a hole digger-auger to dig down ontop of draintile. Insert a standpipe-draintile fill with gravel.

First you should do a water test to confirm this is needed. It may be the window itself that has a leak. Run water on ground if no water enters wait, then run water on window itself

[aaroni]

Drain tile systems serve two purposes. Water removal away from the house and water injection into the soil foundation during drought. Drought conditions can cause the soil of your foundation to shrink, causing foundation and footer to fall.

[mickey]

Still have not started digging. It's a very rainy spring here in Chicago land.
When we had a break from the rain, it was so welcome that it was hard not to kick back and just enjoy the weather! Besides, it wasn't a problem then.