Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love how people make things up on this board.

The reason most newer homes have them is because there have been drastic changes in how basements are waterproofed. Prior to around 1990 all exterior weeping systems drained away from the house to storm sewers. You can't do that anymore. Now basements are built with weeping systems tied into interior drains and sump pits. So yes virtually every new home will have a sump pump.

Older homes have them to deal with water infiltration. And they are often regional - in new England a lot of homes with basements don't have because the surrounding substrate is bedrock. In the DC area lots have them.

Why can't you drain toward the sewers anymore?

Sighhhhhh....DC Code prohibits it. I recently finished a gut reno. Code requires all such drainage (including french drains) to be expunged through my house's waste water pip.

Anonymous wrote:I have never lived in one, and I wouldn't want to buy a house with one. It means the basement floods enough to make it worth it, and I don't want to deal with that.

This is Exhibit A in why you don't source information from DCUM. Most row houses in DC were built in the early 20th century. At that time obviously no one would have installed a sump pump. Of course, until relatively recently construction of basements sought to eliminate water from penetrating instead of trying to figure out how to route it in its least negative direction. News flash; water always wins!. Modern construction doesn't just prevent water, it runs drainage (usually in the form of porous rock) under the cement slab and then pumps that up and out.

Point here is this; the all or none construction of the DCUM ignoramus class is frivolity. You can't intuit anything about a DC row house that doesn't have one and hasn't had major construction (e.g. underpinning). Maybe there is water damage, maybe there isn't. But the mere lack of one doesn't tell you anything definitively. At the same time I would argue that a row house that has had major construction on the basement level (especially underpinning) that dosn't have one should set off some alarm bells about the overall quality of the construction.

Anonymous wrote:I love how people make things up on this board.

The reason most newer homes have them is because there have been drastic changes in how basements are waterproofed. Prior to around 1990 all exterior weeping systems drained away from the house to storm sewers. You can't do that anymore. Now basements are built with weeping systems tied into interior drains and sump pits. So yes virtually every new home will have a sump pump.

Older homes have them to deal with water infiltration. And they are often regional - in new England a lot of homes with basements don't have because the surrounding substrate is bedrock. In the DC area lots have them.

Why can't you drain toward the sewers anymore?

Our previous home in DC had the foot wide hole (hidden under a laundry sink so you wouldn't fall in it) that a pump could go into but we didn't have a problem and never put a pump in. We did do a radon mitigation system because of the open hole.

I love how people make things up on this board.

The reason most newer homes have them is because there have been drastic changes in how basements are waterproofed. Prior to around 1990 all exterior weeping systems drained away from the house to storm sewers. You can't do that anymore. Now basements are built with weeping systems tied into interior drains and sump pits. So yes virtually every new home will have a sump pump.

Older homes have them to deal with water infiltration. And they are often regional - in new England a lot of homes with basements don't have because the surrounding substrate is bedrock. In the DC area lots have them.

To me, the presence of a sump pump means a water problem.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've only lived in newer suburbs, but all of the houses have them. I have also had neighbors swear up and down they don't have one because they have no idea what a sump pump actually looks like. But if there's a basement, there's a sump pump.

Completely untrue.

Many localities have begun to require sump pumps in new construction properties in the last few years whether needed or not

Our house doesn't have one. Previous owners installed a ton of drains around the exterior and adjusted the grading.

My previous house did not have one - basement never took on water. My current house has a sump pump - it's worked, and the basement has never taken on water since I've owned it. Depending on how the yard is graded and how high the water table is where the house is, you may not need one.

If the house doesn't have one b/c there are no water issues, that is great. Be cautious though about assuming there is not one. They can be put in and then covered with flooring. Real estate agents (in my experience) are often very nontechnical (or pretend to be), so just because they agree with you that there is not one doesn't necessarily mean there isn't one. It is nice not to have to look at a sump pump, but if it breaks (they don't last forever), your plumber will have to break the flooring to get at it.

Choose a home inspector who has water issues experience and a good reputation.

We don't have one and didn't put one in during our renovation because we don't have water issues. In our old house we did install a sump pump because we had water issues. To me a sump pump indicates potential water issues which would make me nervous in this area with extended power outages.

Not every house with a basement has a sump pump; it depends on where the home is built and the topography. Our over 40 year old home doesn't have one. Our previous home did, and it was needed, because it would activate whenever we had several inches of rain.

Anonymous wrote:I've only lived in newer suburbs, but all of the houses have them. I have also had neighbors swear up and down they don't have one because they have no idea what a sump pump actually looks like. But if there's a basement, there's a sump pump.

Very false (and you provide very limited reference). Sump pumps are mainly for houses where the basement is mainly underground. Many newer houses have a walkout basement which is almost entirely above ground-level. I wouldn't base your answer on the few houses that you've lived in.