Patio paver over drainage pipe - becomes more mysterious

[Geo]

As those of you who read my initial post know, I'm in the process of digging out a hole for a paver patio that is outside the walkout basement - which happens to be the low spot of the property. To recap, I just removed an old slab of cement outside the walkout door and as I was digging about 10" down a water puddle formed along the foundation and I ran in to (what I thought was) a drainage pipe. This pipe runs parallel to the foundation about 10" below the level of the basement floor. I presumed the water drained from this pipe to the sump.

As it turns out the previously mentioned pipe turns out to be an old 5 foot piece of 2.5" pvc that was half under the old concrete slab at the doorway with the other half just covered by dirt and gravel. The pipe was sitting on gravel and was atop plastic and parallel to the house against the foundation. It looks like it was intentionally laid this way. The thing is the pipe does not connect to anything. It's just 5 feet of pipe lating there. I can remove it.

Which brings me to the next problem. Why is there water pooling against the foundation. Granted, it's below the level of the basement floor, but I'm not sure that I can lay a patio atop it. Does this water pooling suggest that the drain tile is not working correctly or is this a natural type of occurence? next, can I safely put a paver on top of it? The water doesn't seem to get any higher than a certain level. Even if I try to fill the hole it seems to seep in the ground. It doesn't rise. For patio purposes I suppose I could back fill the hole with gravel, pack it - that would get me about 10", then the subbase of the patio wouldbe another 5" with a 1" sand base and

2.5" paver stone.

I'm at a loss here.

[RicodJour]

If you have that much cover, and you use graded, compacted, fill, there's no problem with the patio pavers. That's the least of your worries.

The pipe makes no sense, I could come up with theories, but who knows? The water level is an issue. I'd imagine you've been looking at this for a relatively short time and haven't experienced heavy flooding, torrential rains, snow melt - whatever is the worst case scenario is in your area - so I wouldn't be in a hurry to lay those pavers until you're very confident you understand the water/drainage situation.

I'd definitely want to have some drainage in front of that door, either running to daylight or to a drywell. Concrete slabs will wick up water, so even if there isn't standing water in the basement, the high water table could wet the slab, damage stored items and promote mold growth.

R

[Jim Elbrecht]

-snip-

Worth repeating. While you're digging, how hard would it be to make a drain off to daylight?

Jim

[Geo]

I don't think it would be too difficult. Just some extra work, but now's the time to do it.

What's the best way to drain it? Should I slope everything to a low spot and drop a drain tile in it to daylight?

thanks for the advice.

[Jim Elbrecht]

-snip-

Pretty much-- I like a variation on 'french drains' - essentially a ditch filled with gravel. If it were me, I'd probably dig a ditch about 8" to foot square- line it with 4' wide landscape cloth, throw down a couple inches of gravel- place some cheap corrugated 4" pipe in it- fill over and around the pipe with gravel; fold the landscape cloth over, and fill the top with topsoil. A corrugated pipe covered with a sock might be as effective and would be a lot easier, but I'm a creature of habit.

I've found that even a couple inches of cover will withstand occasional vehicle traffic. If it is likely to be driven over, though, bury it at least a foot deep. [remember the septic tank pumper- and don't dig up your leach field]

Jim

[dnoyeB]

Can you connect this pipe to the sump? If so, now is a good time.

Water would be pooling because you are deep enough in the ground vs. your local water table. AND your weeping tile is not connected to anything. Can you contact the builder about that? probably they need to fix that. Builder may not even know that was done. Perhaps plumber was skimping and neighbors have this setup as well..

[Geo]

And it gets even more interesting. I decided to do more digging (literally) and I found the drain tile on one side of the walkout door and it just ends - not covered, nothing. Reached in it to clean out the sediment that formed. So, what I know so far is what it looks like below:

| o | o | o

---------------------------|walkout door|------- o /o o

/|\\ | drain tile ends

Should drainage tiles be connected all the way around the house even with the low point of the property being where the walkout door is located?

[Geo]

And it gets even more interesting. I decided to do more digging (literally) and I found the drain tile on one side of the walkout door and it just ends - not covered, nothing. Reached in it to clean out the sediment that formed. So, what I know so far is what it looks like below:

| o | o | o

---------------------------|walkout door|------- o /o o

/|\\ | drain tile ends

Should drainage tiles be connected all the way around the house even with the low point of the property being where the walkout door is located?

[Geo]

And it gets even more interesting. I decided to do more digging (literally) and I found the drain tile on one side of the walkout door and it just ends - not covered, nothing. Reached in it to clean out the sediment that formed. So, what I know so far is what it looks like below:

| o | o | o

-------------------|walkout door|------- o /o o

/|\\ | drain tile ends

Should drainage tiles be connected all the way around the house even with the low point of the property being where the walkout door is located?

[Geo]

And it gets even more interesting. I decided to do more digging (literally) and I found the drain tile on one side of the walkout door and it just ends - not covered, nothing. Reached in it to clean out the sediment that formed. So, what I know so far is what it looks like below: | o | o | o

--------------|walkout door|------- o /o o /|\\ | drain tile ends Should drainage tiles be connected all the way around the house even with the low point of the property being where the walkout door is located?