Recommend pump to remove large puddle over dirt

[Muse]

105 year old house has serious issues with subsidence and El Nino storm season is gathering steam. Sometimes doors don't close that used to, and I need to adjust door hardware so the doors again will shut.

Well, it had rained a lot for much of two days and yesterday I noticed a very large puddle that was in the driveway and right next to the house and figured I should remove that standing water. I looked briefly at Amazon for pumps and then rode my bike up to the tool lending library a couple blocks away. They had just ordered and received 5 Little Giant 5A pumps and I borrowed one and that little sucker drained 90% of the puddle in less than 15 minutes, I figure at a rate of 2-3 gallons/minute. The tool lending library told me that they expected that they would be out of pumps within 5 hours, based on their experience. I could continue to use the library as needed but figured it might be best to buy my own pump. There are bound to be more puddles there soon, maybe as soon as Friday (in two days).

That puddle was over a spot where parking cars had caused the driveway, with is semi-paved with concrete, to sink a few inches, causing the concavity that accumulates the water. An adjacent tree (my neighbor's) sheds very thin leaves (about 1/8" wide) that could clog many pumps. I was advised to put the pump I borrowed, which has hundreds of 1/8" holes on the sucking bottom, on top of a raised board to keep it from sucking in mud which would clog the pump, possibly causing it to burn out. I put it on a 2x2' thin ply board and watched it carefully. I used a garden hose to drain the water to the street gutter. It fit conveniently on the Little Giant pump. The nice thing about that pump is it sucks from the very bottom surface.

Can you recommend a pump? I could get another Little Giant for around $100 at Amazon. Is there a cheaper pump that would do the job?

 

[Greenman]

I'd suggest putting that $100 towards a bit of regrading or drainage.

Having worked on a few of the antiques in Berkeley, I've noticed that the foundations tend to be in the "just barley good enough at the time" category. Someday you're going to have to bite the bullet and put a foundation under it.

 

[Muse]

I'd suggest putting that $100 towards a bit of regrading or drainage.

Having worked on a few of the antiques in Berkeley, I've noticed that the foundations tend to be in the "just barley good enough at the time" category. Someday you're going to have to bite the bullet and put a foundation under it.

I was on the verge of doing that when I bought the house in 2000, but held off. The contractor's bid would have been all I could handle at the time. Subsequently prices went up. Savvy contractors that I've had look at the house agree that if I do all the repairs required I'd never get that money out of it upon sale. The verdict: Do what's necessary, what will pay off on sale, don't do it all. Of course, the wild card is earthquake damage, so I'm in an insecure position in terms of my investment in this house.

I think that a $100 investment in a pump that may help a fair amount if keeping the house from subsiding further is not wasted money. That's my thinking at the moment. I haven't bought that Little Giant pump, but it's in my Amazon cart right now!

Alternatively, I could indeed do some regrading, or have it done. I've never done that stuff, but I've done a lot of things, have a lot of tools, have a DIY ethic. I have a big pile of dirt in back and I could move that to that puddle area, build it up after removing the two ~1.5' wide concrete strips that form the portion of the long driveway that's problematical. I think it was heavy cars sitting on those strips over the years that caused most of the ground subsidence that causes the puddle. Meantime, in this El Nino winter I figure I'm going to want to remove the puddles that form there. Regrading would best be done during the dry season, which we have in spades here in this arid climate from around May through August. After regrading I'd want to lay in replacement concrete. Maybe I can rent a jack hammer to break up the concrete that needs removal before the regrading portion of the project. Or, I could contract that out.

 

[Greenman]

Carry earthquake coverage and hope for the best.