System for collecting seepage water in buildings

Abstract

Perimeter and transverse troughs, possibly 3-5 inches wide and deep, can be formed in an existing building subterranean concrete floor, with the perimeter trough being immediately adjacent and extended along the foundation wall and the traverse trough connecting the perimeter trough to a nearby sump pit formed in the floor. Each trough can be formed by cutting narrow shallow grooves outlining its desired location, and then breaking away the concrete there between. Water seepage through the wall will collect in the perimeter trough and drain away via the transverse trough to the sump pit, eliminating water pooling on the building floor itself. The troughs can be covered by separate metal or plastic covers, secured by adhesives, sealants and/or nails relative to the floor and/or foundation wall.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A recently or currently constructed building typically has a perimeter footing buried in the ground below the frost line, a perimeter foundation wall supported on the footing and rising vertically to above the ground, and perimeter side walls supported on the foundation wall and upstanding as the lowermost building walls. The space within the foundation walls is backfilled with stone that is leveled horizontally into generally horizontal alignment with the tops of the footings, forming a solid base. A concrete floor is then poured over the leveled base, to extend laterally to the perimeter foundation and to overlie the footings.

The sequence of fabricating these concrete components dictates that the footings are poured first, the foundation walls are then poured to rest on the footings, and the floor is lastly poured over the packed base and extended to the foundation walls and over the footings. The sequential pouring creates primarily mechanical interfaces between the adjacent components, which frequently allow seepage of adjacent outside ground water through the foundation wall.

OBJECT AND FEATURES OF THE INVENTION

A general object of this invention is to provide a reliable system for precluding pooling over the concrete interior floor of seepage water leaked through the foundation walls from the immediately adjacent outdoor ground.

The invention specifically provides a narrow and shallow perimeter trough in the floor immediately adjacent the foundation wall, where that trough or a separate but linked trough can direct collected seepage water from the perimeter trough to a nearby sump pit, whereby collected seepage water can be drained thereto without accumulating on the floor.

The invention further provides appropriate covers that can be secured to the wall or floor when positioned over the trough to hide the trough for safety and/or aesthetic purposes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides a perimeter floor trough system for collecting water seepage through building foundation walls, operable to preclude normal water pooling on the adjacent concrete floor.

The invention further provides for trough routing of the collected perimeter water to a sump pit, for reliably discharging the seepage water totally from the building.

The invention can be easily incorporated in existing buildings, by breaking the concrete floor immediately adjacent the foundation wall to form a narrow perimeter trough possibly several inches both deep and wide, and breaking a similar trough in the floor to extend transversely between the perimeter trough and a nearby sump pit.

The inventive troughs are preferably enclosed by separate covers overlying the troughs, the trough covers also returning the floor to a substantially level condition while isolating and hiding the troughs.

The trough covers further can have several spaced openings suited to fit a water hose there through, to provide for powered water discharge into the trough for flushing out silt, sand, bugs and dirt buildup in the trough that reduces effective water flow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

This and other objects, features or advantages of the invention will be more fully understood and appreciated after considering the following description of the invention, which includes the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a building footing, foundation wall, and basement floor in section, illustrating also the perimeter and transverse troughs, sump pit and cooperating covers overlying the troughs;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view as seem generally from lines 2-2 in FIG. 1, showing greater details of the perimeter trough and overlying cover;

FIGS. 2a and 2b are views illustrating cross-sections of two different cover embodiments; and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view, from the wall side, of a corner trough cover used in the system of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides an improved drainage system to collect and remove water seepage through the perimeter foundation wall 10 or through its interface 12 with an underlying footing 14, to eliminate water pooling on the top surface of the adjacent floor 16. The floor 16 would be poured over the stone base 17 and the footing 14, and normally extended to the foundation wall 10.

The drainage system includes a perimeter trough 18 formed in the floor 16 immediately adjacent the foundation wall 10, which trough might be 3-5 inches deep and wide. The trough 18 might be formed by sawing a shallow groove (not shown) in the substantially flat floor 16, in a direction generally parallel to but spaced from the wall 10. The narrow portion of the concrete floor between the groove and wall then can be broken away with a jack-hammer or the like, leaving the perimeter trough 18 after the broken pieces have been removed.

Alternatively, the trough 18 could possibly be formed using only a jack-hammer, with a wedge bit used to form the groove, and a pointer bit used to break up the concrete between the cut and the wall 10.

Formed in either manner, or even by other means, the bottom of the perimeter trough 18 typically would be the horizontal top of underlying footing 14, while the opposite trough sides would be the generally vertical foundation wall 10 and the edge of the adjacent remaining floor 16.

A transverse trough 20 can likewise be formed in the floor 16 to connect the perimeter trough 18 with a nearby sump pit 22 formed below the floor. The transverse trough might also be possibly 3-5 inches wide and deep. The transverse trough bottom would typically be the stone base 24, while the trough sides would be the adjacent remaining floor 16.

Although not shown herein, a conventional sump pump would be mounted in the sump pit 22 and connected by piping or hoses to drain the collected sump water to outside of the building, according to code. The sump pump would be operated automatically by a typical control suited to maintain the water level in the pit 22 below a maximum height which would be set to be below the floor 16.

The perimeter and transverse troughs 18, 20 preferably would be enclosed by separate covers 28, 30 sized to overlie the trough and then be secured in place. The trough covers 28, 30 not only isolate and hide the troughs, but also return the floor to a substantially level condition.

More specifically, each perimeter trough cover 28 in transverse cross section might be “L” shaped, extended uniformly along its length. The long leg 38 of the “L” shaped cover would be sized to span the width of the trough 18 and then overlie the adjacent part of the floor remotely of the wall by 1-2 inches, more or less. The short cover leg 40 would be extended vertically to overlie the adjacent upstanding foundation wall, by possibly 1-2 inches. When so positioned, a nail 42 or the like can be driven or shot into the wall, through the vertical leg 40, to secure the cover as positioned against the wall 10 and the floor 16.

The perimeter trough cover 28 might be provided in six foot lengths to be convenient to handle, as many covers typically would be needed when arranged end-to-end to completely overlie a perimeter floor trough 18 adjacent the foundation wall 10, or the building perimeter.

The transverse trough cover 30 can be flat, and possibly 5-7 inches wide, suited to span the transverse trough 20 and have side edges that would overlap the floor 16 on both sides of the trough 18. The transverse cover 30 at the wall end would be butted against the side edge of the positioned and secured perimeter cover 28, at the long leg 38. The transverse trough cover 30 again could possibly be provided in six foot lengths, and cut to length on site as needed.

A right-angle corner trough cover 46 (illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 3) could overlie the perimeter troughs meeting at an interior wall corner. Each corner cross section would be “L” shaped, with leg 48 suited to be positioned against the floor and span the trough and overlie the floor remotely of the wall by possibly an inch or so, and with leg 50 extended vertically and overlying the adjacent upstanding foundation wall by possibly 1-2 inches. Again, nails 42 or the like could be driven or shot into the wall, through either or both of the vertical legs 50, to secure the trough cover 46 as positioned in the wall corner.

Spaced protrusions 54 might be formed to project off of the rear wall side of the vertical leg 50, suited to engage the wall and space the adjacent remaining portions of the vertical leg face slightly from the wall. This would allow water flowing downwardly on the wall to pass between the leg face and wall, so as to reach the underlying trough 18. The corner trough cover could be molded as a single piece of a rubber or a plastic.

Two different but related embodiments of the perimeter trough covers 28a and 28b are illustrated in FIGS. 2a and 2b. Thus, these trough covers might be extruded lengthwise of the cover, and have reinforcing longitudinal ribs 58 formed along the long leg 38a or 38b.

The perimeter trough cover 28a in FIG. 2a has its short vertical leg 40a formed flat, which might be fitted flush against a flat smooth vertical building wall, establishing a seal like fit between the wall and cover.

The perimeter trough cover 28b instead has longitudinal ribs 60 formed off of the outer face of the short leg 40b, to space the short leg slightly from the wall, whereby water might then run down the wall behind the cover leg. By having the rib 60 slope downwardly, as illustrated in FIG. 2b, the rib and/or the vertical leg could flex slightly in passing over any bump or ridge in the foundation wall, thereby keeping the wall spaced from the adjacent leg portion and allowing water to drain downwardly on the wall past the gapped cover leg, to reach the underlying trough.

Also, the corner trough cover 46 further could have one large or possibly two smaller openings 52 in the leg 48, sized to allow a water hose (not shown) to be fitted through it. By curving the inserted hose end slightly, water could be discharged axially into and along the trough, in both directions from the corner, to flush out collected dirt, silt, dead bugs or the like therein that could preclude good drainage flow of any collected water along the trough.

The corner cover 46 might be 10-12 inches long from its exterior corner. The use of a corner trough cover would eliminate the need for hand trimming 45 degree angled corner cuts in the otherwise 90 degree meeting “L” shaped covers 28. Nonetheless, the corner trough cover 46 might be eliminated, and the adjacent perimeter covers could be hand trimmed with any necessary 45 degree angled cuts, or the like, to meet better at the corner; and water flushing hose holes could be drilled in the cover near the finished corner.

In installing the trough covers, a sealant and/or an adhesive might be used between the cover and floor and/or between the cover and wall suited to affix the cover/floor or cover/wall together. The covers might be made of plastic or metal, suited to resist rust or corrosion, while yet being economically fabricated to the typically needed or standard lengths, such as the six feet length mentioned above.

While several embodiments have been illustrated, minor changes could be made without departing from the inventive teaching. Accordingly, the invention is to be limited only by the following claims.

Claims

1. A system for collecting water seepage through a concrete foundation wall to minimize or prevent accumulation on an adjacent concrete floor, where a sump pit is formed in the floor spaced from the wall, comprising a perimeter trough formed in the concrete floor immediately adjacent the wall and extended along the wall, a transverse trough formed in the floor and extended between and connecting the perimeter trough and the sump pit, and separate covers mounted over the respective perimeter and transverse troughs.

2. A system according to claim 1, further including each separate perimeter trough cover being secured to the adjacent wall by one or more nails or the like being shot or otherwise being driven into the wall.

3. A system according to claim 2, further including each trough being of the order between 3-5 inches wide and deep.

4. A system according to claim 3, further including a sealant and/or adhesive being applied between the transverse trough cover and floor immediately adjacent the transverse trough for securing said cover over the trough.

5. A system according to claim 1, further including each trough being formed by cutting one or more narrow shallow groove(s) in the concrete floor outlining its desired location, and then breaking away the concrete next to and up to the groove(s).

6. A system according to claim 1, further including each perimeter trough cover being generally “L” shaped with a horizontal leg and a vertical leg respectively abutting the floor and the adjacent wall, and means securing the vertical leg to the wall.

7. A system according to claim 6, further including said means securing the vertical leg to the wall being comprised as one or more nails or the like being shot or otherwise driven through the vertical leg and into the wall.

8. A system according to claim 7, further including each trough being of the order between 3-5 inches wide and deep.

9. A system according to claim 6, further including a corner trough cover piece suited to fit across an interior 90 degree corner and having a single horizontal leg and two vertical legs angled at 90 degrees and meeting at a closed corner, the horizontal legs being sized to span the trough at an interior corner of the foundation wall and to overlie edge portions of the floor adjacent the trough, and the vertical legs being sized to overlie part of the foundation wall above the trough, and means to secure the corner piece relative to the foundation wall.

10. A system according to claim 9, further including the corner piece horizontal leg having openings therein overlying the trough, effective to allow a water hose or the like to be fitted through the opening for flushing out the trough with water discharged from the hose.

11. A system according to claim 9, further including the corner piece being secured to the adjacent wall by one or more nails or the like being shot or otherwise being driven through the vertical legs and into the wall.