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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRimfield Drive PW Street File March 23, 2007 Karl Reichle Superintendent of Operations Town of South Windsor Department of Public Works 1540 Sullivan Avenue South Windsor, CT 06074 Dear Karl: Thank you for your recent visit to our street to investigate an ongoing issue we've had with basement flooding. We are writing to summarize our current situation, as well as the history, of our water problems at 15 Rimfield Drive. We moved into our home in August, 2002. The History: In October, 2005, our basement became flooded with over 2 inches of water during what we were told was a "100 year storm." The rain came down heavily, and then at a time when the water flooded the street, over our sidewalk and up onto our lawn, the water began to flow into our basement, up through the sump hole, not over the foundation walls. I called the police to see if we could get any kind of relief to pump the water. I was told that there were many other homes with much more water, so we could not be accommodated. After I called, I looked out the window, noticed a firetruck came down our street, and within the next couple of minutes the flood over the sidewalk abated, so something in our neighborhood must have cleared. We had an expense of$1,450 to replace the carpeting we had put in the year before, which had originally cost us $2,173. In June, 2006, after driving 15 hours to South Carolina, I received a call from our neighbor, advising us that due to a rain storm that began as we were leaving Connecticut, our basement had flooded again (thankfully they had checked the house for us since they knew what had happened the last time the street flooded). This is the second"100 year storm" in less than one year. Before these two "street flooding" incidents, we did not have any water in our basement during moderate to heavy rain. We could not turn around and drive back home, so we tried to deal with the problem long distance. We had a carpet cleaning company in and out of our house for the week, trying to vacuum out the water, and running fans and an industrial dehumidifier 24x7 to try and dry things out so we could make some more decisions when we got home (whether to throw out another$1,50042,000 with the rug, etc.). This was a $525 expense for us. While we were in South Carolina, Kevin had several conversations with Mel, who we understand you have now replaced. He and several others from the street department came out and confirmed what we think you are confirming now—all of the street drains are clear and functioning as designed. They made the suggestion that we install drainage, and connect all of the downspouts so that water runs out to the easement in the back of our backyard, and to put stone around our foundation, etc. to keep water away from the house. We have done all of that (and have photographs) and have not had any issues with water during any of the other"heavy" rains we've had since taking care of this last summer. They also suggested getting a sump pump. However, we do not have any volume of water in the foundation (virtually none) and it certainly would not be able to keep up with the influx of water that we experience when the water forces up the pipe during the flooding. The Problem: What we understand to be the issue is that when the road floods, the storm drain obviously cannot handle the volume, and water is forced up the pipe that leads from the storm drain, up to the sump hole/curtain drain in the foundation of our house. Apparently there is no backflow preventer/check valve to keep this from happening, and we understand this to be a violation of the building code that was in place when our house was built based on research Kevin has done (The BOCA Basic/National Plumbing Code/1984, Sixth Edition, and The BOCA National Plumbing Code/1990—Commentary). We are very frustrated to have had this happen not once, but twice, within one year and there are certainly no guarantees that this will not happen again given the weather patterns we have recently experienced. This is not isolated to our house. Our neighbors at 23 Rimfield next door, our neighbors across the street at 24 Rimfield, and our neighbors at 45 Perrin Lane all have had the same problem. The Solution: What we would like to have done (with no expense to us, since we understand this to be an issue with the fundamental structure based on approval of a drainage system that did not conform to code): • Install a backflow preventer/check valve which will allow any water that might accumulate in the foundation of our house to flow out, but will not allow water to flow up the pipe into the house during these flooding situations OR • Dig down to the pipe, cap it off from the storm drain side, cut off a 1-2 feet section and dig below to add stone and allow the pipe coming from the house to drain (will be very little, but needs a place to go). This would be easiest as it would not require ongoing monitoring of the check valve to make sure it does not get stuck. • Reimburse for the cost of our carpets and clean up ($2,170+ $1,450+ $525 = $4,145- we have not purchased a new one—we have kept the one that sat for a week in humid July weather. We are not willing to replace it until we are assured that the flooding will not happen again). We appreciate your attention to this matter. Please let us know if you have any questions. While we would prefer not to, we are prepared to advance this through legal channels if we can't get this resolved in the next several weeks as we are approaching another potentially rainy season, and we don't want to leave ourselves unprotected in the event of a third "100 year storm"which seems more than likely we will have. Sincerely, , r Kevin and Ann St. Denis 15 Rimfield Drive South Windsor, CT 06074 643-1645 Attachments