Drain question

[steuard]

I think I've mentioned before that the drain for our driveway and rear walk sometimes has trouble, well, draining. This was a problem yet again last night, and I'm tired of that little stream of water flowing through our basement when the lake forms against the back wall. It's pretty clearly more than just the grate getting clogged that's to blame, but I've exhausted my limited ability to investigate and fix the problem myself.

So: what kind of contractor should I be calling for this? It sounds vaguely plumbing related, but it falls a bit outside of my vague mental model of what plumbers do. Should I be looking instead for the sorts of folks who could repair the cracked sidewalk nearby at the same time? (And, er, who are they, exactly? I've not yet had to have any serious structural work done around the house.) Advice would be appreciated!

Comments

[ericakeithley.livejournal.com]

Do you happen to know if it drains into your sewer or just into the street/gutter? I'm guessing that if you know for sure that it drains into the sewer you need the plumber. If it drains into the street that's a little more complicated. The stairs leading to our basement door has a drain (to catch rainwater and funnel it away from the basement door) actually drains into our sewer (which I understand is a very old way of doing it and would not be acceptable in a new construction in our town), so when we had problems the plumber was able to take care of it. (But it wasn't cheap).

[steuard.livejournal.com]

I have no explicit knowledge of where it's supposed to go. (Opening the grate reveals three pipes, none of which appear to carry water anywhere at the moment.) That drain is the lowest point on our property (lower than the surrounding streets), so it's certainly supposed to empty into some sort of underground conduit.

I quite expect that it won't be cheap. But I'm not too happy about the periodic rivulet through our basement, either. :)

[ericakeithley.livejournal.com]

Robbbbbb and I talked about it, and while it might be dumping into the sewer, it might just be a type of French drain that disperses the water generally away from the house (which it clearly is not doing). I think the handyman/GC idea is the best so far, unless you or your real estate agent have contact with the former owners of the house and can find out what they know about the drain. Good luck!