Floods often strike unexpectedly and at the most inconvenient times. For instance, they can occur during a downpour when the power suddenly goes out. Flooding can occur due to various factors, including severe weather, clogged storm drains, malfunctioning sump pumps, or city mains causing sewage backups into homes. To make matters worse, most floods aren’t covered by standard homeowners insurance policies; they typically require a separate or additional policy for coverage. In the past, preventing basement floods was difficult, but thankfully, there are now both traditional and modern methods to help keep your property dry.

1.) Standpipes:
Standpipes are an old, tried-and-true method for managing sewer backups. They have been used for decades to control basement flooding caused by minor sewer overflows. A standpipe works by creating back pressure on the sewer system. The pipe extends just above floor level, allowing standing water to be pushed back down by gravity. However, water can still seep through cracks in the floor. For this reason, we typically don’t recommend this type of flood control system.

2.) Overhead Sewer
Overhead sewers are one of the most effective ways to protect your property from floods. Adding a battery backup system takes it to the next level. While no system is 100% failproof due to the moving parts in pumps and motors, combining an overhead sewer with a reliable battery backup makes your property nearly flood-proof.

With an overhead sewer system, lower-level fixtures are no longer connected directly to the city sewer. Instead, they drain into an ejector pump, which pushes the water into the overhead sewer lines. Our system integrates overhead sewer lines with a pump station, offering peace of mind whether you’re home or away. This solution is ideal for anyone dealing with frequent flooding, particularly when city sewer backups are an issue.

To ensure maximum protection, it’s important to keep your equipment and battery backup system well-maintained. We recommend scheduling annual maintenance and inspections to keep everything in top working order.

3. Lift Stations
Installing a flood control system, such as a lift station, is one of the most reliable ways to protect your home from flooding and sewage backups. With torrential downpours and increasingly unpredictable weather patterns, flooding problems have become more frequent in areas like Des Plaines and Park Ridge, IL. For example, during the spring of 2020, many residents experienced severe sewage backups and flooding.

Standard sewer systems rely on gravity to move water, but when the city sewer backs up, homes are at risk of flooding. A lift station solves this by placing a basin and pumps between your home and the city sewer. Instead of depending on gravity, the lift station uses commercial pumps to move water to a higher elevation, effectively channeling it into the sewer system. This method offers a powerful solution to protect your property, even during neighborhood-wide flooding.