I finally figured out why my basement smells musty every spring

Heard a guy at the hardware store in Lethbridge talking about how his sump pump pit had standing water that turned into a mold factory. He said he runs a dehumidifier down there from March to June. I went home and checked my pump, sure enough there was 2 inches of water sitting in the pit with no float switch kicking. Took me $40 and 20 minutes to clean it out and adjust the float. Anyone else deal with this every year or am I the only one who never knew?

3 comments

3 Comments

pat_moore1mo ago

Whoa hold on, I actually think you might be overthinking this. I mean, a little bit of moisture in a sump pit is basically normal around here. We live in a place where the ground is basically a sponge half the year, right? My pit has water in it every spring and I just leave it alone and it's never turned into some mold nightmare. Maybe it's just me but I feel like people spend too much time trying to fix problems that aren't really problems, y'know?

morgan_king361mo ago

Funny you mention that, my buddy had a similar situation with his crawl space last year. He kept seeing a little pool of water after every rain and was about to drop a bunch of cash on a fancy french drain system. Turns out the water was actually just runoff from his neighbor's gutter that was dumping right next to his foundation. He redirected that downspout and the problem basically vanished within a week. Have you ever checked where the water is actually coming from before it hits the pit?

cole_flores441mo ago

Nah @pat_moore, you might be right for your setup but not everyone's house is the same. A little water is one thing, but if you got a wet pit that never dries out, that's asking for trouble down the line. Mold loves that constant damp. Seen too many friends cheap out on fixing water problems and end up with much bigger bills later. So when does a little damp turn into a real mess for you?