New Room...Drain Hole

[htsteve]

I'm planning to put an HT room in my basement. The area I want/need to put it in has a drain hole in the floor. The hole would be approximately behind the left front speaker. Not ideal, to say the least. In my 14 years in the house, nothing has come up from the hole. However, there are other parts of my city were some people have had some issues. I've though of some ideas to deal with this as the room is built out. However, I'm looking for ideas, suggestions and anyone who has dealt with this and what was done about it.


Thanks for any help.

Steve

[Kevin P]

Put in a raised floor. Then you'll have a few inches of safety in case the basement floods for whatever reason, and you won't have to worry about the drain either.

[htsteve]

Put in a raised floor. Then you'll have a few inches of safety in case the basement floods for whatever reason, and you won't have to worry about the drain either.

Kevin,

Thanks for the reply. That was my primary thought. Now for the novice question. Raise the floor for just the new HT room or the entire basement area? I suspect the whole area.

[Chris D]

Whole basement would really be best. If you do it right, you can use the raised floor to your advantage, too, making it acoustically strong by doing something like filling it with sand or at least insulation.

[Glen B]

With expensive equipment at risk, I would investigate whether there is any sort of check valve available that can be installed to prevent backup through the drainage system and not just rely on a raised floor.

[htsteve]

With expensive equipment at risk, I would investigate whether there is any sort of check valve available that can be installed to prevent backup through the drainage system and not just rely on a raised floor.

Glen,

Thanks for the information. I had wondered about any additional precautions, just in case there is a lot of water/backup. I'll look into it.

[Glen B]

Glen,

Thanks for the information. I had wondered about any additional precautions, just in case there is a lot of water/backup. I'll look into it.

See the link for the story where New York State legislators are looking to assist homeowners with the cost of installing check valves in their basements, to prevent sewage from backing up into their homes during storms. Apparently the installation work is not cheap but needs to be viewed in the context of helping to minimize the risk damage to a significant investment in A/V equipment. A past episode of the Discover Channel show Dirty Jobs, featured a Queens, NY basement cleanup after a couple feet of sewage backed up into the home.

http://www.brooklyndowntownstar.com/StoryDisplay.asp?NewsStoryID=6575&PID=4

[Lex]

oh gross event. Check valve seems like a really good idea. I actually saw one at work yesterday on a faucet outside at work, it did a pulse thing, and the preventive maintenance guy that I was shooting the breeze with at the time said it was just exactly that. To prevent sewage backup. I guess it affects the entire water system, I guess...

[Russ L]

I live in a floodplain. there are excellent checkvalves or back stops available. Make sure yours is a quality installation.

[Fred333]

Yea nothing is worse then having a big storm and everything get ruined by bad installation job.

[Russ L]

Drain hole... Home Audio/ Theater... only one solution, spend more. :dance:

[Fred333]

Spending more is what we do best.

[Eric S]

In our town, drain holes would routinely back up and spill (ok, thrust) sewage into basements during bad rain storms. Check with your water company or township to see if they are willing to come and permanently seal the hole closed for you.