Should My Sump Pit Be Covered?

Should my sump pit be covered, or is this normal?

Definitely, your sump pit should be covered for a variety of reasons. And we will get to that in a minute.

As for is this normal? I’ll answer this question first. An open sump pit certainly used to be normal for decades. But this wasn’t a good idea. Would you leave the top down on a convertible all the time? I think not.

What if it was in the garage under cover? Would you leave the top down all the time? Likely not. Why? You still want to protect what’s inside the car, even if it is dust from the garage door opening. I’m saying your sump pit is similar to that convertible in a way!

It needs a lid. And not just any lid. A safe lid. Much like a pill bottle. Our goal at Clarke Basement Systems is to do what’s right, and wherever possible, that means cover the sump pit with a good lid. A lid that you can stand on for your own safety. Here are other reasons why:

•  Things fall into it. You may think no one goes over there or it’s in the crawl space that it’s not an issue. Well do you have any pets? The number of dog balls or children’s toys that we have found in sump pits could fill the back of a pick-up truck! It happens.

• Children are drawn to water. Water is down there. Children could fall in head first and drown. You may say, “we have no kids or grandchildren.” However, when we do our work we have to think long term. And we take the responsible approach. Someday your home will be sold. Will the next family have kids, or the family after that?

Every sump pit needs a lid. And just like a pill bottle, a lid that a child can’t easily open or push aside to get to the water, it’s best the lid be screwed down so a small child can’t get in there.

• If you hear water running or dripping, does that bother you? A lid will drastically help silence the sound of the groundwater coming into the sump pit. If that’s a sound that bothers you, we can help.

• Sometimes, the water that comes into the sump is crystal clear, almost like drinking spring water. Other sump pits have water that has a smelly odour. Keep that smell sealed and contained. We can help.

• If you left water in a large open pot in a room, it evaporates into the air over time. This might be fine in the middle of winter but not in the summer. This is called uncontrolled evaporation. You want to be in control of the moisture in the air inside your home and where it’s coming from. Too much moisture will cause mold growth. So, seal it up.

• Higher energy bills. YES – an open sump pit promotes higher heating bills. If your sump pit is connected to your exterior weeping tile system and window well drains without a properly sealed lid, you’re likely paying for heat. With all that outside air coming into your house through the drainage pipes, your home “sucks” on the ground. Air flows from bottom to top – basement or crawl space to upper floors. This is called the “stack effect.” If you want to test this for yourself, take a match, light it and blow it out close to the top of your sump pit. Watch how fast the smoke moves upward. Having an open sump pit lid is like leaving a basement window open “all the time.” Would you do that? It’s just a bad idea. Uncontrolled incoming air costs money in the heating season with higher heating bills and in the summer with uncontrolled higher humid air coming in through your exterior drain system. This causes higher relative humidity, which causes mold. And if you’re connecting it with running a dehumidifier, that’s great. But your dehumidifier won’t need to run as much as you try to dry out all that outside air coming in. “Seal tight and vent right.”

• And lastly, uncontrolled pests – snakes, squirrels, chipmunks. It’s like this. A sump pump/pit is a needed item to keep your basement dry. Great. But let’s not encourage a highway of animals to be allowed to easily crawl or wiggle down inside your pipes and into your home. So many of these sump pits in the summer go dry. There is no water left in them. It all evaporates into your home if you have outside pipes that lead from your eaves trough or vertical pipes from your weeping tiles that are not rodent-proof. Then it’s a highway for little pests to come on in. All of the sump systems at Clarke Basement Systems include a secure lid. Even our discharge pipes have grommets to seal up around the pipes. It is this attention to detail that makes a big difference.