My sump pump discharges on the lawn beside my house & in front of the backyard gate (see photo) The pump runs frequently, so over time it has destroyed the grass and produced a lot of mud, which gets tracked indoors by the kids & dog. I considered installing pavers, but I fear they would sink or move around due to the moisture and mud. Any suggestions on how to address/prevent the damage from the sump pump would be much appreciated.
I see a bad design here. If the water under the house is the problem, then the sump pump should not discharge so close to the house. Water can move sideways through the soil, and end up right back under the house. My first concern would be to get the water away from the house. Preferably down hill from the house. 3-4' is not enough.
1) Add to the pipe and carry the water to a better location. Since it is pumped, you can bury the pipe and just bring it up in a place that has less traffic.
2) Trench from the end of the pipe to a better location. Fill this trench with gravel and filter fabric. This would have to go downhill, since gravity will take the water through the trench to whatever discharge point you want.
3) Build up the area around the discharge area so that the water follows a channel and the main path is a bridge of some sort. Giant flagstone (3-4' diameter) would be stable in this situation, then fill between the flagstones with smaller rock that allows the water to pass through, but keeps the mud down. Make is really easy to stay on the path. When people step on the smaller rock they will be squishing it into the mud.
4) Make the area less level so the water will puddle away from the walkway and house (to the left of the gate in this picture) and plant things that like the water. Plants that are native to the margins of streams and lakes, for example. Make the walkway out of some hard material such as pavers, flagstone or other material that does not get muddy. Add enough pipe so the water gets to the other side of the walkway.
Just as Diana has mentioned, the water you think is being removed from under the house, will no doubt be just running backward into the space it was removed from, the pump is helping re-circulate the water so as stated above, this design is just NOT working as the foundations of the house must be getting constantly dampened.
I would be getting a ground / structural engineer to have a look at your foundations and give his expert opinion on how to fix the problem PROPERLY, and give a cost, then get a few more estimates for the same work, like for like.
Good idea to pick these experts brains to see IF you can manage all, or part of the work yourself to keep cost down. These experts will normally give a guarantee for there work.
Please don't go down the road that "you know better than these guy's when they give you there advice" as this type of work IF not carried out properly can lead to your house subsiding and by then your insurance company wont want to know when they see a pile of rocks and a short drainpipe doing nothing to help your unfortunate situation.
Also you have to be careful where you direct the water as your NOT allowed to have it directly running into someone else's property to undermine their foundations IF that were the case.
I personally don't see this as a costly job BUT certainly one for an expert.
Good luck and best regards.
WeeNel.
I would caution against extending the pipe aboveground if you live in a freezing climate -- it'll clog up with ice. Better to take approaches that carry it through an open trench/channel of some sort.
How about putting in a french drain, big bucket or barrel, some stone / rock, good to go.
Design ideas are going to be based on just a tiny bit of info:
Is there a place that gravity will help get the water away from the house?
If yes, then get the elevations and put in whatever works for drainage. This could be something as fancy as a dry creek bed (that really flows when there is water) to a simple trench with gravel back fill.
It has got to get the water away from the house, and not permit the water to back up and end up under the house again.
If no, then extend the sump pump discharge until the water is away from the house to a suitable discharge site. The sump pump ought to be able to do that.
The final discharge site should be far enough from the house that the water cannot return. It sure could be into a gravel filled pit of some sort.
