Insta-Dry Basement Systems You had better stay home, and check their work before they cover the pipes. Romulus Michigan

They don't use any tools to pitch the drain tile I/E a level, or laser. Lucky for me that I was home, and have a lifetime of construction knowledge to catch the mistakes before they were covered with concrete.

They had the pipe running uphill, flat, and at the 'high point' they were only two inches below the top of my floor? The salesman told me that they start at the top of the footing (4 inches below the top of the floor) and pitch the drain pipe from there to the sump basket. At the sump basket they were only 1 inch below the top of my footing. Half of the basement was not draining at all, and the other half was a slow trickle.

When I called them out on it, they threw handfulls of stone and water all over the walls and floor, ripped the drain pipes out of the trench, and then used their trenching shovels to throw more stone, water, and mud all over my basement. I couldn't understand why the guys were so mad, so I asked one of them if they got paid by the hour, or by the job? He said they got paid by the job.This explained the entire problem to me. The faster they get the job done, the more money they get to split between the crew. In my opinion this causes them to do a hurried job, and you get stuck with an inferior installation for several thousand dollars.I called the office because the salesman would'nt answer his cell phone, and told them what was going on. They put me in touch with a 'field foreman'. I asked him to come and look at the job before the workers could concrete the trench. One of the workers came upstairs and told me that the pipes were installed again, and that the system was woking fine.

When the 'field foreman' showed up, we both went down to the basement and checked the pipes. One half of the house was wrong again, and needed to be lowered more. Same thing. Pissed off workers throwing stuff all over again. The third time was a charm. System drained like it should have the first time.

Here is my point. You had better have a tape measurer and at the very least, measure from your floor joists to the top of their pipe before they cover it with the stone, and concrete. Make sure that the pipe is pitched from their 'starting' point, to the sump pump basket. If you can't do this, you may very well get a raw deal for a lot of money.

Mike.
Washington, Michigan
U.S.A.