Basements, Attics and Crawl Spaces - Sump Pump

I just spent the majority of the last weekend vacuuming/pumping 8 inches of water out of my 24' x 36' basement. It's finally dry, although it hasn't rained all week. I have not had a water problem in the 3 years I've been in my home. We had 4 inches of rain in one day last week. Two days later, the water was bubbling up through the floor from the joint where the wall meets the footing (three locations). I'm guessing the water table was high and the water had no place to go but in. I do not have a sump pump yet. Will I need a 1/2 HP or 3/4 HP sump pump to handle my problem? I plan on trenching a drain 12" down and running it 30 feet away from the house to the curb. Will a sump pump in the the lowest corner of the basement work? Or do I need to hire someone to install a french drain? Thanks for your help.

Well I'm thinking a 4" rain would flood alot of basements just about anywhere in the country, but this is probably a rare occurrence in your neck of the woods, right? So I would think installing the sump pump will take care of any further downpours. Good luck. ;)

With awesome here . It didnt happen that much. Id just put a pit for the pump in the low end of the basment and the 3/4 pump in it . That way you got it IF it happen again.

ED ;)

I am having a similar problem with some recent rains we have been getting. I am in the Cleveland, Ohio area. The water is coming in the house were the cinder block walls meet the floor in the back corner of the house. My house has been waterproofed from the outside when it was built in 77. This is the first time i noticed this water coming since we moved in the house in September 2003. I have had a few companies out to take a look at what going on. One guy wants to just install a sump pump in the area where its leaking. The other company wants to install a system similar to the sump pump and also dig outside to the frost line and install new a new drain system and a basin underneath that to catch all the water. This option is 10k and alot more than I want to spend. I have been researching the sump pump systems and have seen that there are several different ways for them to be installed. Some of these guys use some type of sheeting that goes in the floor and 2' up the wall and others use a type of cove molding. The reall kicker is I just got done finishing half of the basement. I really dont want to tear down any of the walls if I dont have to. I spent months finshing this.

My question is can I install a sump pump system and what is the correct way to do this? I am fairly handy and do most of my home projects.

Thanks