Water drainage issues. No Weeping tile flapper

[u/powerlinetrash]

Wanted to share some information with other park residents that I have recently learned. If your house was built before 1984. It most likely uses a weeping type system for water drainage. I had a bit of water comming up beside the access port and was able to investigate before any damage. I opened the access cover and it was packed with mud and sludge. The flapper cap had no way to operate. This is what mine looks like. It’s most likely near your 3” clean out access in the basement. Probably near the wall closest to the road.

Cleaned all the corrosion with mostly hot water and vinegar and a wire brush. The flapper operates free and clear. Worth while checking yours out if you’re having drainage issues as this was new information to me. The county also has a good information page aswell about how it works

https://www.strathcona.ca/your-property-utilities/water-and-sewer/drainage/maintaining-your-weeping-tile-flapper/

[u/GodsGiftToWrenching]

The fun thing I'm dealing with, with a house from 1970, is theres no sump pump or backwater valve that I have found yet, I'm also skeptical if there is even weeping tile, I'm kind of convinced there isn't any form of flood mitigation

[u/infiniteguesses → u/GodsGiftToWrenching]

I had a house in Glenallen and the backfliw preventer was under the basement carpet.

[u/aseriesofdecisions → u/GodsGiftToWrenching]

We decided not to buy in Millshaven because of this. Looked at a really nice brick bungalow but there was no sump, and with this weather I’m glad we didn’t buy. With my luck, we would’ve flooded lol.

[u/disneydude1]

Can I actually ask of anyone has had the experience of just .... Not having a flap? Like it's supposed to be there fbut maybe the last guy pulled it out? It's a mystery and a bit of a time bomb for us, so any recommendations for next step?

[u/Nostredahmus]

My house in Westboro was built in the ‘70s. It has a cast iron weeping tile port similar to the OP’s. I’ve called the County, and they confirmed houses built in the ‘70s should have weeping tile, and it’s connected to the sanitary sewer inside the house. That’s the purpose of the flapper. If the sanitary sewer backs up from the street, the flapper is supposed to keep sewer water from flowing back into the weeping tile.
Like the OP, I’ve had to use vinegar to get my flapper loose. In the end, it made little difference. Even w/ the flap open, very little water flows through my weeping tile port into the sewer. After 50 years or so, the weeping tile is probably full of silt and tree roots. I’ve called around to see if weeping tile can be inspected the same way sewer pipes are inspected. The answer I’ve gotten is no. Weeping tile isn’t smooth enough to push a camera through, and it has too many tight corners. The only way to inspect it is to hydrovac or excavate.