Hello, I have a grading issue around the foundation that I am hoping to fix with what basically amounts to a big "window well" being dug along a portion of the house. The well would be something like 50 feet long and 6 inch wide and would be preferably connected to a 4-5 ft deep French drain using vertical pipes. The drain brings the water in my basement where a pump pushes the water to the sewer system. Another backup pump is there in case of primary pump failure that pushes water directly outside the house. This option is not ideal but there are no ideal solutions. I have been around most other possibilities and this fix is the best I could find so far. Assuming we stick with this approach, here are a couple of questions: 1) is such well too large to be handled by a sump pump? Note that I have roof overhangs that cover most of the area of the well and will grade the area around the well away from the house. I honestly do not expect much water to seep in the well. 2) Does it matter if I do not have the vertical pipes to connect to the French drain? I live in Canada so obviously snow and frozen ground are issues. 3) If the pipes are needed, how many vertical pipes would be required? Would you, say, place a new pipe every couple of feet or would a single pipe be sufficient? Two would seem to me like a minimum to get a backup in case of pipe clogging. Note that I have posted the complete problem description here: [url=http://www.diychatroom.com/f16/help-low-foundation-height-496778/]Help With Low Foundation Height - Landscaping & Lawn Care - DIY Chatroom Home Improvement Forum[/url] Thank you, Olivier

Live in a 20 yr old 3 level townhouse directly on the Chesapeake Bay with 3 Andersen sliding glass doors that face the water. We moved into the house 3 yrs ago and when we have heavy wind driven rain, all 3 doors leak from the top rail of the moving panel of the sliding door. Just a slow drippy leak but the bottom track fills up pretty quickly with water during heavy rains. Each door has a hurricane shutter installed on top which manually rolls down using a crank inside. We had the outside caulking around the door and hurricane shutters replaced - but it still leaks. There is very little clearance between the hurricane shutter and top of the sliding glass door from underneath - can barely get my fingers up there. But I cannot see or feel a J channel between the siding and top of the sliding door. I feel a pretty large space between the top ledge of the sliding door and the siding - at least an inch or more deep and an inch wide. I cannot feel any type of caulking in this area. As I said, I can barely see this area from below and can barely reach my fingers into this area - only about 2 inch clearance max - maybe less. Any thoughts on the source of the leak and what to do?? I was researching online and thought I could maybe use butyl putty tape in the area between the siding and top of the sliding door - but it is only 1/8" thick and the gap is quite large - so would likely not fill much of the area and cannot see what I am doing anyway as I would be putting this in place only by feel. I think the putty tape comes in 1.5 inch wide rolls - so I could roll it into a rope shape and try to push it into the bottom of channel as best as possible. Is it worth a try as it would be a royal pain in the butt to do? How about plumber's putty - the pliable stuff you put around big holes around pipes both inside and out. Does this stuff come in 1 or 2 inch round ropes versus the blocks sold in big box or plumbing supply stores? Any suggestions would be most appreciated.