Question about sump pumps

[BigBlockBaja]

We are looking at buying a house around the corner from us thats lake front. We recently had a heavy rain storm, about 4 inches of rain over night. We looked at this house 2 times prior to today. well, after the rain, there was water in the laundry room and in the basement office. The house currently has 2 sump pumps in the front half of the house. They look to be connected via that black corrugated pipe.
The thing that concerns me is that the sump basin on both pumps is only about 6" below the floor line. isn't it supposed to be down about 2 feet? Maybe this would explain why the water came in. Also, there was no evidence that the sump didn't kick on and overflowed. The floor around both pumps was dry.
Any pointers on this?

[Ken F]

I would check around the outside of the house and make sure that you have good drainage away from the foundation for at least six feet. My bet would be that as soon as you walk around the outside, you will see where the problem is immeadiatly.
If not, then water is running in underground and then into the basement about the only fix is to trench the basement floor and install french drains under the floor. I've had to do that to fix the same problem to a couple of houses and it cured the problem on both.
Adjust your offer accordingly- you are lucky that you were able to see the problem before you buy it.
Hope this helps
Ken F

[BigBlockBaja]

Thanks Ken,
As for drainage around the house, both the front and rear gutters on the house drain into an underground system which runs into the lake. The sump pumps also drain into the lake. The only problem with the gutter system we found so far was the rear gutter was clogged with leaves and was pooling up around the rear of the foundation. But this area in the house was dry. In the front of the house, the area was clear, no standing water.
Do ya think two sump pumps with a total depth of about 6" below the floor line is normal?

[Baja Big Dog]

Whats a basement???:D

[GHT]

Yes, it should be in a (usually) 2' precast box. You can check the pumps to see if they work by lifting one of the floats and see if the pump turns on. The reason the area around the pump is dry may be because the water is leaching through where the pump is. As for the areas that are wet I would get a hose and run it around the suspected areas and see if you can witness the leaking.
Good luck...
Don