Sump pump replacement in Alexandria.
Sump pump replacement in Alexandria: $697 installed in your existing pit. A new pit, a battery backup, outside drain work or new wiring is extra.
- Cast iron pump, quiet check valve
- Extras priced in writing first
- Dedicated plumbing team
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Where Alexandria basements take on water, and where the pump may send it.
Start with whether you have a pit at all. More than half the homes inside the City of Alexandria are in condo and apartment buildings, where a sump, if there is one, sits in the building’s lowest level and usually belongs to the association. The City’s single-family houses and rowhouses are where owners keep their own. Where the house has a backflow preventer on its sewer line, nothing that flows, sump or downspout, can tie in upstream of it: the valve shuts during a sewer overload, and the pump would be pushing into a closed pipe.
The Fairfax County side sits on different ground. The county’s homeowner guide puts its marine clay mostly east of Interstate 95, and its soil and water district names Franconia and Hybla Valley among the hotspots. Water soaks into that clay so slowly it stands in flat yards, and thin sand layers inside the clay carry groundwater; where one runs near a basement wall, the guide warns, the basement can get badly wet. Its fix runs the foundation drain to a slope or a sump pump, and says a pump the basement depends on should be kept in good working condition.
Fort Hunt, Mount Vernon and Rose Hill are mostly single-family houses, and the typical one went up in 1963, 1967 and 1969 respectively, before Fairfax County adopted its problem soils ordinance in 1975. The same guide notes that backfilling basement walls with the swelling clay was common before then. Where one of those houses has a basement and a pit, the pump can cycle hard through a wet spring, wearing the float switch and the check valve.
Huntington is its own case. In 2019 the county finished a levee and pumping station along Cameron Run there, where about 160 homes sat in the floodplain. The levee holds the creek back; groundwater rising under a basement floor is still the sump pump’s job.
Sump pumps across Alexandria, place by place.
Census figures for the owner-occupied homes in each place, and what to check on a sump pump in houses that age.
| Place | Median home built | Most homes are | Heated with | What to check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Alexandria | 1970 | condo and apartment buildings, about 5 in 10 | gas, about 6 in 10 | Condo buildings: shared pits are the association’s to look after. |
| Rose Hill | 1969 | single-family houses, about 7 in 10 | gas, about 7 in 10 | Older basements: check where the sump line empties. |
| Franconia | 1986 | townhouses, about 5 in 10 | electricity, about 6 in 10 | 1980s and 90s basements: an original pump is long overdue. |
| Fort Hunt | 1963 | single-family houses, nearly all | gas, about 8 in 10 | Older basements: check where the sump line empties. |
| Kingstowne | 1994 | townhouses, about 5 in 10 | gas, about 7 in 10 | 1980s and 90s basements: an original pump is long overdue. |
| Woodlawn | 1976 | townhouses, about 4 in 10 | electricity, about 6 in 10 | Older basements: check where the sump line empties. |
| Lincolnia | 1982 | single-family houses, about 4 in 10 | gas, about 7 in 10 | 1980s and 90s basements: an original pump is long overdue. |
| Mount Vernon | 1967 | single-family houses, about 7 in 10 | gas, about 7 in 10 | Older basements: check where the sump line empties. |
Alexandria houses, by the numbers
From the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey, owner-occupied homes unless it says otherwise.
The City of Alexandria
- Median home built1970 Census
- Built before 1980about 6 in 10 Census
- Built since 2000about 2 in 10 Census
- Most homes arecondo and apartment buildings, about 5 in 10 Census
- Heated withgas, about 6 in 10 Census
- Rentedabout 6 in 10 Census
- Houses that age can still have a sump or foundation drain tied into the sewer line from decades ago, which several Northern Virginia codes now forbid.
- In condo buildings, a pit that serves the building belongs to the association; your documents say which pumps are yours.
What sump pump replacement costs in Alexandria.
The same price as our sump pump replacement page: one flat number for a new pump in a pit that’s still sound, with what costs extra named right beside it.
- Sump pump replacement, installed in your existing pit$697
- Sump pump and battery backup, installed together$3,200
- A new or deeper pit, discharge line work outside, or a dedicated circuitPriced in writing before we start
$697 covers a new cast iron pump, a quiet check valve, new PVC up to your existing discharge line, a battery water alarm by the pit, the old pump hauled away and a bucket test before we leave.
A battery backup keeps pumping through a power outage, and the outage usually comes with the storm. With a new pump, the pair is $3,200 installed. The sump pump estimator helps you decide whether you need one.
When a sump pump in Alexandria needs replacing.
The power went out with the last storm
The City’s account of the August 15, 2021 storm, 3 to 5 inches of rain in about an hour, lists power outages beside the flooding. A pump on house current stops when the lights do, and a battery backup is the piece that keeps it going.
You’re in Fairfax County and want a backup
The county’s Flood Mitigation Assistance Program pays back half of a battery backup, up to its cap, after the work is done and paid for. Not the pump itself, and not homes in the Town of Vienna, the Town of Herndon or the City of Fairfax.
You’re in the City of Alexandria
The City’s Flood Mitigation Grant Program pays back up to half of a battery-powered sump pump, up to its cap, after the work is finished and any permit it needed is in hand.
After a storm in Alexandria, check the sump pump.
Six checks you can make yourself once the rain lets up, none of them with your hands in the pit. Then call us and we’ll check it all.
Does the pump kick on?
Watch the pit during the rain or right after. The pump should start as the water rises, empty the pit and shut off. A full pit, or a pump that hums and moves nothing, isn’t keeping up.
Is there water where it shouldn’t be?
Walk the basement: the corners, the walls, the floor by the pit, under the water heater and the furnace. Photograph any wet spot before you mop, so we can see where it came in.
Is the discharge line clear?
Outside, find where the pump’s pipe ends. It should be open, not crushed, buried or full of leaves, and aimed away from the house so the water doesn’t run back to the foundation.
Does the check valve hold?
Listen when the pump shuts off. Water rushing back into the pit means the check valve isn’t closing, and the pump has to move that water again.
Did the power go out?
The pump stops when the power does, often at the height of the storm. If the basement took water during an outage, that’s the job a battery backup does.
Water near an outlet? Stay out.
If water is standing near the pit, an outlet or anything plugged in, don’t wade in to check. Call us, and only switch the power off at the panel from somewhere dry.
Not sure what you saw? Call us after a storm and we’ll check it all: the pump, the float, the check valve, the discharge line and where the water came in. If the pump can’t keep up, a new one is $697 installed in your existing pit; a new or deeper pit, a battery backup, discharge line work outside and a dedicated circuit are extra, priced in writing before we start.
Where a sump pump may drain in Alexandria.
City of Alexandria
The City doesn’t allow a sump pump or downspout to drain into the sanitary sewer, and houses built before 1970 can have one tied in without the owner knowing. Source.
How to pick the best plumber for a sump pump in Alexandria.
Questions to ask anybody who quotes you, us included.
Will the water leave the yard, or circle back to the wall?
On marine clay, a discharge line that empties onto flat lawn can pool and seep back toward the foundation. Ask where the outlet ends and whether the ground falls away from the house. Moving it is outside work, priced in writing first.
Is the price for the whole job?
Ask what the number covers: the pump, the check valve, the pipe, hauling the old one off, a test before they leave. Then ask what costs extra, and get it in writing.
What’s the new pump made of?
Cast iron, ideally. Plastic pumps cost less and are usually the ones that quit early. Ask before the old one comes out.
Do they look at where the water goes?
A discharge line that’s cracked, buried or frozen shut every January leaves the new pump pushing against a closed pipe. Whoever replaces it should check the outside end too.
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Sump pump questions from Alexandria.
Which battery backup program covers my Alexandria address?
It depends on which side of the city line the house sits, not on the mailing address. Inside the City it’s the City’s Flood Mitigation Grant; on the Fairfax County side it’s the county’s program. ZIP 22311 is split between the two, so check the side before you apply.
Who replaces the sump pump in an Alexandria condo building?
The association, if the pit serves the building. Inside the City, the Flood Mitigation Grant covers condo and HOA common areas too, but pays only the association, never an individual owner.
Which parts of Alexandria take the worst of a cloudburst?
The City’s own storm history points east: on September 10, 2020, rain fell at a rate as high as 3 inches in 10 minutes, and the flooding was worst in the eastern part of the City, with storm sewer surges and sanitary backups. The Weather Service’s reports keep coming back to Del Ray’s low corners, Commonwealth Avenue at East Glebe Road in 2022 and 2023 and East Monroe Avenue in 2025, and on the county side to New Alexandria, where the water at the stormwater pump station rose past flood stage on July 8, 2019, with street and yard flooding below it. After a storm like those, watch the pump empty the pit once, then call us and we’ll check the pump, the check valve and the line outside.
How much does sump pump replacement cost in Alexandria?
$697 installed in your existing pit: a new cast iron pump, a quiet check valve, new PVC to your discharge line, a battery water alarm, the old pump hauled away and a bucket test. A new or deeper pit, discharge line work outside, a battery backup and a dedicated circuit are extra, priced in writing before we start. A new pump and a battery backup installed together are $3,200.
Can I check my sump pump myself?
Yes. Pour five gallons of water into the pit. The float should rise, the pump should start within a few seconds, and it should shut off clean once the water’s down. If you hear water rushing back into the pit after it stops, that’s the check valve.
Sump pump replacement in the towns next door.
- Sump pump replacement in Arlington
- Sump pump replacement in Springfield
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- Sump pump replacement in Annandale
- Sump pump replacement in Fort Belvoir
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A new pump before the next storm.
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