Water Logged Basement

[Pick]

All,

I live in St. Loius, and have water in my basement due to the large amounts of rainfall recently. I have a 1000 square foot basement, one side carpeted and finished, and one side uncarpeted and unfinished. Water on both sides due to seepage.

I am using a shop-vac to suck up the water on the finished side, and have two dehumidifiers and a fan going to help dry the carpet. Short of tearing the carpet up, is there anything else I can do to make sure I do not get mold or have any other problems? This method worked good for me last week, and I almost had everything dried out until more storms came along.

Pick

[Joseph Meehan]

Bring in fresh air now that it is drying out there. Also take this opportunity to look around and make sure the ground/walks etc. slope away from your foundation on all sides and that rain water from the roof is directed away from the foundation.

[m Ransley]

If your carpet is wet for a few hours it may be ok if its dried fast , if its days it is most likely not worth saving. Once the water is out you could use a garden sprayer to spray bleach to kill the mold .

[Lester]

Your sewer line is probably the only vialble solution for your problem. You need a sump pump for your basement. That will move the water to your sewer line and solve your problem. The drains on the outside are nice and work 90 percent of the time. But on extended wet spells, the groud water table will rise above your basement floor and the outside drains will fill with water. Then your basement will fill with water. You need a sump pump dumping to your sewer (or your neighbors yard) Les

[HVAC IsFun]

' [e-mail] (Pick) All, =A0=A0=A0=A0I live in St. Loius, and have water in my basement due to the large amounts of rainfall recently. I have a 1000 square foot basement, one side carpeted and finished, and one side uncarpeted and unfinished. Water on both sides due to seepage. =A0=A0=A0=A0I am using a shop-vac to suck up the water on the finished side, and have two dehumidifiers and a fan going to help dry the carpet. Short of tearing the carpet up, is there anything else I can do to make sure I do not get mold or have any other problems? This method worked good for me last week, and I almost had everything dried out until more storms came along. Pick '

ME: Sorry to hear of your misfortunate Pick. Up here in Northern Illinois, we got hit pretty bad too. A really good product to coat your basement walls with is :DryLok. Available at Menards or Home DePot. It is paint that really does seal out water and moisture. Its not too expensive either. Id suggest you get some .

[Chet Hayes]

In most areas of the US, it is illegal to hook a sump pump into the sewer line. Sewer water must be treated and adding huge amounts of ground water to it increases the amount that must be treated, overloads facilities in times of heavy rain, etc.

[Lester]

That's a bald face lie.

Les

[Steve B.]

It is true In TN, Ga and FL I know. Don't know about other states. The sewer system can't cope with the excess flow from storm waters and sump pumps. If they dump it all together then untreated sewage ends up being dumped in to the waterways.

Steve B.

[Brad]

Do us all a favor eat everything you can find under your kitchen sink.

[Lester]

I just looked for those state statutes you speak of and couldn't find them. Can you post them?

I would think that would be a municipality ordinance instead, but you seem to know otherwise.

Les

[Brad]

The only municipalities that don't have those regulations are either towns on septic (in which case they probably still have the reg, but you're only screwing yourself if you hook your sump to your septic) or they're small enough and inhabited by decent people who are won't do such a stupid thing.

Just get off of your ass and do a web search on "illegal sewer sump" and you will see gobs of pages explaining that it is illegal in particular towns. They may not always be state laws, but that's because sewers are usually a local operation.

[Chet Hayes]

BTW, the expression is bold faced lie. Geez, some people really are ignorant.

[barry martin]

Pick:

P > I live in St. Loius, and have water in my basement due to the large P > amounts of rainfall recently. I have a 1000 square foot basement, one side P > carpeted and finished, and one side uncarpeted and unfinished. Water on P > both sides due to seepage. P > P > I am using a shop-vac to suck up the water on the finished side, and have P > two dehumidifiers and a fan going to help dry the carpet. Short of tearing P > the carpet up, is there anything else I can do to make sure I do not get P > mold or have any other problems? This method worked good for me last week, P > and I almost had everything dried out until more storms came along.

We've got the same problem you do -- 5 miles upriver from Davenport, IA/Rock Island, IL. Basement will leak due to rising water table (ah great: it's raining again!).

We don't do anything special as far as mold prevention is concerned following getting water in the basement. Wet-dry the water from the carpet, move furniture to allow better air circulation. Running two dehum's - one in each room on the carpeted side -- plus the ceiling fans.

Not sure of what is under the carpet -- I've been told it's some sort of a straw-like material. (Was installed before we bought the house.) When the carpet is almost dry we'll shampoo it.

- ¯ barry.martinþATþthesafebbs.zeppole.com ®

• Regular naps prevent old age. Especially if you take them while driving.

[Lost-In-Translation]

This I can advise you on from experience. TAKE UP THE CARPET. suck out as much water as you can then get it up and out - mold wasn't my problem, but rot was. No matter what it seems that in a basement, you just can't get carpeting dry enough, quick enough.

The other problem we had was my basement was paneled. The paneling warped at the bottom, and don't even get me started on the mess it made out of the drywall!

Good luck!