Wet Basement, wet carpet

[atippinfan78_]

Over the weekend, our sump pump broke and flooded are basement with 4 inches of water. The basement is finished with wall to wall carpeting . We got all the water out and salavaged most of our furniture. All of our books on the bottom bookshelves were ruined. Its a complete mess. And of course Insurance does not cover sump pump failure. So it up to us to save our beautiful finished basement. Can any one help with suggestions??? The walls are not wet, we pulled up all the carpet, tossed the padding, and we are trying to salvage the carpet. We cant afford to buy new carpet and would hate to have concrete floors! We had all the carpet on one side of the basement. I mopped the other side with bleach, trying to kill the smell. That side smelled just fine, until we moved the carpet. Now we have laid the carpet in pieces all over the basement, vacumming with wet dry vac, and using our dirt devil carpet cleaner, Just to soak up the water. We have portable heaters running and a fan to circulate the heat. But the carpet is still wet, Not soaking wet, but wet. We cant seem to vacuum out any more water, it just stays wet. The smell is unbearable. I want to save this carpet so bad, Can any one help with suggetions??

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Obviously, carpet in the basement is a mistake. You'd be better off with painted cement floors, and inexpensive throw rugs in places where you really need them.

[tnom]

The washing machine input valve stuck open. Insurance will cover that.

[Jacque]

Are you in a part of the world where, at this time of year, putting the carpets outside is not an option? Everything I've heard, though, is that the smell of mildew is forever.

[sailors10]

Almost all insurance repair /salvage companies will have fans that can be set to blow under the carpet. This dries the carpet from the underside first. Most of the time the carpet is not affected by this. You should be able to rent these at a local rental company.

-Lee

[atippinfan78_]

It is raining outside, so taking it out is not an option. It s already been pulled up and cat into sections so I dont know how we could blow under the carpet. How many days do you think it can be wet before its a lost cause??

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Nobody can know how many days. The longer you ask questions and cut bait and think about it, the worse it's going to get. Suggestion: There are cleaning companies that specialize in this sort of thing. Check the yellow pages, or call your fire department. They may have suggestions.

[atippinfan78_]

You think I am just sitting around asking questions??? I've been vacuuming over and over again, Sanitizing any bare spots and heating this room as much as possible. There is nothing else I can do right now, While it raining it has to stay in the basement. SO I am Asking if There is ANY thing else I can do to help the problem. If I could afford a cleaning a company I would, BUT it cost tooo Much!!! I hope it will dry soon, But I cant make it dry any faster..... Without asking for suggestions.

[Harry]

=EF=BB=BFHello,

I could tell you what to do to save the rug, however since it is in the basement, i feel i had better not. Nothing wrong with cement (landscapers call it landscaping). Lots of exotic plants; water fountain; fire place; large, flat rocks and pebbles; brick borders with ivy; mirrors; drapes; broad- spectrum light bulbs over the plants and trees; spot lights; pretty pictures on the walls; netting with sea creatures, seaweed and shells; occasional reed/wicker rugs; porch furniture; statues - use your imagination. Like, man, who said you have to do it like everybody else. NO PAINT!!! No paint ANYWHERE!!!! It peels: use ivy. Keep it natural . . . A nice, rolled dance floor would be elegant and healthy. Band Stand? Wall-to-wall aquariam?

Truly

[atippinfan78_]

-What???

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Call the fire department. They may have suggestions. I was surprised when I first found out they'd pump out peoples' basements after floods. Since they sometimes fill people's basements with water, they may have some advice. A friend of mine had a brief fire in his kitchen, but it totally filled the house with cooking smoke. The fire department loaned him some fans that could take the paint off the walls.

[JoeSpareBedroom]

I think he's reiterating that carpet in a basement is not such a hot idea, especially if the house requires a sump pump.

By the way, when the worst is over, you might want to investigate having a

2nd pump in place. Some run with water pressure. If you're on a well and the power goes off, this won't help you. But, if pump #1 dies, it would help.

[Harry]

Hello,

If it is money youare worried about, then think about the endless thousands and thousands of $ in medical bills and medication youARE going to have because of mold.

Truly

You have one day to dry the rug before black-mold sets in. At this very moment and for several days now you have been destroying your sinuses with mold; your children can become asthmatic and you can get arthritis and mental problems, but wait- the list gets longer and worse. You have a computer; look it up on the Internet, under Google: "wet rugs and mold" BURN THE RUGS!!!!

[atippinfan78_]

Maybe it not a good idea, But I'm from California, and We moved to the mid west 3 years ago, and I dont know, escuse me, I didn't know anything about sump pumps before. I guess I was Niave. We bought a home with a beautiful finished basement that had wall to wall plush carpeting. We have the home office, game room, gym, and Family room in the basement. Completely furnished. When we bought home insurance, our agent told us we didn't need flood insurance because we didnt live in a flood zone. He never mentioned about buying sump pump faliure insurance. Now this happened, And were screwed. I'm just trying to get things back to normal, some how. And Yes I have already planned on buying the sump pump back up as soon as we get the basement back together again. Right now I'm just trying to find any suggestions on how to save the carpet. And wouldn't have the water been higher if the carpet hadnt soaked up so Much of it?? So maybe in a way it helped.

[JoeSpareBedroom]

My ex's house was damaged by ice damming, another issue you might want to discuss with you NEW insurance agent. She found out she had a policy which didn't cover ice damming, which is nuts considering the climate here. She found a new agent who immediately mentioned the issue.

[Tater]

rent a pressure washer. and really hose off those carpets with a 10 % solution of bleach. hang outside to dry. if raining, hang in a garage.

get them ou tof the basement, the longer you have that mildew down there, the longer it has a chance to migrate from the carpet to someplace else.

[marks542004]

Go rent a rug doctor from your local rental place or maybe supermarket. Or call a carpet cleaning service. Those machines will pull more water than a shopvac.

Then use a carpet cleaning solution and maybe some additional mold killer addative .

you wont know if the carpet is salvaged until it is dry .

[BobK207]

so Much of it??

[m Ransley]

A dehumidifier will help

[Banty]

BTDTGTTS (been there done that got the t-shirt).

I'm afraid you're screwed as far as the carpet. Last time I had that problem, ServPro came *within 18 hours* pulled it up and dried it, but there still was some deterioriation of the backing - but not so much that it couldn't go down again. It's 10 years later and still OK. But - today's Wednesday and this happened over the weekend and you're getting that smell? Hello! Sorry, it's going to the landfill. :(

You can get sump pump coverage; you can also get "Low-risk" flood insurance if you're not in a flood plain. That should cover runoff, if that's your basic water problem. Bought that carpet with flood insurance from a big event two years earlier, as a matter of fact.

I disagree with those who say carpet in your basement is a no-can-do (although I've surely joked about having an indoor swimming pool down there!) My philosophy on it is that you need to address the water problems such that the house protects you from weather instead of vice versa. Have an engineer assess your problem, do the gutter changes and re-grading that may be needed outside, and install french or curtain drains inside and/or outside. Drain the sump by gravity if at all possible, if not get a generator backup. My B-Dry system has allowed me to have a nice carpeted usable space down there for 10 years now, although I'm still doing some regrading and drainage work next year to finally get the last side of the house fixed for keeping the water away completely before I replace the walk and re-do landscaping on that side.

Sometimes I regard water as The Enemy around here in clay-soiled upstate New York.

Banty