Floods SUCK!!

malthumb · #1 05-26-2011, 05:15 AM

Spent about 6 hours last night running the Shop Vac just to stay ahead of the water flooding my basement. Now, let me make this perfectly clear.....putting this in perspective with what's going on in Memphis and what has occurred in Joplin, this is as significant as a pimple on an elephant's butt. But it is still a very disruptive event for my little family.

It's been raining like crazy in the Detroit area for the past couple weeks. I think the drainage systems are just at capacity now. We had a ridiculously powerful storm yesterday. Expressways and major roads that were not already closed for construction were congested and flooded. I drove through at least 6 or 7 DEEP pools of water on my way home from work. When I got home , one of my kids mentioned seeing "a little water near the basement staircase". When I went down to look, I could see that water was seeping in from the floor drain. One good thing......it was clear (ie, not sewage). The sump pump wasn't running. It was overwhelmed.

So I hooked up the Shop Vac on top of the wash room utility sink so that I could easily dump it when it filled. It's a 14 gallon capacity Shop Vac. I must have filled it a couple hundred times in the 6 or so hours I spent running it. When I went to bed about 1 am, I still had at least 4 inches in the deepest areas.

After a couple hours of Shop Vac, the kids came down and started a bucket brigade. I thought I had been making progress until my 14 year old says "Dad, the water's starting to rise in your room". "My room" is my music room. Home to 6 of my basses, two speaker cabs, two amps, and countless other goodies. Shut off Shop Vac and start Operation Save The Instruments. My 14 yr old, definitely meaning to do the right thing, grabbed both of my Alembics. Just for reference, know that I could probably sell the cheaper of the two for $5,000 without any trouble. Just as I yelled from the wash room "Don't worry about the Alembics, I'll get them", I heard him go "Whoa! That was close". He had slipped on something floating in the water and almost did a face plant with a bass in each hand. Luckily he regained his balance and both basses stayed safe and dry. So now all my gear is spread out all over the house. Worse case scenario, though is that a couple of my hard cases may have gotten a little water logged.

I'm in the process now of calling all the tool rental places to see if I can rent a pump. Long day ahead, I imagine.

Relic · #2 05-26-2011, 05:29 AM

oh crap!! I've been there too, and it certainly does suck royally. Best of luck to you.

Remember that after you eventually get it all pumped out, you'll need to run a dehumidifier to keep the moldiness and mustiness down, plus you may need to scrub with bleach and such so you you wont end up with a mold colony anywhere.

Darth Handsome · #3 05-26-2011, 07:07 AM

We've gotten hit hard up here in Manitoba this spring, too. The Red River plays for keeps.

bassist11 · #4 05-26-2011, 08:38 AM

I'm just glad Grand Forks has a massive flood containment system. Seeing what the Red River does to the surrounding communities year after year is tough.

**Thor** · #5 05-26-2011, 08:48 AM

Hey malthumb,

I did the drill here in RI last year. The water table got so high and we had so much rain that water started coming in up through the foundation. Kissed my fully carpeted and furnished basement goodbye after 43 years of no water issues in the house.

I bailed constantly as well. Good luck with that. I took me about 9 months to rectify everything. Insurance paid nothing and I am out about 13k.

After removing all carpeting, underlayment, fiber board and foam insulation from the floor, I built the concrete floor up with a 2" finished new concrete slab or cap that was then stained and waxed. Now if I have any water, just vac it up and dry it out.

I did drill holes in the sheetrock to check for any mold or wetness in the interior of the walls, no problem there. I had half my stuff in a PODS container in the yard most of last summer and fall.

Hope it works out for you and that you are well, hope to see you again someday soon.
O

**Thor** · #6 05-26-2011, 08:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darth Handsome

We've gotten hit hard up here in Manitoba this spring, too. The Red River plays for keeps.

Yeah, the Red River usually makes the news every year.

CapnSev · #7 05-26-2011, 09:16 AM

Yup. I've been helping sandbag the local rivers here, because once it really warms up, we're in for it big time.

burk48237 · #8 05-26-2011, 04:13 PM

It's not all bad, my property values went up yesterday. It's now lakefront. If I could only get Oak Parks DPW to stock bass in the thing.

We had plenty of water here, but it stayed in the Sewers. I had my sewer line cleared last year, and it probably helped. But with the exception of a bit of water that came in through a leaky chimney flu and went right into a drain in the basement I was OK. My street had water over the curb in lots of places. And my lawn, which was cut Friday, badly needs and International Harvester to go over it again.

Atoz · #9 05-27-2011, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CapnSev

Yup. I've been helping sandbag the local rivers here, because once it really warms up, we're in for it big time.

Yep... it is going to be a bad one here this year. I'm going out tomorrow morning to help fill and place sandbags for some of the neighbors. There's an irrigation canal that tends to overflow right behind my garage, so I'll be piling them up there too, so my driveway doesn't turn into a river like it did a few years ago when it flooded my basement and cost me some serious $$$.