Help! My finished basement is slowly flooding!

[Indiana_Dem]

I'm sucking up water seeping through the foundation about every 10 minutes to keep it from getting to the carpet. Some of it already has though before I noticed.

This has only happened twice before in 20 years.

It's not as bad as others have it but it's a crisis for me!

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Quick, gather all the animals in pairs!

Editing to say that I live in a trailer so have no basement expertise to offer you. :( Hope you can resolve the situation. *hugs*

[Indiana_Dem]

3. That's what I feel like! nt

[trotsky]

2. How's the drainage around your home?

Make sure water is being carried away from the foundation - EVERYWHERE. Get those downspouts on. Does the grade slope AWAY from the house - EVERYWHERE?

[Indiana_Dem]

7. We built up the foundation last summer after it happened.

The only problem we can't fix is that this is a bi-level and the sides of the driveway slopes down. We put a retention wall with drainage tiles behind it to make water drain away so I don't know if that is the problem or not. I did notice that we need to place some tar or something in a spot where the driveway concrete separates from the garage concrete floor. It looks like water is pooling and draining towards part of the foundation where the garage door to the family room meets. It's seeping there and down along the drywall into the laundry room. Geesh. I can't place any tar along the crack right now but I tried to damn it up with what I could, which was some mulch--kinda like a beaver damn! LoL It's not helping very much though!!!

[blm]

4. I hope you have a Shop vac. It picks up water pretty well.

.

[Indiana_Dem]

8. YEah it's what I'm using...nt

[RubyDuby in GA]

5. Get all furniture and anything else of value up off the floor

and shop vac away. Any cracks in the foundation that you could cover quickly?

Happened to my parents basement during the summer when we had all the rain from the hurricanes.

[shraby]

6. Do you have a sump pump?

[Indiana_Dem]

10. Nope. Is it like a shop vac? That's what I'm using. nt

[mcscajun]

12. A Sump Pump gets built into your basement floor...

...and sends any water back outside your home. Especially useful if your Hot Water heater, or any plumbing in the basement, goes haywire on you. It's triggered automatically by the presence of water.

When the crisis is over and the basement walls/floor are dry, there's a sealant paint especially for basements. Look into Lowe's or whoever is near you.

[welshTerrier2]

14. get a sump pump ...

you can just connect a really long hose to a sump pump and let it run ... ideally, a hole is cut in the basement floor so the pump is below floor level ... but it will work temporarily on the surface too ... the shop vac's OK if it's not a major, ongoing problem ... be careful about standing in water with the electric on though ...

sometimes your local fire department might be willing to lend you one ... they don't cost too much to buy though ...

the expensive fix is to dig the outside again and put in drains all around the basement ... it's a big deal but you might need it ... and i also agree with the special sealant paint ...

call your insurance guy ASAP ... this should be covered ...

[Indiana_Dem]

19. My hubby said when he built this house he put drainage tiles

around the basement.

And no, insurance won't cover floods around here because it's not considered a high risk area--I already checked into it the last time this happened. I don't understand why you can't just get it extra but they said it's not offered.

THanks for the sealant and the sump pump idea. I don't know why my hubby never put one in when he was having it built.

Last time, FEMA helped cover the cost of water extraction from the carpet and the wet/dry vac but that's all. We got help because we weren't in the high risk area and nobody can get flood insurance. Now why is that?

[Squatch]

9. Then it's not "finished", now, is it?

:spank:

Time to demote to "work in progress basement"

[bahrbearian]

11. Did you try sealing the inside of the foundation?

[Indiana_Dem]

23. I don't think my hubby did it back in 1977.

I wasn't his wife when he built the house! LoL

SInce the last flooding, I suggested this but we have this really pukey barnwood paneling from the late 70s that he won't let me remove because he thinks it means we'll have to redrywall everything and cause more work and he always tells me he likes it! Ugh! We've been married 20 years and I haven't been able to change his mind on it yet--even with the flooding......so I'm stuck without this idea.:shrug:

[bahrbearian]

26. They have some really good sealers now , it might be the best

way to go , you can always save the Puky Barnwood and use it again, that way all the spiders won't lose their homes.

[Indiana_Dem]

27. Ohhhh don't remind me! That's why I hardly ever come downstairs!

The spiders and those little bugs that roll up in a ball!:scared:

[HereSince1628]

13. Keep vacuuming, if you think it could be surface water

either rain or snow melt, have someone do a quick run around the outside of the house to be sure there is a way for the water to drain away.

Several years ago we had a downspout blocked by snow and the backed-up water flooded a window well that then let water run down the outside of the foundation till it met the crack between the floor and the wall...where it made an impressive puddle inside the house..

[candy]

15. You need a sump pump but small utility pumps will work too-

We used one for years when we had occasional flooding.

I have a sump where I am now.

[notadmblnd]

16. My basement used to leak every time we got a heavy rain

I spent many a day with the shop vac sucking up water. last spring I finally had someone dig down to the foundation, waterproof the outside wall and put in new drain tile. Now were dry as a bone.

[Quakerfriend]

17. Keep up with the shop vac

happened to us in November. Keep working it until you drop. We had to replace the carpet to the tune of $3K. The way I look at it is this: Better than a tsunami, mudslide, or hurricane!

Will pray for you to stay dry!!:hug:

[Indiana_Dem]

20. Yes I agree. I'm thankful if this is all I get. nt

[crispini]

18. If you live on a sloping lot you may have to have a

French drain put in on the upside of the house. I had to have this done. Spendy, but no more house flooding in heavy rains.

[Indiana_Dem]

21. I'll have to do a search on what a french drain looks like! nt

[B Calm]

22. Pumping water out of my crawl space...

[Indiana_Dem]

24. Well, it's nice to know I'm not alone--misery loves company!

Gotta go vacuum again! Bye Bye!:hi:

[B Calm]

25. Cheap way of ridding unwanted water.

I went to the Ace hardware store and bought a submersible pump for around 35 dollars. The pump has threads that allow you to hook up a garden hose.