Monday morning, Mike went to work & I headed down to the basement to start a little organizing of my school theme buckets (which are stored in the back portion of our basement). I opened the door to the back section, walked in about 2 feet and felt my feet swishing into the carpet! The splashing sound being made as I walked wasn't making me any happier either. WHAT THE HECK??? My first thought was the dogs, because it was the only thing logical to me. I mean, what else could create a puddle in the middle of my basement floor? The further I went into the room, the deeper the liquid became. Obviously NOT made by the dogs, so I panicked and started checking all the pipes for leaks. Honestly, my eyes instantly started flashing dollar signs, almost as if someone had physically flashed a strobe light in my face. I wanted to cry-but alas, nope-everything fine there! SUCH A RELIEF! I quickly pulled everything up from the floor & shoved it on any elevated surface I could find. Luckily most of what was back there was in large Rubbermaid tubs! What a blessing. Still, I couldn't fathom where the heck all the water was coming from? There was no sign of moisture on the outsides of the room, but a small lake forming in the direct center???? Finally, I just decided to call Mike. 2 heads are often better than 1 right? He was in a training, but realized that it was important because I NEVER call him at work. I think he thought I was joking at first, then it dawned on him- GROUND SEEPAGE! He told me he'd make a few calls & get right back to me....5 minutes later he and another teacher-Donovan, were there in the basement with me. The guys quickly ripped off their dress shirts, and shoved box upon box out of there as quick as a wink! They ripped out the ground cover and the carpet runners, and threw them out in the backyard.
When everything was out, I looked at them and both guys were DRENCHED! I brought down the Shop Vac & they sucked up 10 full buckets of water. Still the floor kept producing more, they couldn't keep up. . They were sucking up a rate of 2 gallons every 10 minutes! Ridiculous. Donovan quickly called a couple more friends, one let us borrow a pool pump (used to drain the water out), and our good friend Joe (another teacher-the one who helped Mike with the garage classroom) left school and brought us 2 carpet blowers from the Middle School. Luckily both tools worked like a charm! Mike loaded all the wet muddy waste into the back of the truck & immediately took it to the dump. But the mess that is left downstairs in the wake of the storm, is STRESSING ME OUT almost past my limit!
The basement now smells like a moldy musty locker room from the wet & dirty carpet, it is cold from the blowers constantly on, and all the stuff that was storage back there- is now spewed out all over the kids playroom. I feel like I can't see the end of the tunnel. The floors are still moist, slightly mud-like, and I want to gag from the smell at the top of the stairs leading to the basement. The best part is we have to correct the problem of our structural posts that are not elevated, and were recently soaking up all this water....that's all we need, rotting structural issues!???
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