Saturday, June 28, 2008

Our basement flooded

You see, I don't feel like I can really complain all that much. My house is far away from the flood plain. I didn't have to evacuate. I have co-workers who lost literally everything. So I don't want to make it sound like things are terrible for us when so many others are going through so much more.

But yeah, our basement flooded. A few times. The carpet was a total loss. I was out of town in Ohio for the first flooding so Sharon and her mom had to deal with it. Sharon's mom removed the carpet. After the second flooding, which I was present for, we discovered mold growing on the walls. I had to remove a 4' tall section of every wall (with the help of a good friend). Fortunately, the drywall panels were set horizontally so I didn't have try and cut the drywall, just cut the paint and plaster in between each piece. We also lost some books, a few toys, and some other stuff. A lot of our wooden furniture, like our four bookcases, were damaged by the water.

Still our basement wasn't filled to the top with water. Our first floor never came close to be touched. So really, we're lucky.

It still sucked.

Here are some pictures.



This is the basement after we removed the walls. So much for the finished basement, huh?



The mold. I hate mold now. Not that I was a big fan before the flood, but now I hate it.



My truck filled with stuff that had to be hauled to the landfill. Fortunately, because the stuff was flood related, the city didn't charge us to dump it. That was nice of them.

The good news is our insurance guy came today and it sounds like we will be able to get some money to help fix things up.

2 comments:

Brenda said...

I realized I'd never made it through the I-list blogs and thought today would be good to see what flood-related discussion might still be ongoing. (I was delighted to see that you covered the flooding AND the bear sightings so I'm not the only one!)

Seeing your flood post does give me a deeper perspective about the flood's real impact. Sure there's an economic cost, but then there is the story of how it affects the average person ... and how we adapt, work together and carry on! I'll have to check back to see how the basement rebuilding goes!

Nelle said...

Bentonite. That is what you need to add to your soil around your house.
Then add soil on top of it. It will block water.

You might be able to find it at Menard's. It is also an ingredient in kitty litter.

Hope this helps