Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Another Day, Another Disaster







My toolbox stand also soaked up water. I made a run to the building-supply store and it's up off the floor on waterproof feet now, for whatever good it will do. I can knock together another one easily enough...in my copious free time....





AM said...


You can go into less debt with the sump pump route.

I'm sorry for the flooding, it's a pain I know. Consider looking for a "wet/dry" shop vac to help with rapid cleanup.

Good luck, and I hope your losses are minor.

John B said...

We're not tired or it.
You're like an Irwin Allen Series, only hot.

Anonymous said...

Our basement leaks after about three days of really hard rain. We've had pros in, and they've all said that it's impossible to leak-proof the basement, because the house is essentially 'floating'. We get the same kind of rivers - about 1-16 to 1-8 inch over about half the basement. We do have a drain fortunately, and the floor is properly graded to guide all the water to said drain, so we just have to wait it out and let it drain.

Keep electrical cords off the floor!

About the only way to keep a basement dry is to have proper drainage outside, so the water has no opportunity to come inside.

That said, the solution we've used in our basement is that everything in the path of potential water is on pallets which have castoring wheels on the bottom, so they can be moved when the indoor rivers start.

The pallets are just 2x4s nailed into a square, covered with 3-4 ply, with four castoring wheels mounted on the bottom.

Good luck with the indoor floods.

Carteach0 said...

Wish I lived close enough to help.

NYEMT said...

Echoing AM - a sump pump is quick and easy, especially if you have a low spot where the water collects while the rest of the basement is still dry. Over the past 18 years in the fire service, I've pumped out a LOT of basements. Seen some clever setups, and some not-so-smart ones. The most important things to protect (and the ones most people don't consider, in the race to save their "stuff") are your furnace or boiler, hot water heater, and your electrical service. They're all often located in low areas or corners, and if submerged, can cause BIG problems.

And as A. Nony Moose pointed out, the only way to waterproof a basement is to provide adequate drainage OUTside, so the water can't collect and run INside. Beware of paint-on stuff that claims to waterproof the walls - there ain't no such animal. Get someone in and excavate around the outside of the house, and install a curtain drain around the footing.

wv: "turde" - which brings up another sensitive area you don't want flooding - your sewer outlet to the septic system or municipal sewer. :)

Rob K said...

We used http://www.sanitred.com/ on our concrete basement. It's kind of expensive, but it works. If the stupid floor drain pipe wasn't broken under the concrete, there would be no water coming in. This stuff is also used to waterproof boats and swimming pools.

And you can make the hour drive north to my place if you want to see it.

BobG said...

Damn, when $hit happens it comes in bunches, doesn't it?

Dr. Feelgood said...

The sump pump in my basement saved us over the last several days of torrential downpour. It was all I could do to keep the backup going on battery power during a 30-hour outage over the weekend. I've been rudely introduced to the need for a portable generator.

The big problem is that one of the six cottonwood trees that fell in my backyard severed the sump discharge line, so my basement pump is now filling a good sized pond where the roots of said tree used to be. Here's hoping insurance will kick a little my way to help fix it.

Gewehr98 said...

Hallicrafters SX-28 receiver = "junk"?

Please say it ain't so. I spent too much time getting my own ex-CIA Hallicrafters SX-28 re-tubed and running perfectly to let it be called junk. Junque, perhaps, but not junk. ;-)

D.W. Drang said...

Tired? Nonsense. What are friends for.

(Easily said when I'm two or three time zones away, far to inconveniently far to be asked to help move bodies...)

sam said...

I guess when it rains, it really does pour!


Roberta X said...

'Hallicrafters SX-28 receiver = "junk"?
Please say it ain't so.'

It isn't so by me and that one was used to beat a freq counter's timebase against WWV, for which purpose, in that location, a front end that will handle very hot RF levels and good selectivity are all that is required. OTOH, among the North Campus's high-high-tech equipment, it was the very sorest of sore thumbs and not a small one. Too, the kind of freq checks the counter was used for, we really can't do any more. There's a way to do it but it takes another expensive part that we don't have and won't be getting. There's a recession on, after all.

Roberta X said...

BASEMENT: semi-official word has it thee is an "underground river" (strata of gravel/high water table) under my house and the neighbor's. I'm gonna have some water no matter what. Probably, the trench/sump/waterproofing inside and out approach would solve 90% of my water problems, but I'm going to have to go at it gradually.

--Also, my MGB is going to get sold, which will give me some room in the garage. I've put it off; I hate to give it up but I will never be able to afford to get it running again, let alone make it nice.