Basement Flooded !!!!!!!! (Lots of venting)
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Basement Flooded !!!!!!!! (Lots of venting)
Our main drain clogged yesterday. I didnt know and did a load of dishes and a load of wash. Our roomate Henrietta lives downstairs and she came home yesterday afternoon to find her home flooded. Of course it is all carpeted.
Because it was sewage, they have to take out all the carpet,underlay,and 4 feet of drywasll. The whole bathroom,and the area where her dining room table is. Luckily it didnt go into her living room and wreck her furniture.
The bad thing is....Hen has Down Syndrome and today at 1:00 a group of people are coming here to evaluate how good of a 'residential support worker' I am for Hen. They need to look at her home and living situation to make sure I am doing a good job. Now our house is a disaster. A guy was here till 10:00 cutting out carpet and taking it out and sucking up water. We couldn't use water for most of the day and evening so there is a mess everywhere(muddy snowy plumbers boots going in and out and wet dirty hoses dragging along my floor and carpet...)
I know that the evaluaters will take all of this into account...but I feel terrible just the same.
When I first found the flood yesterday it was about an inch of water on a small part of the carper so I took every towel in the house and layed it down on the water. Then I took them and wrung them all out and did it again and again.....It took me 45 min. to realize that the water was draining back from the tub where I was draining them to the leak!! Of course my kid and Henrietta are hysterically bugging me at the same time! Hen was saying "what about my shower in the morning Bud?" and Eliah was saying "Mommy..let's play Hen's Bingo game..Please can we? can we?" I started bawling my eyes out.
Then Dh comes home from work and is all put out because he can't have a shower and dinner isn't ready..so he goes on the computer with headphones and doesn't help with one thing! I knew he was tired and stressed out from an extra long day at work...but I am pregnant and my back was killing me from all the towel wringing....
I was up till 11 doing laundry and dealing with the rug guy. They are coming back at 8:30 this morning to cut out drywall and stuff.
Last night I went into an empty room and lay on the bad and stuffed a sheet in my mouth and screamed and cried and shook for about 5 minutes. Then I came out of the room feeling a whole lot better.
Also,today because of all the running around and lifting, my sciatic nerve is pinched,so I am hobbling around in so much pain!
That's all my ranting for today(I hope!)
Fiona
Bless your heart, Fiona! THAT'S a bad day! I'm glad you're feeling better...it will all work out. Hen is so lucky to have you. This will be one of those stories that you're telling your grandchildren! It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes..."I know God will never give me more than I can handle...I just wish He didn't trust me so much!" Hang in there...I'll be thinking of you today!
(((Fiona))) hang in there...it WILL get better. Let us know how it goes.
Oh no! HUGE hugs and prayers coming your way. I hope your DH is more helpful and the whole mess is fixed and back to normal soon.
(((BIG HUG))) Many prayers coming your way!
What a bad day!! {{{HUGS)))
We had 2 basement floods 2 summers in a row. One time we had 11 inches and the second time 18 inches. Between the 2 floods, we found out about sewer back-up insurance and added that to our house insurance. We were so glad, because the second flood ruined the furnace (40 yrs old anyway).
Fortunately, we didn't have carpeting or drywall down there, so it was mostly cleaning out wet stuff and mopping the floor. It was sooo much work.
I'm so sorry this happened at the worst possible time, though! I didn't get a lot of help at first from hubby either, because he was out covering the flood, since he is a newspaper photographer. At church, the Sunday after the second flood, I told them we didn't need help cleaning up because that seemed pretty well under control, but it would be nice to have someone come mow our lawn (August 1998).
So, the church secretary sent her DH over to mow our lawn. Goodness, we never had such service. He mowed, trimmed, and blew the grass clippings off the sidewalk. Our yard never looked so nice. He went way beyond the call of duty!
What a horrible day! I hope today is better for you.
Sorry you had such a terrible day! Tomorrow's got to be better, right? {{{{{Fiona}}}}}
Oh how stressful! I'm so sorry that so many things went sour for you yesterday. Wish I could make it all better.
That is just terrible all around! Your husband really should be helping you if not taking care of the whole thing. You are pregnant, and the stress alone can be harmful to both you and your baby. Please try to ask for help and limit the physical work you are putting your body through. Things happen, but you have to remember the health of yourself and the baby. Many, many hugs, I really wish I could be there to help. ((((Fiona))))
I am so sorry Fione you poor thing!
I hope your sciatica is feeling better. I have this and It does really HURT! I hope things get back to normal soon.
Fiona, what an awful day you've had! I would cry too! 
Things will start looking up, take care of yourself!
Oh Fiona, what an awful day, and what really terrible timing. I don't blame you for crying - I would have too.
Have you checked with your homeowners insurance to see if you have "backup" coverage. I know I do. There may be some coverage available for you and it won't hurt to check. And, if you don't have sewer backup coverage, this is a good time to get it. It's not flood insurance, but would probably cover a situation like the one you have now. I added it to my policy because I have a sump pump and wanted to be covered in case it stopped working in the middle of a heavy rain period.
Big hugs. Hope your day improved some. And things happen that are out of our control, I think everyone knows that. More hugs, take care of yourself.
How horrible...and being pregnant and hormonal makes it all *that much* worse. Hope today is looking brighter! And tell your DH that we all said he needs to get to work and help out  (((Fiona)))
UPDATE
I am feeling so much better! The rug guys did a great job down there! They will be there for a few days(the walls of the bathroom are completely gone!).
The evaluator for Henrietta came and didn't even go downstairs!He said that he heard enough from the way we talked and interacted. He said I was doing an AWESOME job! YAY !!!!! My girlfriend took pity on my whole plight,so she took Eliah for about 4 hours(even though she has 2 toddlers of her own and was cleaning up her house for a guest who was coming to stay).The rug guys even cleaned Hens bathroom for her and they mopped my kitchen floors as well!
We are renters so we don't have to pay for this whole mess! My landlord has great insurance so it is all taken care of.
Thanks everyone for your kind thoughts,hugs etc. the day ended up going really good. I even had an hour or 2 to myself(thanks to my babysitting friend)!
Fiona
Such very good news on all fronts. So pleased for you.
Word of advice - make sure you have tenant's insurance. If you have a landlord with good coverage, that's great, but your landlord's insurance company won't cover some things no matter how great your landlord is. Tenant's insurance is not expensive. And, be sure you get "replacement value" insurance - that is, what it costs to replace anything that is damaged or destroyed, instead of "depreciated value" (meaning - I paid $100 for it 2 years ago and it is worth $20 now if I were to sell it). I got caught on that once and one time was all it took. I demand "replacement value" coverage and changed insurance companies when my carrier stopped offering it.
VERY VERY good advice Ginny! We have friends who lost everything in a fire and they didn't have insurance. We are looking right now to buy a house. We are getting insurance as soon as we move. So I might have to ask you a few questions as soon as we have a place!
fiona
I always had renter's insurance when I lived in an apartment. Never needed it, but was still glad I had it.
Glad everything worked our for you!
I'm a prime example. Our house burned down in December, and we had no renters insurance!
I remember when we were renting we had $10,000 in renter's insurance, which we thought was quite a lot (1963). There was a fire which destroyed our kitchen, melted the glaze on the china in the breakfront in the dining room and the finish on the dining room furniture (which, luckly, was third-hand-me-down and I didn't like it), and we had to pay for smoke removal for all our non-washable clothes, carpets, and upholstered furniture. By the time we paid for the smoke removal, moving to a new apartment, buying a new frig and stove and dining room furniture (never mind my good china), the $10,000 was pretty much gone. Think about what it would cost to replace everything you own, and add another $10,000 to $15,000 for moving costs, temporary housing while you find a new place (your lease often gives your landlord 3 months to repair and require to move back in), and so on. I think you'll find it's cheap - generally you get a discount if you buy your car and homeowners/tenant insurance from the same company. But be sure, please, to insist on replacement value and, if you are a homeowner, sewer backup coverage. Also, if you are in a flood prone area, even though it will probably double the cost of your homeowners, flood insurance is an absolute must.
The first time we had 11 inches of rain in our basement, we just missed wrecking the furnace since the thermocouple was 12 inches off the floor. Yes, that inch mattered. We inquired about what kind of insurance we could get if the basement flooded again. Well, the insurance man says (1997), "That's kind of expensive - $25 for $5000 worth of coverage."
To us, with an ancient furnace in the basement didn't think that was expensive at all. Thank goodness we added that to the homeowner's insurance, since the following summer we got nearly 11 inches of rain in 24 hours on August 6, 1998. This meant we got 18 inches of icky water in our basement. This time the furnace bought the farm and the insurance company bought us a new furnace.
(Just an aside - Brand name on furnace installed in 1956? Econo-Mizer! Yeah right! Maybe in 1956! LOL! We were glad to put a brand-new Lennox in there in it's place!)
For just the basement, the $5000 in sewer backup insurance was enough to replace one computer desk, an entertainment center, and a furnace. The water heater, washer, and dryer were fine.
Oh, and since we threw out so much crap after the flood, how did my basement fill up with all new stuff since then!?
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