Basement flooding, major problems

[Exmasonite]

Quick update:

2 days of pulling ~ 900+ sq ft of carpet and carpet pad. If i had my way, it'd be against code to install carpet below grade. Then again, all you lucky SOB's talking about your dry basements make that seem a bit rash....

- Treadmill (1 yr old): Nordic track says the lifetime warranty on motor is gone... will likely be sending a tech out sometime next week to give full assessment

- Pellet Stove: Hopefully may be ok but likely get tech out next week to look at it.

(Planning to wait until adjuster comes on Wed to see whether they'll just give us depreciated $$ for the 2 items or if they want the techs to check them out)

Thing that killed me the most:
Previous owners put in a wall (framed, drywall, etc) on TOP of the carpet. There's a 3" band of carpet that i can't remove. Have saturated it with bleach... may have to consider pulling that wall.

Now just playing the wait and see game with the insurance company to see what they're going to give us.

 

[Hogwildz]

The genius previous homeowner here had built the basement over a spring or some other sort of underground shallow well or aqua source.
I had water coming up through the floor, heaving it, and cracked in several areas. I ended up cutting a 2' x 2' square hole in the concrete floor, digging a 30" or little less sump. Wanted deeper but I hit serious bedrock that I could not even dent with a Commercial Hilti hammer drill with jackhammer bit. So got as deep as I could. The put bought a sump liner drilled a zillion 1/2" holes in the bottom & sides, and put enough stone in the bottom to keep it from floating. The a cinder block and a sump pump on top of the cinder block. 2" PVC up and out into a trench out 80' daylight out the side of a hill. No water since. I get minimal seeping in two corners nothing pooling though, and only during heavy rains. There is a basement drain that the AHole ran and dead ended into the side of the drain lite piping. Didn't even tie it in, just butt it up against LOL. I fixed that also and ran that out to daylight.
The drain tile pipe was caught by the Excavator, and lost one side that broke off under the ground too far back. The other end I could get to, I connected drainage pipe to and also daylighted that out the side of the hill. I don't think the drain tile if functional, as he back filled with 1B or smaller stone ans it fell in the holes in the drain til and filled it up.
Although the sump pump has been doing great. I still don't have it when I lose power. And it is usually storming when we lose power.
I plan on cutting a path in the concrete about 4' away from the drain, the path going from the sump pit ti the drain. Cutting the old drain out, putting a "y" in and running a section of pipe in the new trench from the sump pit to the "Y", then installing a new drain on the other end of the "Y" and the water should drain out of the pit via gravity. Still keeping the sump pump in the pit for back up.
So much to do, so little money & time to do it.

 

[SandManConservation]

Sorry to hear about it. I was hit in the Nashville flood last year and had 11 feet in my basement. Be really thorough with mold/waste removal. My landlord at the time was not, and my house became uninhabitable after a few months of letting it sit.

 

[gpcollen1]

I've never had a home with a cracked foundation,don't think I know anyone with one either.

I understand how soil holds water and I know how insidious water can be...just never experienced water in the basement and have trouble understanding how it can happen. I suppose rushed foundations, ground settling or a bad concrete mix would do it. When we poured my footings and foundation I was fortunate enough to have my brother in law doing the work...we excavated down to ledge and hammered some of that out to get the right depth, then set up all the concrete 25% thicker than code and lined with rebar. All outer surfaces were coated with a waterproofing agent as well...some sort of black paint...almost like tar. I guess its all paying off now because we've always got high groundwater, I have an oozing spring that makes mud much of the year about 12 feet from the walkout doors to my basement...never a drop in my basement that didn't come in on my boots.

It can be as simple as someone not back-filling properly...or it could have been one of the footings...or they did not vibrate the concrete...or the footing drains were installed improperly...or that older foundations have no coating on the outside wall...

 

[SnapCracklePop]

I volunteered with Habitat for Humanity in the Florida Keys from January to April in 2006, dealing with water damage caused by storm surges from Hurricane Wilma.

Most places got about 3 feet of water; we cut the drywall off at 4 feet, removed any insulation (there usually wasn't any), replaced electrical outlets, and sprayed the damaged areas with bleach solution three times to kill mold. Once that dried, we replaced the drywall.

I got to work with the electrical crew. Since we had volunteers working on all of the above, we usually did not turn off the power. I learned how to work on live electrical circuits.

I didn't see any scorpions in the walls, but some of the guys did.

I got bitten three times -- by the electricity, not the scorpions!

Nancy