For many years we lived in a house with a basement that would flood when it rained too much, mainly because the city’s storm sewers were not adequate to remove runoff. We first discovered this problem when my son was just a week old and my husband came and woke me up one morning to tell me we had a flood. I wasn’t kidding. We probably had 4 feet of water in our finished basement, and we were concerned about not only pumping out the water, but what preventative measures we could take to prevent future water damage and protect things in our basement.
For the most part, we were lucky. Most of the walls were poured concrete and suffered little damage. However, there was a bedroom down there, and all the panels were bent and had to be removed. Since we had just moved in the previous fall, half of everything we owned was in the basement floor. Most were not salvageable, especially my library of books that were still in their moving boxes. Our neighbor, who owned a garbage service, backed his truck up to our house and we kept throwing things away.
We brought fans and dried the place well. However, the rubber backed carpet, which was almost new, surely contained mold spores and needed to be replaced. The oven miraculously survived as did our old food freezer. Still, there was so much damage that we knew we didn’t want this to happen again. Everything dried up, we were busy, and we basically forgot about a permanent solution to our flood problem. It took 11 years before it happened again, and once again it caught us by surprise.
This time we not only tossed out our possessions, like our pool table that deteriorated and crashed to the floor, but we also had a plumber come in, dug a hole in the basement floor, and installed a pump system that was supposed to was going to alleviate future water problems. We had almost gotten to the point where we wanted to sell our house and were hoping to get maximum resale dollar value. Additionally, we wanted potential buyers to feel confident in purchasing the property. The pump system cost over $2,000, but it was well worth the mess and cost.
Having water damage in the basement of your home is one of the worst things that can happen to a homeowner. It causes thousands of dollars worth of damage, and could be worse if it caused structural damage to your home. Buying flood insurance is one safety measure you can take. Be sure to take pictures of your basement in its normal state; then if it floods, take more pictures of the flood and the damage it caused. That way, you have proof for your insurance company or to file a claim with the federal government (FEMA).
