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amanda14_gw

Flooded finished basements

amanda14
16 years ago

I just woke up at 2:49am to an odd noise and found that my washing machine broke a hose and 75% of my fully finished and furnished basement has an inch of water. I don't even know where to begin, I moved as much as I could now and will get a wet vac when HOme depot opens, but I'm going to have to rip up all the carpet--worried about mildew.

Any tips and what i can do to help prevent and mold/mildew issues.

Comments (8)

  • formula1
    16 years ago

    If you have insurance coverage for the damage resulting from the hose breakage, I'd suggest you call somebody like Servicemaster in - they have the experience, large blowers and industrial dehumidifiers for drying things out to prevent mildew from starting. Past experience with a similar situation.

  • sue36
    16 years ago

    Did the drywall and insulation get wet? I'd rent some industrial size fans and dehumifiers.

  • ekoreilly
    16 years ago

    I always wondered, when you finish off a basement and do have a flood, say2" or even 6", how do you handle 2x4s that get wet and drywall? DO the servicemasters dry that all enough thats its back to new? minus some painting.

    My basement is dry and in 14 years no water, but murphy's law tells me that when I finish the basement that it will be the day Noah sails his ark.

  • jasper60103
    16 years ago

    FYI. When we moved they recommended we replace the washer hoses. They were about 10 years old.

    The water heater is only 3 years old. I'm hoping for some warning before the bottom falls out.

  • atinga
    16 years ago

    DO NOT file an insurance claim on your homeowners policy. If the monetary damage is something you can handle, fix it yorself. Once a property has a claim for water damage it is marked for life. In some parts of the country the home my even be uninsurable upon sale if the new insurance company finds out there was a claim due to water damage. There is such a scare about mold that many insurance companies won't even touch a water damaged home. As to the damage to the framing, if it was only an inch of water, that shouldn't be a problem. The bottom plate should have been pressure treated and for the time it was wet, it should be ok. The carpet is probably ok to dry out since the water was clean. Drywall may need some work if it was wet above the baseboard. If not, or you can't see damage above the base, just dry it out and go on.

  • brickeyee
    16 years ago

    Drywall may dry if not disturbed, but sometimes it swells enough to need replacement.
    One trick in basements is to hold the drywall up from the floor behind baseboard.
    The gap can be filled with plywood (exterior) to allow for a solid base for the molding.

    Water damage from a broken washer hose is not likely to scare the insurance company as badly as flooding (and they normally do not cover flooding anyway).

    You should use the washer hoses with the metal overbraid.
    They are worth every penny.
    The same goes for sink, lav, and toilet hook ups.

  • pickles2u
    16 years ago

    I had flooding in my basement this spring about an inch almost 2, I had servpro come in, what to do is this, pull carpet and padding up get fans to blow under neath as well pull molding so that you can make a hole in wall to help dry out and that is how you stop mold and mildew, got to dry it out and suck up as much as you can

  • dgmarie
    16 years ago

    Does your insurance even cover your basement? We have a special insurance rider for the basement and the max it covers is only $10K period. Servicemaster/Chem Dry isn't cheap. I recall hearing several thousand to just dry out the basement, let alone making repairs.

    My mom recommends always turning the water off at the spicket behind the washer after final use.