Walkout Basement Baptism

[jinman]

Well, the weather finally got me. Last night I went to check our walkout basement rec room before going to bed. The lights were off when I stepped off the last step in the stairwell and my foot was suddenly immersed in 3" of water. AARGH!
The walkout has 3 walls that are concrete up to 36" with the front wall and stairwell being the only framed and sheetrocked walls. There's a 4" cedar molding around the framed walls and the carpet is a commercial carpet with no padding. It's just glued to the concrete floor. A hot water stub-out I had installed for a wet bar froze in the wall and burst. The flow was so fast it couldn't run out the door and that's why water was 3" deep. I opened the door from outside and water poured out like you see in cartoons. :shocked:

We dewatered the floor down to the wet carpet and we will use a wet-dry vac this morning to get as much water out as possible. Of course it's the weekend and bad roads to boot, so there is not telling when we can get professional help. Unlike the photo I posted, the room is full of furniture with theater seats, a bar, pool table big screen TV and many other goodies that have wet feet. The TV and electronics were plugged into a power strip that was plugged into a ground fault plug. The ground fault popped when the strip got water into it and shut everything down. I think we are good electrically/electronically, but this is still going to be a huge mess.

I've been in the house now about 10 years with nothing major, so I guess it was my turn. It doesn't make it any easier though when it happens. At least it was on the lower level and the room that will see the least damage. Still, I was looking forward to a Super Bowl party with my daughter and grandkids tomorrow. That ain't gonna happen. :thumbdown:

 

[chopped]

Sorry to hear abou this It looks like a beautiful room from the picture.Your post ,you seem to have come to grips with it. (the cursing was done with lol).
Ive seen worce if that helps any...

 

[SandburRanch]

You don't want a professional. They have already screwed up by putting plumbing in an outside wall. Do it yourself so it will be done right.

 

[om21braz]

Sorry to hear of your damage. It's no fun stepping off a step and hearing a splash. Under the circumstances my main advice would be to get a fan going down there as soon as you can - keep air moving until you can do more. Unfortunate, but at least you had ground faults in place - it could have been really bad.

 

[Slice]

get out and buy fans and dehumidifiers fast get them running and leave them on, also turn the heat on anything to dry out the area

 

[ronjhall]

Not good Jim. Hope the damage is not real bad.

 

[Bird]

Wow. Sorry to hear that. I assume you had a water shutoff that turned off the water to the broken pipe without turning off all the water to the house. Good luck with the repairs.

 

[Craig Clayton]

You might loose the bottom of your dry wall. The water that leaked in as you stated was potable so there would be no bacteria in it. In New Orleans I watched This Old House and they had to cut back to the bare walls because of the spores and bacteria that would be there forever because it was sewage and flood water.
Craig Clayton

 

[Western]

Darn Jim! Thank God for insurance.. I bet as we thaw this will be more common. I had to water traps freeze, but nothing like you have to deal with for sure.

Hopefully you can get the bulk of the water out today to start the drying process and try to salvage some time tomorrow with your family.

Certainly not making "light" of the headache your dealing with, but look at it like your "basement is HALF full". Just trying to find some humor for ya.

Good thing you guy's where home and not out of town!

If you get to the point and need an ozone machine, I think we still have one in the family. I can check with my mother, if we still have it your sure welcome to use it.

I have used it to remove molds from several rooms in the past if that becomes a problem or concern.

 

[jinman]

Thanks Western for the offer and everyone for the good wishes and advice. I thought the problem was only hot water until I turned the cold water on this morning and more water came flooding out of the wall. I shut the water off and determined it is an outside spigot pipe that busted. I had those foam covers on all my spigots, but when I opened up the wall, I found the pipe had that black foam insulation around it and the fiberglass insulation had been put to the inside, leaving the pipe between the insulation and the outside wall. I just don't think that is right. There was plenty of room to put the insulation between the pipe and the outside wall, but the installers just didn't bother. The pipe split about 3" long at an "L" and about 2" back down the pipe. Both the "L" and the pipe were busted. I cut the pipe back and installed a cap. I'm waiting for the glue to set up good and then we'll give it a pressure test.

We contacted our insurance company this morning. Of course they are swamped with claims. They said they use Servpro most often and gave us their number. I called a local restoration company because Servpro has to come from about 45-65 miles away. The local company told me they could get here to dewater the rug for me, but would have no drying equipment available until Monday because of the demand. I called Servpro and talked to someone who said they would call me back, but they have not returned my call. If they don't call within another hour, I'm going back to the local company and let them do the job. I know that Servpro has a bad reputation in some places, but every location is probably different. However, if they want my business, they need to call me back and tell me when they can be here. I'd rather support the local company anyway.

 

[txdon]

Jim, being a flood victim, more than once, I can tell you because of shrinkage, and musty odor later, it is best to replace the carpet. Yank it out, put the furniture back and Superbowl party on, then Monday look for new carpet, or tile.

 

[blueriver]

Jim ... man thats bad luck ... I too think it may be best to get the carpet out... Well I guess it could have been worse, you could have been gone for a few days.

 

[jinman]

Jim, being a flood victim, more than once, I can tell you because of shrinkage, and musty odor later, it is best to replace the carpet. Yank it out, put the furniture back and Superbowl party on, then Monday look for new carpet, or tile.

Thanks for the advice Don. I really think the carpet should come out because I don't think we will ever get all the water any other way. The one thing I have going for me is that this carpet has no pad beneath it. It was also spotlessly clean since we don't have pets inside and we've been lucky to not have any spills. Even so, I will approach my insurance company about replacing the whole thing, especially with the delay in getting it dewatered completely.

 

[dave1949]

Sorry about your basement Jim. Only advice I can give is to put a shut-off valve somewhere freeze protected for those plumbing lines. If you have a cold snap, then you can shut off the supply and open the spigots to relieve pressure and drain what will drain. Leave them open until next use.

We use frost-proof outdoor spigots up north. The actual valve is about 12" in from the outdoor spigot. I still shut off the supply and leave the outdoor spigot open all winter though.

Good luck on getting your basement dried out, sorry about your Super Bowl party. Sounds like you were looking forward to having the kids over.
Dave.

 

[SandburRanch]

I have a similar situation with the laundry unit in the utility room. Water supply on the outside wall with insulation on the wrong side. I'm somewhat fortunate the pipes are poly and sometimes freeze but don't rupture. On the unfortunate side water won't run out of my basement like a walkout. I've never torn into the wall but it's so obvious the builder may as well written it on the wall with a felt tip pen.

I believe 90 percent of builders don't know any different and the other 90 percent don't give a dam.

 

[dave1949]

I have a similar situation with the laundry unit in the utility room. Water supply on the outside wall with insulation on the wrong side. I'm somewhat fortunate the pipes are poly and sometimes freeze but don't rupture. On the unfortunate side water won't run out of my basement like a walkout. I've never torn into the wall but it's so obvious the builder may as well written it on the wall with a felt tip pen.

I believe 90 percent of builders don't know any different and the other 90 percent don't give a dam.

Supposedly, PEX tubing will take some freezing without cracking. That's what I've heard anyways. I guess in a suspect/problem area, you could convert what you can get at to PEX.
Dave.

 

[20 20]

Sorry to here about that, I had a similar issue this morning with one of my water filters busting during the night, lucky for us it wasn't a horrible leak but still enough to cause some problems. The filter just cracked no reason, it's been working fine then pop????

Supposedly, PEX tubing will take some freezing without cracking. That's what I've heard anyways. I guess in a suspect/problem area, you could convert what you can get at to PEX.
Dave.

Dave I will swear by PEX piping especially during a freeze. I had a make shift line for years that ran from the well to our old trailer only 3-4" under ground ran it through a 4" pipe left both ends open because I figured it was temp and would need to get to it. It froze up solid every year I'd just take a hair dryer and stick it in one end of the 4"pipe and thaw it out. I watched that PEX swell and go back to shape many times and NEVER once had a leak . I'm not saying this was a good idea but it proved to me that PEX can take a heck of a beating and still hold it's own, try that with copper

 

[mikim]

Jim - we had 18" of water in our house in Angleton. I have to agree with Don - get rid of the carpet. You'll never get it dry enough that it won't smell with the least bit of humidity. Hope the furniture was solid wood or you can write it off also. Even if its solid wood it will need to be treated if you keep it. We used "Southpro" and I was happy with their response time and thoroughness. Saw their trucks in Cedar Rapids Iowa during their big flood a couple years ago (with a Houston phone # on the side) so I know they travel.

 

[sodamo]

Sorry to hear that. Many years ago, I remember taking that same cold wet step

Lot's of great advice. Dry out soonest to avoid problems and replace the carpet. Don't need a carpet to enjoy the game and your family.

 

[jinman]

Thanks everyone. I quit waiting on Servpro and called a local company. They were here in just over 1 hour and dewatering the carpet. I was really impressed with how well their machine worked. We still have to do some checking of the walls, but the glued down carpet is almost completely dry. They left drying fans running to do the final drying. The carpet seems to be no more wet than after a good cleaning. We will see how it goes on odor. If it doesn't seem to be okay, we'll get the carpet replaced.

All the furniture is up on blocks and the carpet is only slightly damp to the touch. I was truly impressed with how professional this crew of two guys was and how they worked well together. I'm glad to keep my business local. When/if Servpro ever calls me back, I'll tell them to cancel the order.

My capped pipe is holding fine and we have both hot and cold water as normal. From this, I think I learned that I'd like to have some additional cutoffs so I can isolate zones in my house. I have three main zones. Right now I can only turn off hot water and the main supply at the outlet of my pressure tank. I need more cutoffs. That's a project in my future.:thumbsup: