Water in my finished basement

[fishhuntwork]

This is the first time since I lived in my house that I have water in my finished basement. The carpet is only wet on the north wall and I don't think it made it to the sheetrock. What should I do? Tare out carpet? Dry the carpet? My house is a late 50's rambler it has no drain tile or sump, do I have it installed? Any idea what that costs?

[eyeguy 54]

I have 3 fans and a dehumidifier going in my basement. only half finished off but it will help dry the carpet out. sump is working very hard this year.

[Mid-Lake Rock]

I had this happen last year. I lifted the carpet and padding and get a few fans going. I set the thermostat so the furnace fan was running continuously. Took a few days but it got dry and I didn't end up with any issues.

The other issue is trying to prevent this from happening again and keep it from getting worse. I don't know your situation with regard to why you are getting water, but last year after I got water, I purchased downspout extensions to push the water further from the home. That solved the problem and the water did not return.

Good luck.

[amateurfishing]

possibly getting a machine (shop vac, etc) that will suck the moisture out of the carpet as much as possible, then lots of fans to air dry.

[delcecchi]

This is the first time since I lived in my house that I have water in my finished basement. The carpet is only wet on the north wall and I don't think it made it to the sheetrock. What should I do? Tare out carpet? Dry the carpet? My house is a late 50's rambler it has no drain tile or sump, do I have it installed? Any idea what that costs?

How hard are you willing to work. I did mine for a few hundred bucks and a lot of sweat. I have a '59 rambler also. Finally got tired of water a couple times a year. got my sledge, a shovel, a hammer drill, some buckets and so forth.

busted up the floor around the edge. Dug a trench. Put pea gravel in the trench. laid drain tile on the pea gravel. put copper tubing from holes in the block down to the tile, more pea gravel. Plastic over the gravel, up the wall, sackcrete to replace the floor, leaving a small gap to the wall.

done. Took about a year. Humping the dirt and concrete out of the basement was work.

Two sumps and pumps.

So far so good.

[harvey lee]

Yep, that is alot of work but the best way to solve a water issue.

Good insurance also helps and some insurance companies require a rider for some types of basement flooding.

[Down Deep]

I've owned the house I'm currently living in for 33 years and had water come up through the basement floor for the 1st time ever. The water was manageable and only damaged some 20 year old carpet which I removed. The water table is just at an all time high. The cold temps this winter kept the 130 inches of snow around and it all melted in 3 weeks. The we have had about 10 inches of rain since then.

If you dry the carpet, in a month or so make sure you pull up one of the sections that was wet and check for mold. It is very hard to dry a carpet and pad before it molds.

[hartner62]

Lift the carpet and throw away the wet pad. The carpet should be fine if it hasn't been sitting too long and you will know if it has if it is delaminating. It's best to get fans that you can prop up to blow air under the carpet and to get a dehumidifier going as we'll. the faster you can get it dry the more likely you will be able to save the carpet. Most rental places have air movers that you can rent but many are already sold out.

[nofishfisherman]

If I were in your shoes I'd get a few dehumidifiers running in the basement for starters. Then I'd look into getting one of those carpet shampoo machines, a machine like that should be able to suck out more water than a shop vac since they are designed to remove the excess water from carpet after cleaning.

Once you've sucked as much water out as possible I'd pull up the carpet far enough to expose all of the areas that got wet. Check the condition of the pad and see if you can dry it out, maybe even run the carpet cleaner over it a few times to see if it will suck any water out.

Leave everything exposed with fans running over the area and dehumidifiers running for a couple days to make sure everything is 100% dry and also to make sure you aren't seeing any more water coming in.

Then try to figure out how the water entered the basement in the first place. Could be a simple drain spout issue, a grading issue around the house, or a variety of other things.

Once you are confident you have the cause of the problem fixed and the carpet and pad are 100% dry lay the carpet back down. Depending on the area you may need to have a carpet installer come in and stretch the carpet back to its original fit, wouldn't imagine that would be a big deal. If the pad continues to hang on to a little moisture cut out the section that got wet and lay down a new section of pad.

[delcecchi]

I can tell you from personal experience that the pad will be wet. And you can't suck the water out of the pad. I think any wet pad needs to go. But pad is relatively cheap.

[WWW]

I can tell you from personal experience that the pad will be wet. And you can't suck the water out of the pad. I think any wet pad needs to go. But pad is relatively cheap.

Yep. Get ride of the pad. Throw the carpet to unless its something special you are connected to.

[ozzie]

Yep, that is alot of work but the best way to solve a water issue.

Good insurance also helps and some insurance companies require a rider for some types of basement flooding.

good insurance won't help if it is coming in from your foundation as no insurance company will cover water through your foundation! If you have a sump pump endorsement or rider on your policy you may have limited coverage if and only if it is coming from your sump area...

[nofishfisherman]

good insurance won't help if it is coming in from your foundation as no insurance company will cover water through your foundation! If you have a sump pump endorsement or rider on your policy you may have limited coverage if and only if it is coming from your sump area...

Not entirely accurate. A few years back my parents had water come into their basement after some heavy rains. Replacement of carpet and pad where covered by insurance. The adjuster did try to deny the claim sighting some made up problem with the foundation. One quick call to a supervisor cleared it up and the supervisor admitted the adjuster was completely wrong and it was clearly covered.

Perhaps not all insurance will cover the issue but there are some that will.

[ozzie]

I am willing to bet the adjustor didn't make a mistake and the insurance company decided rather than to get into a big issue with your parents they weighed the cost of the carpet and pad to sending out someone and taking the time to prove it is a foundation problem opposed to say a sump pump overflow. Then again if they did have the sump pump overflow endorsment maybe the adjustor missed it but call your agent and ask them if water in your basement is covered if it just appears after a big rain fall and not through your sump...

[ozzie]

and I am pretty sure no insurance company will cover foundation issues just as in your statement the insurance adjustor denied for foundation leakage and the supervisor classified it under some other issue because they wouldn't cover a foundation issue.