ARGH!

[SuzySunshine]

I was at a meeting last night (MOPS - my ONE escape ) and DH calls me and tells me I need to come home because we have water in the basement. You've got to be frickin kidding me! Last year when 1/2 of Rochester had water in their basements b/c we got deluged we had none and NOW we have water? The guest room is soaked and a small corner of the adjoining living room is as well. The carpet is about 16 months old (figures!) but we're not sure where its coming from, the walls aren't wet, the floorboards aren't wet, there are no wet spots on the ceiling. So how did water travel into the carpet and pad? We "think" a pipe to the outside water spicket may have a leak. We watered our yard for the 1st time on 6/29, then again on 7/7 and 7/8. Because we don't go down in the basement very often DH just happened to find it last night.

So today I get to call the insurance company and we get to see what if any of this will be covered b/c I suspect if it is a pipe a contractor is going to have to come in tear open our wall or ceiling to find it.

Any suggestions/BTDT on drying out carpet & pad? I guess the good thing is if we have to replace it, its just one room and there is a seam in the doorway. :huh:

[rainbabies]

Re: ARGH!

i have nothing to offer except a big sorry. i hope your insurance is helpful and that you dont get mold!

[KCwife]

Re: ARGH!

Before now and when it gets fixed I would go get a dehumidifier and put it in the guest room. It will amaze you as to how much moisture it will suck out.

Sorry that really sucks.

[SuzySunshine]

Re: ARGH!

That is a good idea about the dehumidifier, we had one but it died. Thanks!

Re: ARGH!

We just went through this - on a huge scale. If the carpeting has enough liquid in it to squish, you may want to rent a commercial cleaner (like a Rug Doctor) and just use the sucking function to suck as much water out as you can. KCWife is right about the dehumidifier, too. We bought a 50 pt one, and initially we were filling it 3x's a day - now we're down to about 1 x every 24 hours. Our carpeting is entirely synthetic berber & repels water (yay science?) so we were able to get away with agressively removing the water, drying it out and having it cleaned.

Good luck.

[SuzySunshine]

Re: ARGH!

DH is borrowing a cleaner from a friend on his way home from work and he's also going to HD to look at dehumidifier's. I called our insurance and made a claim b/c we think its a leak in the piping which is going to require someone tearing up part of our wall or ceiling to get to the leak and fix it. The adjuster should be out today or tomorrow, I guess we'll see. :huh:

[peggyfromwastate]

Re: ARGH!

My parents have had a lot of flooding issues in their basement, and they haven't had to replace carpet (yet). The carpet has been soaked through several times, but they've used the dehumidifiers and vacuums specifically for drying out wet carpet with a lot of success.

Best of luck with all that!

[alison]

Re: ARGH!

Good luck, Cheri. It sounds like you have everything under control at this point.

[MDPhDWife]

Re: ARGH!

Our downstairs flooded in February when our toilet shut off valve shredded, but we had Pergo and ceramic tile, no carpet. We called the insurance company (allstate) and they paid to have a "cleaning team" come out immediately. It happened on a Saturday night, so the cleaning team came out within an hour and the adjuster didn't come until Tuesday. Even though we were able to soak up most of the water ourselves, I'm glad we called because the cleaning team said that since some of the walls that got wet were exterior walls that were insulated, the insulation soaks up a lot of water and causes mold. They cut out all the exterior walls and did indeed find some mold, so there must have been a small leak before. They did put up a bunch of HUGE fans and dehumidifiers.

We ended up staying in hotels for a week and when the adjuster told us it would take 6-8 weeks to restore everything (replace all the floors both tile and Pergo, repaint, replace cabinet toe kicks, repaint, replace the vanity, doors, etc) we found a corporate rental apartment. The insurance company was great and covered EVERYTHING, with the exception of the plumber bill that fixed the original problem. That only cost $100. It blew my mind that a $10 plumbing part caused $30K in damage.

My advice is if you're going to file an insurance claim, I would see if they would hire a cleaning company to take care of the carpet which they are more than likely going to replace anyway. They probably won't volunteer the cleaning company, since they would rather you do most of the work, but it will be worth it. If nothing else, hang onto any receipts from things you buy from HD and hand them over to the insurance company.

It was a nightmare!

[SuzySunshine]

Re: ARGH!

So I just got off of the phone with the adjuster, he said since its 2pm on a Friday to see how much we can get dried up ourselves over the weekend. He'll come out on Monday and then we'll assess what else we need to do. The problem with getting someone out right away is that a lot of our area, or very close to us, have had major flooding in the last month so all of the teams are already stretched thin. They'll cover a clean up crew and a plumber to fix it so at least that is good.

[Phoebe]

Re: ARGH!

That stinks! I hope it drys up quickly! Doesn't the worst stuff happen at the end of the day or on a Friday?

[PrincessFiona]

Re: ARGH!

I second the dehumidifier and steam cleaner option...and...you might even see if you can pull the carpet and padding up from the corner, open the windows and put a fan on it today.

I have a carpet cleaner...I could hand it off to you at a 1/2 way point if you'd like.

That just stinks, Cheri! I hope that your insurance will cover it and that your deductible isn't too high.

Kris

[SuzySunshine]

Re: ARGH!

So in the insurance adjuster came out this morning and wrote me a check on the spot. So a plumber is on his way then we'll tearing out the drywall and insulation ourselves mostly and then getting a few bids to have the room fixed. I've called the carpet place but of course the lady I worked with is off on Mondays so hopefully tomorrow we'll know how much that is going to cost us, we've decided to replace it in the guest room. The living room isn't going to require much work it wasn't nearly as damaged.

So all in all the living room will have the pad replaced that was wet and the carpet re-installed and cleaned. The guest room will have about 1/2 of its dry wall cut out along with the insulation and replaced. Repainted and the carpet replaced. When the walls that are being fixed are down to the studs they'll be sprayed with a chemical to kill any mold that is present.

So I'm comfortable with what we've decided to do and the insurance company really has been very helpful. Still a PIA but it is what it is.

[MDPhDWife]

Re: ARGH!

I feel your pain. Since our flood happened downstairs and there would be construction everywhere but the bedrooms upstairs we decided to move. So after a week of staying in hotels and eating out, I found a corporate rental apartment. Lo and behold the windows at the apartment weren't sealed right and water would come in and mold started growing. After several calls to the office, the best they would do for us was to paint over the mold.

With me and DD getting sick, we had to hit the insurance company up to pay for another moving bill. They were gracious and paid for us to move into a rental house. Then within a month the contractors were done and we were able to move back home. It was a nightmare dealing with the contractors, landlords, insurance company, moving company, storage company, etc. but at least we got brand new tile and replaced our Pergo laminate floors with engineered hardwood. Not too bad for our deductible of $250. :huh:

Did your insurance company pay for you to get new carpet? Was any of your furniture damaged? Why are you guys doind the labor of taking out the drywall and insulation? Wouldn't you rather have the insurance company pay a contractor to do it?

and lots of hugs coming your way!

[SuzySunshine]

Re: ARGH!

If I can get a contractor out here to do it this week then yes, the insurance company will pay for it. They already have, but we need to get the drywall out so the studs will dry so there is no mold so we want to get it out fast! Since its not that much I'm willing to do it myself if we can't get someone out here.

Luckily none of our furniture was damaged it was only in the carpet.

The leak is now fixed, I've put a call into the carpet lady and now we just need a contractor to do the demo and/or repair. What a PIA!