Water in the basement

[LakevilleCy]

After 18yrs in the house, first time to have water in the basement. - Not the unfinished part of course, but the carpeted area. Problem is that we can't tell how it is getting in. The carpet is slouchy - after using the wet vac - gets just as wet 15 minutes later. You can see a small amount of water oozing at one wall - but not enough to explain all the water. - No sump pump - never needed one. Any ideas? Called one place that can bring out big fans to dry out - put with the forecast predicting rain all week - should we hold off? Any thought. Appreciate it.

 

[Angie]

We called home insurance, and they hooked us up with ServePro in Des Moines. I might start there and see what they recommend. ServePro was great, came at 11 pm.

 

[cyclonedave25]

Since this is a new problem, maybe your home shifted slightly and cracked the foundation? Or, have you checked your downspouts/gutters to see if everything is still working properly sending water away from your home?

 

[CNECloneFan]

Main thing is to get something that will kill and/ or prevent mildew now, and while you are waiting to get this fixed.

One of the first things to do outside is to check for clogged or leaking gutters. Then look at the ground near the wall that is leaking and make sure the earth is built up and sloping away from the foundation, and that any drain pipes empty away from the foundation. Those are the causes of most leaks that are not due to a plumbing problem.

 

[Clonehomer]

Get someone in within the first 24 hours. Do everything you can to get the carpet dried immediately, but if the water keeps coming in you might as well pull it up. We learned the hard way that if you try to vacuum it up for more than a couple days then there is a potential for mold to grow. Paying someone to reinstall the carpet is much cheaper than buying all new carpet.

Also, depending on the extent of the damage, if they want to cut the dry wall out on the bottom 2ft I recommend contemplating removing it all. Our group from serv pro left such a wavy cut edge that it would have been easier to replace the entire wall than to hide the horizontal seam around the room.

 

[Cyclonepride]

If a large portion of the carpet is wet, I would go ahead and pull it back (or out). Remove the wet pad too.

Generally speaking, carpet is usually never the same after it's been soaked as it can delaminate. From the backing.

 

[BoxsterCy]

I have to chuckle a little at the comments on "maybe something changed". Something did change, 25 inches or more of rain already this year. I have lived in my house here in Golden Valley for 30 years and have never had water seeping out of the slope to my north until today.

 

[CYme]

I have to chuckle a little at the comments on "maybe something changed". Something did change, 25 inches or more of rain already this year. I have lived in my house here in Golden Valley for 30 years and have never had water seeping out of the slope to my north until today.

Echo that, this is the first year I have ever heard our sump pump run on its own. I had to pour gallons in it a few years ago just to prove to myself it still worked.

That said, pull your carpet back now, get some fans at least moving air. Might be time to tear out drywall and find the crack. Probably won't be able to fix much until the ground dries up though.

 

[Cybirdy]

We lived in Lakeville from 1999-2003. Can't remember what the exact issue was, but where we were our sump ran 24/7/365 (in the winter we would "illegally" drain it into our utility sink). I can't imagine what it is like with all this rain. Now where we live in Ames our sump never runs but the two houses to the east of us get lots of water. Good luck, the house I grew up in had water in the basement issues after lots of rain and finally after 20 years my parent's got the issue fixed.

 

[BuffettClone]

The very dry summer last year made a lot of dirt to settle and caused foundation problems for houses that have never had a problem before. Then add all the rain we've had so far this year I'm not surprised people are getting water that havent before

 

[Wesley]

Echo that, this is the first year I have ever heard our sump pump run on its own. I had to pour gallons in it a few years ago just to prove to myself it still worked.

That said, pull your carpet back now, get some fans at least moving air. Might be time to tear out drywall and find the crack. Probably won't be able to fix much until the ground dries up though.

I had a flooded basement years ago due to three gopher holes from high ground to down by my basement. The carpet came through just fine after drying out.

My guess is water may be bubbling up along your outside walls where they met the floor and the basement is sitting in a bathtub.

 

[ripvdub]

Id look into getting a sump pump put in after its fixed.

 

[buf87]

Make sure all the water is getting away from the house. Any settling around house where water isn't getting away from base of house. Build it up so water moves away from house. Extend extensions to gutters

 

[MeanDean]

Obviously, after you pull the carpet, you will probably find where it is coming in. If it happened once/now, there is a pretty good chance it can happen again. If you can find the location it's probably worth the cost/effort/mess to cut in a sump pit and install a pump. Unless you can deflect the water outside the house away from the foundation it is likely that once the water has developed a pathway, the pathway will continue.

 

[BoxsterCy]

I had a flooded basement years ago due to three gopher holes from high ground to down by my basement. The carpet came through just fine after drying out.

Engineers always blame gophers! :smile:

Burrowing animals are are boogieman of levee design. I generally mock our engineers about it although one of our local levee projects did need a re-build for one segment because of a huge infestation of the little burrowing bastards. It's our only operations manual that says "hire dude to kill gophers".

 

[casey1973]

Obviously, after you pull the carpet, you will probably find where it is coming in. If it happened once/now, there is a pretty good chance it can happen again. If you can find the location it's probably worth the cost/effort/mess to cut in a sump pit and install a pump. Unless you can deflect the water outside the house away from the foundation it is likely that once the water has developed a pathway, the pathway will continue.

Exactly what happened to me last year. There wasn't a sump pump when we moved in since the tile around the house brought water in to a drain and then it went right to the sanitary sewer. Worked until last year when water just started seeping in through the cracks in the floor when we had all that rain in May. I think the tile may have some tree roots in them or just some settling that caused the problem. Anyway put in a sump pump which ran non stop for a day or two and its been dry ever since.