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Thankfully, we have been here before. But, sadly… we’ve been here before.
We discovered yesterday morning that our basement once again has about an inch of standing water. This time it’s coming in from every side of the house (usually it comes in from one, or maybe two.) Strangely, the water is actually entering from the side of the house that it has never entered from before. (So, that side was less protected from such an aquatic invasion…)
But basically, there’s an inch of standing water in our basement.
Because of the strange source of the water, I did a little investigating yesterday. I was exploring outside when I noticed that the front sidewalk was full of water. That could have been bad enough, but there was more. As I looked up the small pond where our sidewalk used to be, I noticed that the water was flowing—fairly rapidly—toward our house. Yes, toward.
It would seem that our house is the lowest spot on our block, and that our front sidewalk provides a nice, easy path for the water flowing from the top of the hill a few hundred feet to our south, now apparently ending right at our front porch, our piece of property, and eventually… our basement.
Ah, the joys of home ownership…
So, our basement of two centuries ago clearly needs some help. When it’s flooding in the winter time (this is the second flood this winter) I suppose that’s a sign something needs to be done.
Any suggestions would be quite welcome.
Until then, we have boots.
First of all, when Spring gets here and things dry up, paint the outside of your basement wall with Dryloc, and paint the inside with Kills. That will help keep the water from permeating, and will help prevent mold inside if it does get through. Second, put all of our stuff in plastic bins or on pallets in the basement in case it does happen. Also I think you are going to have to get a Contractor or someone with an engineering background to look at the grade of your property and the drainage situation. You might get someone from your town to come if the water is coming from the hill above you. If it is coming from someone else’s property…that may be another issue. Finally water in basements creates mold which is a major health hazard. Once you get the basement dried out…You need an air machine to kill mold with ozonation. I have one due to my office flood years ago. I can lend it to you to try out. I am a distributor if you are interested long term, but for now, you just need to deal with the current problem which you can do by borrowing it. Call me.
Let me attempt to dissuade you from the use of ozone in your home, particularly since the majority of your household is of a more susceptible population.
This EPA link has good information on the toxicity/risks associated with O3.
However, to find any lasting fix to this problem, I do agree it’s a good idea to investigate more thoroughly any off-property sources of this extra moisture. If the source is offsite, you’re going to have to involve a third-party to truly get the issue corrected.
-heent
http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/ozonegen.html