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Home » Dealing With A Flooded Basement
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July 2, 2013 · 3 Comments

Dealing With A Flooded Basement

DIY

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I had just gotten out of the tub after a long day of cleaning the house and then working out in the yard.  I was taking my dirty clothes to our basement laundry room when I heard my husband from the basement say, “Something is wrong.  Something is really wrong.”  My stomach did a quick somersault as a began to see water squirting up between the boards of our laminate flooring.  The “floating” laminate floor was literally, floating!
My Better Half and sons worked diligently to carry shop-vac loads of water out of the basement…every couple minutes for…well, awhile.  We weren’t sure if the water was coming in the floor drains or the four loads of laundry I did that day had drained themselves all under the flooring.  We later came to find out that this had been the case.  The drain where my washing machine drains, was clogged.  Because the water was going under the laminate flooring, I didn’t notice it at all during the day.
As they worked to clean up the floor, I ran to the hardware store to buy a snake to run down the drain.  I walked in at 9:50…10 minutes before the store closed.  Of course on this night I was greeted with a warm, “Just so you know, the store is closing in ten minutes.”  It was all I could do to not respond with the things that actually popped in my head…Thank you Lord for helping me keep my mouth shut!!  I found what I needed and a whole lot more.  Just so you know…I don’t need a sump pump, a heavy duty auger, or $30 attachments!
Anyway, the little snake helped, or so we thought.  But the water was still really high in the drains and we really couldn’t put anything down the drain.  Laundry was out of the question.  However our focus shifted to drying out the floor.

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My Better Half is a genius!  He used PVC to create this long chain attached to our shop vac to blow air under the laminate flooring.  (Yes, he used the t’s from our hill-billy horse shoes game…that’s what was free and available after-hours)

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We ended up having to rent a power snake to find and deal with the clog in the drain.  Thankfully, about 35 feet out, the snake cut through the clog and the water in the drains recessed to their normal level.  What a relief!!

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After keeping fans moving in the basement and the air blowing under the flooring we still knew we needed to make a decision about whether we would take up the flooring or just assume that we had gotten all the water out from under it.  We would rather be safe than sorry so we decided to take up the flooring.  Now the only decision was whether we should get rid of the laminate flooring and start again or try to salvage it.

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If we tried to salvage the floor it would be a very difficult job.  Each piece would have to be numbered or marked in some way.  They can only go back down the same way they came up.  We decided to give it a try.

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Under the floor we had an underlayment called Delta.  It is like hard-plastic bubble wrap and is made to help with moisture in the basement.  Water from the flooding had settled in these “bubbles”.  After removing some of the flooring, we were encouraged to see very little water damage to the laminate flooring and we worked to keep it all in order as we removed it piece by piece.
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We wiped each piece of flooring down thoroughly and dried the water out of the underlayment.
Gratefully, we were able to salvage the flooring and it all went back down without much of an issue.
So, the basement no longer looks like this
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, Saving 4 Six

and is back in order.  The clog is cleared and we are water free.  I am so thankful this was not any worse than it was and we will be very careful to prevent this from happening again!

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Comments

  1. JR says

    July 2, 2013 at 3:09 AM

    You might get a lint sock to attach to the hose coming out of the washer it really helps to prevent cloggin.They are very cheap at the hardware.

    Reply
  2. Julie @ Being Home says

    July 2, 2013 at 4:24 AM

    Carrie, so glad you were able to salvage the flooring. I am sure you and your family are more than capable of cleaning everything, just be sure all water is cleaned up and dry. I only mention this because our washer leaked three times. It was enough water to go down into our basement. We also had to deal with some mold issues (because of leak) that was giving me some health issues.

    So sorry to hear that this happened, but glad everything seems to be fine. 🙂

    Reply
  3. imklvr says

    July 2, 2013 at 8:40 PM

    You guys are amazing and your hubs really IS a genius! You’ve posted enough of his handy work to prove it, and this one tops the list! Yeah, you are an awesome duo. Dona

    Reply

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Welcome to Saving 4 Six! I'm Carrie, a wife and frugal mother of four. This is my soap box, where I share money saving ideas, tips, and projects. Stick around...I hope you'll be inspired to save too.

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