Hi Pinside,

This all happened about 20 minutes ago, so I'm trying to get some informed feedback.

My basement flooded due to a break in the PVC pipe leading from the sump pump to the outside. There's some standing water, but I'm trying to sop it up.

Anyhow, we've had a really nice, dry basement (up until this point) so I'm looking for some suggestions on how to get it back that way. From the quick search I've done, carpent needs to be ripped-up, room needs to be aired out, and then disinfected to prevent mold.

So...who has gone through this? What words of wisdom do you have after emerging on the other side of floodlandia?

Thanks, all!
-Ryan

FWIW:

Hey all,

First off, thanks for all your responses. You were prompt, Pinside-y , and I've read each and every one of them. It's been a long day of moving machines, wet-vac-ing, and dehumidifying, but here's a Cliff Notes version of how it went:

2018ClaytorianFlood (resized).jpg

One of the main concerns I heard was about carpet padding, so I'll just mention briefly that I have none. Just flat carpet on concrete.

Alright, a few responses, then bedtime for Bonzo...

Despite being a huge pain of a day, I completely agree.

Case in point.

Yurp.

That explains it! I now have an annual programmed calendar reminder to get in that sump closet and tighten those clamps around the join of the PVC pipe.

Amen, brother.

I've read this ^^^ three times over and I'm still not sure I understand. ...but, good luck?

*LOL* A fine end to the madness of this day. Thanks, again, Pinside. This community never ceases to amaze me.

Much appreciated,
Ryan Claytor

UPDATE: Basement is virtually dry this morning after running all night with fans and dehumidifiers. Really surprising how much water was extracted into those dehum's overnight. Literally buckets. Pretty cool. The coupling that I thought I fixed is still leaking this morning (we put a towel down last night that is pretty saturated today), but I managed to find a plumber to come check things out today (a difficult task as it seems we are far from the only basement around here that flooded yesterday...lots of rain melted lots of snow). Anyhow, the level of the water in the sump pump stayed constant, so that's good news as well, but we fear the pump might be bad now (didn't seem to be turning on last night or this morning...not sure if that means the water level is good now or if it's broken...it was kinda mildly vibrating and then there's the whole leak thing).

Thanks again for all the feedback on here.

It was kind of beautiful in a way, like a mistranslated haiku.

In all my life, I've still yet to pay for a plumPer, but I do have someone scheduled to take a look at this sump/pipe situation today.

My guess is BATTERY powered backup? ...this thread. *LOL*

Hey, all

Oh, wows! Thanks for the suggestion. Learned something (ELSE) new! Thank you thank you to all on this thread!

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UPDATE:

I feel like I owe everyone on here a thorough update, so here goes:

A guy did come out, but he wanted to charge me over two hundred dollars to replace the coupling between the pipes. I did a little research and understood it was the "check valve" and that it was nowhere near $200. So I went to the local big box hardware shop, grabbed one for $10, and fixed it myself. Sure enough, when I took off the old check valve, the flapper inside that prevents the water from flowing back into the drain was completely torn off and just flopping around in there. I'm certain that's what caused the water to start spewing from that coupling. The flapper likely just got jammed up in there somehow and the water couldn't make it's way up...so it made it's way OUT. Ha-ha! Anyhow, I ham-fisted the new check valve into place and it seems to be working just fine now, even after some additional rain.

Also,

I ran those fans and dehum's for a week straight before turning them off. The last couple days my old dehum was still pulling some water (a bit, not much) while my new dehum was pulling nothing. I believe this is because the lowest setting on my new dehum was 30%, while the old model was just on a continuous setting. My guess is that the room was below 30% humidity so the new one was done. Anyhow, turned 'em off about 3 days ago.

There were a lot of suggestions to:

...and/or throw it all away. I sincerely considered this, however, for a few reasons, I did not:

1) The flood water was clean rainwater, not sewage, and while it stretched from one side of our basement to the other, there was not even a measurable inch of standing water.

2) Our carpet is very low profile and is glued directly to the concrete slab without any padding. Not a lot of room for moisture after multiple wet-vacs and a week of fans/dehums.

3) We plan to gut and remodel this space in a couple/few years anyhow, so if mold did start to grow we could take care of it in relatively short order. However, I have serious doubts about that happening, as we were able to take care of this pretty quickly and things seem to be bone dry now.

So, a day or so after shutting down the fans/dehums, I finally mustered up the gumption to start moving machines again.

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...the pins went back in today and yesterday. I tried to take it easy on myself this time, as my body was pretty pissed after initially moving about 10 games over the course of a few short hours. (What can I say, I'm dainty.) After getting everything into place over a couple days, my back is far less angry.

Anyhow, I just wanted to extend a word of thanks for everyone who chimed-in here to offer a word of advice. You all gave me the expedited education I needed in a frantic time. (Did I mention this all happened during a huge weekend of event planning for my job?) So, thank you, Pinside.

Sincerely,
Ryan