In April, May, and September, our basement flooded after very hard rains and Hurricane Irene. The water was muddy, and came from both the door and one of the windows, the one facing the back yard.
In April, the water effectively solidified our need to demolish the basement and start this never-ending project. The musty smell from the carpet could not be ignored.
In May, the water was spread with a broom and dried with a fan because although maddening, it wasn't directly damaging since the basement was empty. But it pooled in one section of the basement, apparently where the floor is lowest. As part of the water proofing plan, I painted all of the cinder block walls with Drylock paint, too.
In July,
we regraded the side yard. We also dug a drain pit, and installed a new drain at the bottom of the stairs.
By September, we had the subfloor down and the insulation and drywall installed. Hurricane Irene hit, and the basement flooded AGAIN. Floor fans fad to be brought in and we spread kitty litter where we saw water seeping up through the subfloor in hopes to keep the damage to a minimum. The wood subfloor swelled in multiple places, and the insulation underneath the window facing the back yard was soaked and covered in mud. The water on the floor that we could see (where there isn't a subfloor) was also muddy.
Side note: the home inspector that looked at the house before we bought it says that there was no evidence of water intrusion - even after Hurricane Katrina - because I asked very specifically about that. Sooooo, we didn't have a water intrusion problem BEFORE the land owner behind us cleared his land and regraded it in April....just sayin'.
Anyway, we had to re-slurry the cinder block that was outside of our new basement door. We also had to install a window well outside of the window facing the back yard.
In October, we regraded one more time, brought in top soil, put down grass seed, and covered it with 10 bales of straw from a local farm.
Meanwhile, we had a minor laundry mishap in early October. The washer drain wasn't actually IN the drain pipe, and I ran laundry not knowing that. Thus, the washer drained onto the floor... and it went where? To the lowest point in the basement. Fantastic. How did we know? Because that section of the wood subfloor swelled horribly.
On Saturday, Steve cut open that section of the floor, and we found water trapped underneath the moisture barrier as well as between the moisture barrier and the wood. No wonder the wood continued to swell. Once the floor was opened, we vacuumed it with the shop vac, and it dried within half an hour.
Otherwise, it seems that the regrades, the window well, and the work on the outside stairs seems to have worked to keep us dry from the muddy silt floods coming from the southwest. It's just annoying that we have to patch the floor already!!
At least we don't have carpet down yet.... ?
