ToddinWestwood
Member Profile
Has anyone else noticed that it has been raining freakin' cats and dogs ALL EVENING?
Oh what I would give for a 65 deg day, a big 'ole tri-tip, a hot grill and a couple friends over drinking ice cold PBRs.
Do we have to start sacraficing small furry things to the gods of weather?
Everybody OK? No flooded basements etc. so far? Patrick and I are both covering meetings right now (the school board is about to go into hour 4) but would break away if we got word of something going on ... so far, though, no reports of any problems except all the H&D from the megaflooding to the north and south. Hope it stays quiet, of course, and stops raining soon!
cruiser
Member Profile
Ah Todd get your coat on and go stick a steak on the grill ya big wuss:)
westseattledood
Member Profile
Todd -
If you have a little dinghy with a sail, you are welcome to come launch it in the lake in my alley.
That's kind of summerish, doncha' think?
JenV
Member Profile
Todd, Unkie and I BBQ'd in the snow last week. A torrential downpour is no excuse. ;)
All's clear - no flooding in my basement. Just got home though, and apparently torrential downpour = people driving like A-holes for no reason.
Jen,
My storm drain is clogged so we're sending it all down to you...enjoy.
(called the city last week and today, so it should be clear by March)
Just a leaking window here, so I guess a flood is dependent on how long it leaks - one. drip. at. a. time.
Todd, I put a lime in my Corona and am trying like hell to visualize.
flipjack
Member Profile
NOAA broke into NPR and issued a flood warning for all of Western Washington..including Seattle urban areas.
Here's a cool link..
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/sew/WebBriefing_7January2009web.pdf
My sump-pump is going like mad. I just watched it push well over two gallons of water out. It's going off every 4 minutes or so. You do the math. The walls are seeping but as long as the power doesn't go out, I think we'll be OK.
westseattledood
Member Profile
I just checked my basement.
Now it's flooding. And, I THOUGHT my new flashing put in with a new garage roof was gonna prevent this. Crapola. Sigh. Two completely different walls are leaking. One subterranean and one attached to a garage.
SO, what's the smartest way to troubleshoot this? Who to call to fix leaks and seeping walls? What's the deal with sump pumps? How do I know if I need one?
Just saw the news - I'm lucky compared to many out there tonight. For sure.
flipjack
Member Profile
I would get a pump soon and plenty of hose to drain away from the house.
If you have a wet/dry shop vac you might be able to stop some of it.
Also check this: it might be leaking in from the seems of the bottom of the foundation from the ground up that is..might not have anything to do with the walls.
westseattledood
Member Profile
thx fj-
So will McLendon's have a pump? There are different sizes, right?
And, if it's leaking from the seams at the bottom of foundation wall, then I can seal it from the inside? Like on the concrete of the wall - tearing out the drywall and insulation? Ugh.
foxnbeagles
Member Profile
If it makes you feel like a kindred spirit, my basement just started to leak. same spot as Last Year's December Rain. Evidently my countermeasures didn't work. It's going to be a long night with stereo dry vacs. At least we aren't in Orting. Best of Luck Brother.
wingme
Member Profile
My roomie is stuck at friends in Snoqualmie, in one of the last houses yet to be flooded. No power, water inches from the door, moving a house full of nice stuff to second floor bedrooms. Very bad scene there too, completely cut off from the world.
foxnbeagles
Member Profile
I'd rather be in my basement than there now. I used to work up that way and know how bad it can get. as long as I have scotch and 2 high powered wet vacs, I've got nothing to complain about. I wish your friends best of luck for a safe evening.
foxnbeagles
Member Profile
well it's 1:05 a.m. and the rain has stopped for a bit. All wet vacs are continually running positioned in place at strategic basement corners and the ship hasn't sunk yet. Time for a nice hot cup of well steeped tea...and oh yeh, a scotch. I love the NW...
foxnbeagles
Member Profile
Actually I'm fibbing about the scotch. It's actually Bushmill's 10 year old single malt Irish Whiskey. I'm drinking it as a tribute to cruiser who taught me to keep plenty of plumber's putty around to plug holes after he helped me with the basement flood last december. Slainte Mhath my friend...Hey it's already 1:20 and I haven't burned out the wet vacs yet..."daylight comin' and I want to go home".
wingme
Member Profile
I love the NW and I love weather! But I'm not losing everything I own in Orting, Snoq., Chehalis, et al tonight. Think I'll join you for that up of tea and some sippin' liquor.
foxnbeagles
Member Profile
Hallelujah brother preachin' to the choir and Slainte Mhath to you...
Basement flooding is expensive to fix. The principles are well-known.
When the rain gets torrential our sump pump also goes off as often as every 4 minutes. When it is light it goes off anywhere from every 15 minutes to every 45 minutes depending on how soaked the ground has already been. Even after the rain totally stops it may keep on pumping every hour or two until the ground has dried out.
Several years ago we had a company called B-Dry come in and put in some special wall covering and I think some sort of pipes behind that and then they put in a big cistern in one corner of the basement. The sump pump sits in the cistern and when that fills to a certain point it pumps up and out through a pipe that runs outside, is buried in the lawn, and then empties way away from the house. The basement used to flood badly. Now only if there is very prolonged torrential rains do we get very slight, minor seepage in the two other corners of the basement not covered by the system.
I was always really anxious about what would happen should it be raining hard and the power went out so that it no longer was running the sump pump. Three years ago I got a very expensive big battery system for it. During that awful storm a couple of years ago the power of course was out and the battery kicked in and worked for 30 minutes and that was it, it died. Depending on the number of times the pump had to run it should have lasted anywhere from 10-24 hours. Even if it had lasted it wouldn't have done the trick for the duration of the storm and power loss. So, I was downstairs manually bailing water. During the worst of the storm I could barely keep up with it. It is an awful memory.
Following that I vowed to get something dependable. I found many other battery systems with similar durations, and I knew that was not what I wanted. I found some with 2 batteries that might last 15 to about 30 hours. I knew that wasn't what I wanted either. I did a lot of research and learned that there are water powered systems that can work well in residential situations. The backup pump is hooked into your incoming water line and the backup pump sits in the cistern just above the electric pump and then somehow (it's very easy but I still don't comprehend it) the water powers the pump if the electricity goes off. I called a local plumber and he recommended it over the battery powered one. I had one installed by them. It rained that weekend and for some reason my electric pump had gotten set so that it was not working, and sure enough all weekend long the water powered one worked until Monday when they came out and set the electric one properly. So I know the water powered one can work just fine for an extended period. I figure that while batteries can die, if the water system is down we have a much bigger problem (a major earthquake?) to worry about than the basement flooding.
Oh, and those of you who have electric pumps running often, did you know that they can fail after about 5 years and should therefore be replaced every 5 years? Our failed right around 6 or 7 years and that is how we learned about that.
So now I am much less stressed when we get these big storms.
Westseattledood: While sealing the inside of your concrete basement wall might temporarily alleviate your problem, it probably won't--all it will do is re-direct the water to somewhere it will leak in. What is needed, and what won't help you now, is a drainage net/tile seep outside the basement that leads to a sub-basement sump pump. But this major expense and solution is only if you cannot keep the water from entering the subsurface first.
Without going into details, the first step after pumping the basement out(which you may have taken already) is keeping water away from the house/basement foundation walls. If your roof gutters don't drain to the sanitary sewer (like mine), then get a length of flexible piping and route the roof water away from the side of the house. If there is water ponding in the yard, dig a ditch and see if you can drain it to a side yard, alley, or whatever--go ahead and ruin the lawn. Note: If your diversions flood the neighbors basement/propert, that's a legal liability.
-
During the Thanksgiving storm that sunk the I-90 bridge I spent a couple hours digging a ditch with my brother-in-law to drain his side yard and stop the flooding of his basement...been there (fingers crossed)...done that. Good luck.
squareeyes
Member Profile
Every year I wonder if this is the year my sump-pump quits. Yesterday was the obvious test and it kicked in with its usual squeak, clunk, whoosh making me very happy. Was going every 5-10 minutes last night, but just once this morning as the water continues to absorb.
I've been in the house 7.5 years and have no idea how long the pump was in before that. Do I really need to install a new pump as a preventive measure?!?
Squareyes
I got my B-Dry system put in over a period of years. I had the first section done, then about 7 years later I decided to add to it after the necessity became evident. It was during the summer, and when they finished doing it they went to check out the system and lo and behold the sump pump was dead. So they replaced it for me. Then, about 5 years later one day the pump was running and in the pipe under the house there was a very unusual noise. I went downstairs and found that there was steam coming out of the cistern. I immediately unplugged the sump pump. I put my hand in the remaining water in the cistern and discovered the water was really hot. My husband went to the hardware store to get a new pump and there they restated what the B-Dry people had told us, a life span of 5 or so years if it is used a lot. We are approaching 5 years again and I think we are going to proactively replace it. I worry about what would have happened if we had not been home to catch the steam/hot water malfunction.
I gave up worrying about my basement years ago. I live on the top of a hill, it's downhill east west and south, and flat to the north, and I still get puddles.
What really bugs me is that most annoying of sounds: The drop of water falling from the ceiling onto hardwood floors. Usually immediately followed by cursing.
flowerpetal
Member Profile
When we bought our current West Seattle house it was nearly 50 years old. We experienced water seepage early in our ownership. We were referred to (and I now refer many others) Rite Way Waterproofing Company. We have heard numerous stories of failed attempts by other companies at other houses and only praise for Rite Way. They performed the work for us and gave us a life time guarantee which we have never had to use. The guarantee is also transferrable to the next owners. Rite Way's website is http://www.awdryup.com. It is a Seattle area business, not a franchise. They are great people to work with and gave us peace of mind.
i thought i had left basement flooding issues behind in minnesota where i learned all i ever wanted to know about basement waterproofing and sump pumps:(
But we are lucky not to be in one of the river towns that are flooding out... there isn't a sump pump big enough for that.
ToddinWestwood
Member Profile
Hey Flipjack. Love the Bob Dobbs pic. I have been a longtime fan of The Church of The Sub Genius.
All praise Bob and all that is SLACK.
squareeyes
Member Profile
Sump pump is in the crawlspace so I live in drainage ignorance. I have never been under the house; my arachnophobia will not allow it.
cruiser
Member Profile
Doesn't matter what your doctor says you should go have a look:)
squareeyes
Member Profile
Would take an awful lot of scotch and a bee suit to get me down there!
westseattledood
Member Profile
Been wet/dry vac shopping today.
Cost comparisons of sump pumps.
Blech. Blech. Blech.
OK. No more whining from me.
Thanks for the input everyone!
Very much appreciated!
You must log in to post.
All contents copyright 2012, A Drink of Water and a Story Interactive. Here's how to contact us.
No photo reuse without permission.
Entries and comments feeds. ^Top^
westseattleblog
West Seattle Blog
West Seattle Blog