Out for a few more days

[GiFi]

Amir, I'm sorry for what happened to you, I hope it will be resolved soon and your wife will recover completely. When mold inevitably forms, you can use the ozone appliance. Be careful that the rooms must be ventilated before entering. A warm greeting

 

[Foxenfurter]

Sounds like a nightmare especially with the injury to your wife, all the best.

We had bad floods in our part of London last year our cellar got flooded twice, but it self drains and we didn't lose much junk. Highly anxious moments as the water kept rising and the rain was relentless. Took 10 days running a dehumidifier to dry out though. My wife's car finally went to the great scrapyard in the sky as a result of fried electrics driving through the flooded streets to get home.

 

[Stephen]

I'm really sorry about the situation, Amirn.

I bought a small house in 2010, it has a nice basement and I immediately thought of installing a home theater in the biggest room (27m²). Unfortunately, the first heavy rainfall revealed huge water leaks on the walls but also on the floor. It is true that the drainage was necessary but it was impossible because of the neighbourhood and especially its very high price. So I thought about it very seriously and looked for professional solutions that I could do myself. Very effective professional products are available for private individuals, provided they have the knowledge... for example, you can make a concrete wall completely waterproof and then cover it with a coating that resists negative water pressure... I've noticed that often even professionals don't know the best products. I have cracked concrete blocks in the basement and water was seeping in large quantities so I used a bi-component polyurethane foam which provides a total waterproofing to seal the biggest cracks. It's used in boat hulls.
I waterproofed the concrete using a liquid silica that will fill the cavities and small cracks. The walls corners and angles must be reinforced with a waterproof concrete: this is where it often cracks (with the movements of the ground).

Here is what I used but these products are not necessarily available in the USA but there is probably the same thing (i searched for english descrition).
To waterproof the concrete walls/ground:

Sikagard®-705 L

Sikagard-705 L is one-component, solvent free, reactive impregnation for concrete and cementitious substrates based on silane technology with 99% active ingredient.

usa.sika.com

To stop water underground level:

SikaTop® 145 Waterproofing coating - Sealing - Hammami Counter Tunisia

Use: Casing Works: In new or rehabilitation Application inside the submerged part of concrete structures Micro coated showers, laundries and all wet rooms Walls of stables and food premises

www.comptoir-hammami.com

To fill the big cracks/openings:

Bicomponent casting polyurethane foams - POOLKEMIE

I mostly use Sika products as they are very professional (i am not into this industry).

It's been 10 years this year, we've had a lot of hard rain since then but not a trace of moisture in the home Theater...

Any question... i would be happy to help. All the best.

 

[RichB]

Very sorry for the situation and best wishes to your wife for a speedy recovery.

After the battle, I hope you find a reliable long-term solution, knowing it could happen again would drive me nuts.

- Rich

 

[respice finem]

Hopefully too far away... https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/tsu...ooding-in-hawaii-after-tonga-eruption-2710293

 

[amirm]

Hopefully too far away... https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/tsu...ooding-in-hawaii-after-tonga-eruption-2710293

I got the county alert a couple of hours ago and my heart sank! Then I read the details and they said they don't expect much rise but that if you are boater or swimmer, to watch out.

 

[respice finem]

I got the county alert a couple of hours ago and my heart sank! Then I read the details and they said they don't expect much rise but that if you are boater or swimmer, to watch out.

Hawaii got a small one, so you're probably out of harm's way

Tsunami Waves Over 4 Feet High Hit Pacific Coast after Major Eruption near Tonga | The Weather Channel

Water flowed into streets and neighborhoods and people were told to avoid coastal shorelines. - Articles from The Weather Channel | weather.com

weather.com

 

[amirm]

When mold inevitably forms, you can use the ozone appliance. Be careful that the rooms must be ventilated before entering. A warm greeting

Thanks. Yes, learned about both on youtube and bought the unit but have not used it. Our theater is enclosed so I can run it there and close the door. But the rest of the downstairs is open to the upper floor. So I am not going to run it there unless we can leave the house and come back.

I learned it from this video:

I bought that blower in the video. It is incredible. It creates a tornado and dries things up so much faster than the smaller ones I bought from local hardware store. It is also superbly built.

 

[AlexanderM]

Hawaii got a small one, so you're probably out of harm's way

Tsunami Waves Over 4 Feet High Hit Pacific Coast after Major Eruption near Tonga | The Weather Channel

Water flowed into streets and neighborhoods and people were told to avoid coastal shorelines. - Articles from The Weather Channel | weather.com

weather.com

This is Santa Cruz.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1482409105205596163

 

[respice finem]

Allegedly the bang alone could be heard 1000 miles away, so this was definitely not small...

 

[respice finem]

I'm wondering what's left of Tonga...

 

[pseudoid]

...mold formed...

Excellent warning!
There have been some very good products coming into the market for mold prevention (non-toxic) when walls and floors need to be ripped up.
But such forethought needs to be researched and in-place, prior to re-construction.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stresses that there's no acceptable amount of any type of mold.

 

[steve f]

I am so sorry about your flooding problem. I hope your wife is okay. All things material can be replaced; people not so much. Home repairs can be so frustrating. (My landscaper recently cut the electrical line to my pool filter. Not his fault. It wasn’t buried deep enough. Now I have a trench, and an AWOL electrician.)

 

[dshreter]

I ripped out the baseboard in the bathroom where it was leaking in. Even there, the drywall has survived so well. Can't believe it has. We will have to wait and see what happens in the next few days.

One thing to verify is that insulation has not soaked up water. It can act as a sponge, carrying water well above where it was seen at floor level. Particularly check any exterior walls as interior walls are not necessarily insulated.

Just went through this recently, and if it’s soaked it must be ripped out.

 

[capslock]

Sorry to hear about this. Is this a ground/basement floor that sits below ground partially?

We are in a similar situation in that we live on a slight incline, so our ground floor sits right at ground level, and the basement is completely below ground on the side facing the hill. The basement is fully cast concrete with extra iron and sheet metal at the seams between floor plate and walls, but I had water ingress in my workshop through the window one day when there was heavy rain while the ground outside was still frozen. A major mess that was limited to one room, fortunately.

 

[sigbergaudio]

Sorry to hear about your troubles! Best wishes and hope you get it all sorted out in time, and most important of all take care of yourselves!

 

[eriksson]

Seeing new review. That's a good sign.
Unable to offer any help from over here to Amir's trouble I came up with semi-scientific approach.
I stepped out in the garden and danced the infamous Icelandic rain dance. The general idea was to draw some of the rain bothering Amir towards my neck of the wood. I presume it worked, at least it's raining a lot now.

Small problem, my neighbors are bit upset. Not being used to the scientific method - they have hard time understanding the rain dance doesn't work unless one performs it completely naked while yelling quite a bit.

My lawyer tells me I will get rid of the ankle bracelet soon, so it's all good.

 

[Headchef]

Hello you all. You probably noticed I have been away from the forum a few days. Last Thursday the finished lower floor of our house which is below grade developed a leak. This quickly became a massive flood, overwhelming our efforts to keep it at bay. To make matters worse, near midnight, my wife slipped on the wet stairs and badly injured her back side and elbow. So we spent the next day at the hospital and thankfully, nothing was broken but she has been in serious pain (but getting better). We had two days of dry weather which gave us a chance to repack things of value but then the rain came and multiple flooding with it. We would spend 12 to 16 hours pumping and drying out the floor, only to get fully overwhelmed in a matter of hours.

I have bought every pump and gadget you can think of but none of them are effective with shallow flooding of quarter of an inch of water (seeping through the walls). Actually it has been so bad that in the time it takes me to go to the hardware store to buy the next thing, the house been flooding completely again! No restoration company would come to dry the house because the leak is still there. So stuck doing it all ourselves.

My builder called a crew with excavators and such over the weekend and they showed up Monday, only to make it worse and leave. So last two days has been more rounds of hell. I was drying and pumping the house for nearly 20 hours straight last nigh as the non-stop rain caused it to flood again and again! A more competent crew is here and is building a much more extensive water management system. Hopefully they get it done and it works.

Getting help of course in this environment is next to impossible. Had a great handyman I had used on other projects but he wouldn't come over to help either.

Anyway, starting tomorrow it is supposed to dry out for a few days so maybe this insanity will be over by the weekend.

I have only been able to drop in the forum for a minute or two per day. Just so much to do.

A top tip for clearing up water quickly and easily is to use the dustpan from a dustpan & brush set, preferably one with a rubber blade along the lip. With that you can quite literally scoop up the water then finish off with a mop. (As a professional chef I have employed this technique with all manner of liquids over the years and can promise you it’s the quickest and easiest way)

good luck with the nightmare, hope the better half is feeling better soon

 

[amirm]

One thing to verify is that insulation has not soaked up water. It can act as a sponge, carrying water well above where it was seen at floor level. Particularly check any exterior walls as interior walls are not necessarily insulated.

Just went through this recently, and if it’s soaked it must be ripped out.

Yeh, I need to do this.

 

[amirm]

A top tip for clearing up water quickly and easily is to use the dustpan from a dustpan & brush set, preferably one with a rubber blade along the lip. With that you can quite literally scoop up the water then finish off with a mop. (As a professional chef I have employed this technique with all manner of liquids over the years and can promise you it’s the quickest and easiest way)

good luck with the nightmare, hope the better half is feeling better soon

Don't laugh but I took that to the next level and used a snow shovel! I was pushing tons of water toward the sump pump that was then sucking it out (inefficiently). I was happy about this solution until the amount of water multiplied by 10 and started to spread everywhere.