Came home to a basement leak
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Anonymous
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A few weeks ago we had a small leak in the basement by our egress window. A rep from the builder came out and cleared debris from the sill and said that would solve the problem.
We just came home from a week away and found that a good portion of our basement carpet surrounding the egress window is wet. We have a call into the builder, but I'd imagine the earliest we'll hear from them is Monday. What should we do in the meantime? Anything we can do to help salvage the carpet and prevent mold? Should we call an independent contractor and pay emergency rates? Not quite sure how to handle this because we want the builder to be held responsible for the cost/repairs, but we can put in a claim on our homeowners insurance if need be if time is of the essence. Last question and sorry if it's kind of a stupid one. We have a sump pump and after reading about what happened to the mom and daughter in Chevy Chase, I'm a bit leary of DH or I spending time in our wet basement. Is this a valid concern or am I being paranoid? |
Anonymous
| The carpet is a goner, and the sooner you get it out the better. IMO. |
Anonymous
| I have calls in to 2 companies. What can we do in the meantime? |
Anonymous
+1 |
Anonymous
Pull the carpet (and particularly the padding under it) out now. The padding is a goner, so toss that. Carpet may be salvageable but ti needs to dry out. Get a shop vac and vacuum up all remaining water. Shop vac is safe since the motor is up high, but don't use an extension cord if it is at risk of being submerged Dehumidifier (they sell them at Home Depot $100-200) Box fans ($10 each) Ventilate and dehumidify. You'll need to empty the dehumidifier every few hours initially, then it'll clear up after a little while. |
Anonymous
| Soak up as much as u can with a wet vac. Get fans on it ASAP. |
Anonymous
This, you can get a dehumidifier at Target, Walmart, Costco. When you use a shop vac, make sure to leave the paper filter out and use it in reverse setting. I would call an independent window specialist at this point. If you can find the leak, then get some good window caulk and fill it as its going to rain more and keep happening. Seal any areas with cult or something else depending on where/what. Don't wait and call someone now. Absolutely get rid of the carpet and pad or pull it up. |
Anonymous
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Thanks all. A carpet cleaning/restoration company will be here in a few hours.
Anyone have recs for a good window specialist? -OP |
Anonymous
| We just had something similar happen after the heavy rain last week. In our case water was coming up from the floor and just in one smallish area. We rented a carpet cleaner to suck out the water- stronger then a wet vac. Then we put fans on it and also the next morning rented a carpet fan from a tool supply place. We have a dehumidifier coming Monday, HD was out of stock as were most places we checked locally so we went the Amazon route. It is totally dry now and the dehumudifier will help too. We aren't pulling it up or replacing at this point. If you pull up where the carpet was tacked and can get a carpet fan blowing under you can save the carpet if not the padding. Mold takes 72 hours to start. |
Anonymous
| Good advice. Spray any wet areas with Clorox to prevent mold. (And be careful to ventilate and avoid breathing in the Clorox). |