A contractor told me that any carpet that has been soaked with water will need the padding changed, if not the carpet itself as well.

Some properties just have high water tables around and underneath their house and the only remedy is proper drainage and a sump pump. Do have have anything to address it in the future? Did you notice if water was pooling around the house during the storms. Are you gutter drains fed into corrugated pipe and the water moved away from the house? Is your property properly graded? Were you gutters cleaned before the storm?

OP here, I am in Kensington. It does seem that the water is in a particular area (NW corner of house) and could be groundwater as it is dirty. Thank you so much for all the ideas so far - please keep them coming!

Do you have any idea whether it was surface water or groundwater? Was the carpet wet in the entire basement or only part of it? I think finding the source is the first step. There are a lot of scams in the waterproofing area so be careful. I got a lot of quotes and different contractors had different suggestions on how to fix our problem. The most thorough evaluation we got was from Custom Drainage Systems. He did a lot of tests to figure out what the problem was. We didn't go with them as their estimate was high but they are who I would call if I didn't know what the problem was.

Anonymous wrote:We went through it. Insurance was useless. We found a good waterproofer through Angie's List, who offered a discount to AL user's to boot. Where are you located, OP?

Not OP BUT LOCATED in Arlington. Could your recommend the people you used?
Thanks.

You can't file an insurance claim for that, no.

Also, a lot of people who file an insurance claim for Sandy-related damage are going to be shocked by the astronomically higher deductibles related to named storms that have become popular in recent years.

We went through it. Insurance was useless. We found a good waterproofer through Angie's List, who offered a discount to AL user's to boot. Where are you located, OP?

Sandy left us with a soggy basement carpet - can't yet figure out how the water got in (no marks on walls or windows). Wondering if any who have been through this have any ideas, either on cause or remedy? 1950's brick house, no other incidents in the 5 years we've been here. Insurance claim is a no-go i'm assuming? Would love contractor recommendations too. Thank you!