Flooded Basement Area - Do I Have To Pull Up Carpet?

[HarryWeezer]

Oh, my aching back...

 

Five days of rain in my parts set a record for us and last Wednesday in the middle of the night it started to flood our downstairs, a six-room finished area with carpet. We got up at 3 a.m. to find two inches of water.

 

All I could do was suck it up with a wet vac every 2-3 hours, which continued until Saturday night when it finally stopped coming it. We emptied the shop vac more than 200 times - a 14.5 gallon vac which held about 10 gallons of water. So we removed some 2,000 gallons of water.

 

I'll have to replace carpet in a bedroom which I had just glued down two weeks ago because the glue wicked to the surface and ruined it. But we ran five fans and a dehumidifier all day Sunday and this morning, I'm hopeful we saved the carpet in the main room, a large den area.

 

This carpet is also glued to concrete and while it feels somewhat dry, I assume the concrete probably absorbed some of the water that sat on it for five days. Anybody have experience with this? Will this finally completely dry out or do I face a certain mildew/mold problem? Will I have to remove this carpet to get the water out of the concrete pad under it?

[Sonovabich]

Only going by what i saw here the last couple of years over in Britain with all the floods we had here Harry, i would say your carpet will be ruined you probably will never get the smell out of it, just my opinion.

[Unchileno]

I have done renovations for the last 8 years or so..Once it's wet you are doom..Most likely your baseboards are wet too..This why you NEVER put Carpet or Hardwood on the basements no more..You can leave it and see if you all you did was worth it after a month you should be able to smell it..But if anyone in your house is allergic to mold..I suggest to get rid of it NOW..Best thing for a basement is heated tiles and make sure the trap in the middle of the room is ALWAYS clean..

 

Good luck..

[KaptCrunch]

yes remove the whole carpet to dry proper and hang on a rope between two trees

 

and put some baking soda down on the basement floor once carpet gone and on drying carpet

 

yes chilly correct use heated tile in basements

Edited January 21, 2013 by KaptCrunch

[JohnnyDos]

Harry I've also had a flooded basement with carpet and did the hang to dry on the rope thing.Still got some smell.Then if you have drywall for walls,well then you might have to cut a few feet from the floor away as the drywall sucks up the water and mould will develop but I think there is a product you can spray on the drywall to prevent mould.This also happened to my son and at my mothers place.All had to be repalced.Sorry about your luck.A few years back we had tons of rain around here fortunately I got no water,but some people actually got raw sewage(shit & piss).When mine happened it was only dirty water.Since way back then they have replaced the sewers around here and made them so big you can drive a small compact car through them.

[Labob]

Rip it all out. I'd also go up the walls 4 feet and replace everything insulation drywall ect. Did the walls leak or was it a sewage back up. Tiles is one of the things I use in my basements. I do also use click. never spend more then a 150.00 a sq foot. To use click I frist install a vapour barrier. Not sure of the name they use it on the outside of concrete walls to weather proof them. About 5 feet wide black and has about 1/2 inch dimples on one side works great. The plus side to this is it feels warmer then carpet its less expencive I think it looks much better. And if it does flood its easy to remove and reinstall. Sorry about the flood its always a big loss.

[HarryWeezer]

Damn. I sure hate to go through all that work and expense. So when you have carpet glued to concrete, does the mold grow on top of it and if so, can I just rent a carpet cleaner and go over it?

 

It's all drywall with insulation behind it but the water never got above two inches so I don't think the insulation got wet. As to the drywall, I know water will wick up the drywall a bit but right now, there's no evidence that the drywall above the baseboard is wet. I wonder if I can just cut out small square holes in the drywall just above the baseboard to let air in. That's easier to patch that cutting away all the drywall for a foot. ??

 

This was just rainwater that came in under the baseboards. The basement floor is about six feet below grade and the rain super saturated the ground, and came it right at the base of the concrete block walls. It was clean water; no mud or dirt in it.

Edited January 21, 2013 by SgtHarryWeezer

[Shamu]

In a similar situation my son-in-law brought in 4 propane hot air blowers. They did the trick very nicely. I was fortunate because of where he works he had access to them. Floor had been covered in water 2-3 inches deep. Removed standing water with pumps. Propane blowers did the rest and rather quickly too. Had to reorient them on occasion for efficiency as areas dried. Got damn hot down there too.

 

No leftover musty smell. Carpets look good, there were a couple spots (corners) I re-glued.

 

I was most fortunate the water was not muddy, pretty much straight rainwater that found it's way in through a window well that had it's cover blown away.

[Labob]

You can say that its clean water first time ect but time will be the last thing here to decide what going to happen. Mold will grow from the back side of the drywall where the plastic vapour barrier is pressed flat to the drywall. There is 0 chance to get air flow to it. Having said that it may take a year or 2 to start showing. You can make your desicion then. But then there will be a very good chance that the mold will be in your 2x4 framing and covering a larger area then you would like. There will be mold thats a given right now how much and where is hard to say.

[Unchileno]

I will suggest you take a foot out..Why?..it will travel up the drive wall for sure..Mold will creep up on your 2x4's and will rot with a few years making your baseman framing a bit weak now...After you do that make sure you spray 2 by fours with anti mold spray..check insulation if it wet..Nothing worse than wet insulation..Trust me I know..The problem here brother..water was setting for too long too much time to do its thing..Got to love water..Gives life and takes it away..if you need more suggestions hit me up on xfire and we can go in team speak and talk some solutions..

 

Take care brother

[little_old_man]

If you have to rip everything up anyway you should put in a sump pit and pump to avoid this from happening again. Most people who remodel a basement put one in beforehand to avoid the probllem you're having now.

 

When things are cleaned up rather than putting carpet back down you might want to consider painting the concrete and using area rugs instead. Concrete can be painted to look like just about anything these days, including hardwood.

[loaderXI]

French drain ? http://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?p=french+drain

[HarryWeezer]

If you have to rip everything up anyway you should put in a sump pit and pump to avoid this from happening again. Most people who remodel a basement put one in beforehand to avoid the probllem you're having now.

 

When things are cleaned up rather than putting carpet back down you might want to consider painting the concrete and using area rugs instead. Concrete can be painted to look like just about anything these days, including hardwood.

 

That's a great idea if I can get the glue off the concrene once I take that carpet up. We're not going to do that right away because we have to walk on that floor and the glue will make a hell of a mess.

 

Thanks all for the suggestions. Lot of work to do and I'm really getting long in the tooth for it.

[loaderXI]

Friend of mine had to do this and has never had a problem since other then maybe replace sump pump

 

 

 

Edited January 21, 2013 by loader>XI<

[little_old_man]

If you have to rip everything up anyway you should put in a sump pit and pump to avoid this from happening again. Most people who remodel a basement put one in beforehand to avoid the probllem you're having now.

 

When things are cleaned up rather than putting carpet back down you might want to consider painting the concrete and using area rugs instead. Concrete can be painted to look like just about anything these days, including hardwood.

 

That's a great idea if I can get the glue off the concrene once I take that carpet up. We're not going to do that right away because we have to walk on that floor and the glue will make a hell of a mess.

 

Thanks all for the suggestions. Lot of work to do and I'm really getting long in the tooth for it.

 

If the glue is still kind of soft from being wet this would be a good time to get some floor scrapers and get as much as possible off the concrete. Floor covering places usually use long handled scrapers that you can use while standing up, and if the glue is soft it's much less work to get up now than when it's hard. After the glue is hard you'll never get it all up without some heavy duty solvents.

 

If you end up painting the floors they have very thick and textured paints that will hide many of the imperfections.

 

If it turns out that you have to rip out some walls with water damage consider re-installing them with metal wall studs. At least if it happens again you'll only need to replace some sheet rock instead of the entire wall.

[little_old_man]

French drain ? http://video.search....?p=french+drain

 

That's what we call ExtraKamakazi when he drinks too much.

[KaptCrunch]

Damn. I sure hate to go through all that work and expense. So when you have carpet glued to concrete, does the mold grow on top of it and if so, can I just rent a carpet cleaner and go over it?

 

It's all drywall with insulation behind it but the water never got above two inches so I don't think the insulation got wet. As to the drywall, I know water will wick up the drywall a bit but right now, there's no evidence that the drywall above the baseboard is wet. I wonder if I can just cut out small square holes in the drywall just above the baseboard to let air in. That's easier to patch that cutting away all the drywall for a foot. ??

 

This was just rainwater that came in under the baseboards. The basement floor is about six feet below grade and the rain super saturated the ground, and came it right at the base of the concrete block walls. It was clean water; no mud or dirt in it.

 

Harry sounds you have a leaky wall foundation that needs to be sealed

 

if not repaired same will happen next heavy down pour

 

rent a mini-backhoe dig the foundation to water proof outside wall

 

note: call before digging water, telephone and hydro

[loaderXI]

Damn. I sure hate to go through all that work and expense. So when you have carpet glued to concrete, does the mold grow on top of it and if so, can I just rent a carpet cleaner and go over it?

 

It's all drywall with insulation behind it but the water never got above two inches so I don't think the insulation got wet. As to the drywall, I know water will wick up the drywall a bit but right now, there's no evidence that the drywall above the baseboard is wet. I wonder if I can just cut out small square holes in the drywall just above the baseboard to let air in. That's easier to patch that cutting away all the drywall for a foot. ??

 

This was just rainwater that came in under the baseboards. The basement floor is about six feet below grade and the rain super saturated the ground, and came it right at the base of the concrete block walls. It was clean water; no mud or dirt in it.

 

Harry sounds you have a leaky wall foundation that needs to be sealed

 

if not repaired same will happen next heavy down pour

 

rent a mini-backhoe dig the foundation to water proof outside wall

 

note: call before digging water, telephone and hydro

 

 

My friend did everything after spending 10 to 15k he chose the french drain as there was no way possible to stop the water from breaching/leaching into his basement......problem solved at least for him

[Hemps]

sometimes all it takes is having your landscaping so water runs away from your house, and your gutter downspouts to run the water as far away from your house too.

ive seen houses that never had flooding problems till something happen to a downspout, like one falling off or gutters getting clogged up with leafs.

[Ironcity]

Like everyone else said, you will need to tear up the carpet. Mold will grow where you won't see it. At least the bad stuff. As it grows, it will sometimes come out from the walls. I don't know how finished your basement is, but like little old man said about a sump pump, I had a friend who had un unfinished basement that always water came in when it rained alot. He actually had some guy dig out a channel all along the walls for the water to fill and the sump pump, pumped it out. That was probably a cheaper option for him. I would imagine you could have something to cover the channel so that is would make it look more cosmetic. If you want to avoid the immeadiate cost of installing heated tiles, use a carpet that you can roll out and roll up when you get a lot of rain. And once the walls are dired, maybe you can cut out a section to inspect it . If there is no cosmetic damage, other than repainting, it shouldn't be that bad. But if this is an ongoing thing, you will need to protect yourself against the mold.

[blackcat]

If you have insurance on your home, you should check with them before you fix anything.

[hxtr]

Damn Harry sorry for that big mess you have.

 

Most of the time you just can dry the carpet before the mold sets in. Question though.. you said the carpet was glued on.. does this mean it is that very thin carpet with rubber backing or do you have a pad.

 

I regular carpet you are done... if that thin stuff you see in department stores or other.... if you get enough heat to dry the air out and keep it dry you may be able to save it. Concrete will absorb most of the water but you have to keep the room dry and heat is the key for that.

 

Hope it works out... if you need me to come cook some dinner.. let me know.

[KaptCrunch]

use a hygrometer to measure humidity in basement, Mold is likely to grow when humidity is 60% or more.

 

Acu-Rite 00613 Digital Hygrometer $12

[KaptCrunch]

Damn. I sure hate to go through all that work and expense. So when you have carpet glued to concrete, does the mold grow on top of it and if so, can I just rent a carpet cleaner and go over it?

 

It's all drywall with insulation behind it but the water never got above two inches so I don't think the insulation got wet. As to the drywall, I know water will wick up the drywall a bit but right now, there's no evidence that the drywall above the baseboard is wet. I wonder if I can just cut out small square holes in the drywall just above the baseboard to let air in. That's easier to patch that cutting away all the drywall for a foot. ??

 

This was just rainwater that came in under the baseboards. The basement floor is about six feet below grade and the rain super saturated the ground, and came it right at the base of the concrete block walls. It was clean water; no mud or dirt in it.

 

Harry sounds you have a leaky wall foundation that needs to be sealed

 

if not repaired same will happen next heavy down pour

 

rent a mini-backhoe dig the foundation to water proof outside wall

 

note: call before digging water, telephone and hydro

 

 

My friend did everything after spending 10 to 15k he chose the french drain as there was no way possible to stop the water from breaching/leaching into his basement......problem solved at least for him

 

yes agree with you same as

way of draining from home

 

superseal is drier and costly then french drain

[Chris]

I'd make sure you get a guy in to check the foundation and any window wells. If you have a foundational crack, need to deal with it. Window wells fill up with soil over time and then over run at the well. I'd get it checked at least, then see what options are best. I put laminate in my basement so if something happens, easy to pull up and replace.