Anyone Have Experience with a Wet Basement?

1) everything has to be dried out. There are professional flood damage people that have these industrial sized fans/dehumidifiers etc.

2) before you waterproof things... it has to be dry. Not just externally, but WITHIN the structure... too. Or you will just be sealing up, moisture and wetness underneath.

3) you need to get a professional assessment of your structural, water damage.

4) underground water seepage.... and thus water damage... is hard. If the subsurface of the ground is still wet... then water damage can still via capillary movement, wet your structure etc.

And yes, with extensive water damage.... you may have to tear things out. And probably, WILL have to.
You can't save, what is already water damaged.

Then, mold growth is another problem of this.

I can cost, quite a bit.

Find another company. Or they are all quite busy, trouble shooting everyone else's homes.

If your drywall is damaged, then the subsurface of the walls are too... and the sub-flooring.
Water, can seep through tile floors. Unless the flooring was lined with waterproofing, already, before the tile was laid.

It is smelling, because water damage is where you cannot see it.
Between the walls and flooring.

You need to get an abatement done before mold sets in. Of course, you want an insurance adjuster to arrange this so you won't get stuck with unnecessary bills. The sooner you find out what's covered or not, the better. Black mold sets in, in a matter of hours and that is toxic and can quickly make a home unlivable to the point where your home might be condemned as unlivable.

Read up on black mold and basements and don't waste time getting the basement properly dried and restored. You may not be able to stay in your home while restoration is underway because of health and safety concerns.

If insurance doesn't cover it, this could cost you up to 20 thousand and up, depending on the extent of the damage, size of your basement, and whether it was finished or not.

We had a flood in our finished basement two years ago from a burst pipe (caused by a city project- they were indemnified even though it was their fault, so we had to pay for the damage out of our own homeowners insurance). We had about 6 inches of water throughout. But the dry wall began to mold instantly and that meant the whole basement had to be gutted. Thankfully it was fully covered. If it wasn't, we would have had to pony up $30-thousand to totally gut, decontaminate, and restore the entire lower level. Only a few pieces of furniture that didn't get wet were salvageable. Everything else had to go because it was contaminated.

We had a serious black mold problem, and we were unable to stay in our home for about two weeks during the process where the mold was removed and the basement dried out.

The entire restoration took almost a year to complete. It was a nightmare. Hang in there and document everything on video before work begins! Do not hire any workers without clearing it with insurance first.

We used Servicemaster...not sure if they are national or local. But they were great, except for the mishap where we almost got CO poisoning because they accidentally blew out the pilot in our furnace...long story. But obviously we're okay.

As for water proofing. If it is covered by insurance they may or may not include this in the repair. Most insurance will only restore a home to it's original value, not cover extras. That may be up to you to install/provide if this is something your home needed prior to the flood.

I feel for you.

Hi B.,
I'm sorry that you're dealing with all of this, what a nightmare. This weather is crazy, isn't it?!
I used to work in insurance and the restoration company (Serve Pro) who did our training on homeowners damage said it only takes 72 hours for mold to start growing. I can only imagine that the local restoration companies are overloaded with calls right now. Call your insurance company back and ask for some recommendations for other restoration companies. In the meantime, if I were you I'd be taking down the drywall and putting fans all over the basement, mold is not something you want to mess around with.
Good luck with everything!

Get a dehumidifier and open the windows now! Mold can be instantaneous!
Your drain system didn't work, so now you need to find out why.
The drywall will mold, so you'll probably have to take that wet section out as well as the insulation behind it.
Get some estimates.
It's not going to be pretty and you might consider flood insurance for the next time.
LBC

So sorry to hear you are going through this and your insurance company is less than helpful. The only thing I can offer to tell you although you may already know is that you can buy mold detectors in Home Depot to test different areas of your basement or your furniture if that got wet too. Good luck with everything!

If only I had answers for you! I just wanted to say I'M IN THE EXACT SAME POSITION! I really feel your pain - today was spent pulling up drenched carpeting and moving furniture and boxes around (we bought this house 2 months ago and moved in only a month ago and now THIS!). We've also got calls in to basement waterproofing companies. And just when we thought it was JUST the basement, I looked up in my daughter's bedroom and saw...yep, water stains starting on the ceiling. So now it's coming in from both the top AND the bottom. It's been a fabulous day. B., you're not alone, there are plenty of us with the same questions as you. I hope some ladies here can shed some light on dealing with this. Ugh!

If you have back up of sewer insurance you will be covered. I would check that. Also if your on a flood plane and have flood insurance they have to cover that. they will say no the first time around but argue with them. they have to cover it if your covered with your policy

S.H. said it best!!!

Just wanted to say sorry you are going through this! We had some basement flooding at our house about 16 months ago. we hadnt finished our basement yet but we had the framing up. what happened at our house is that the city was out doing work on the sewer lines etc...whatever they did caused it to back up through our drain dealy into our basement all over the basement floor. our whole house just reaked of all the poo and nasty $hit all over the floor. I was preggers with the twins and our poor toddler was home during this. this all happened around 9pm on a sunday night. my in-laws and a plumber friend from church came over to help my husband get it all cleaned up. he took tons of pictures of the damage. the city came out and looked and they sent us a check for roughly $600 to have it professionally cleaned. half of our baby stuff was ruined, including a blanket one of my aunts made for our oldest son, lots of baby bedding, a baby swing and the walker. it sucked. I really hope the advice the other ladies gave you is what you need. good luck and God bless!