OMG! My Basement Just Flooded!

b/Other publicado por u/Dudeman313 February 17, 2016, 11:48:00 PM

OMG! My Basement Just Flooded!

While I was looking around the forums, my mom sent me to get something from our finished basement. When I got there, all the carpet was wet, and our high-water alarm was blaring. It still is now! We called our neighbor from across the street, who's a very accomplished handyman, and he's currently surveying the situation. What do I do? This is so unfortunate, as half of my 200 book fiction collection is sitting on the floor down there! AAAH!

Wait...Maybe I should've posted this in the "Why your life sucks" thread...

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u/Dream of Omnimaga February 18, 2016, 12:29:09 AM

Woajh that sucks man. If anything, try to move up as many things as possible if you can. Do you know why the basement just flooded, though? Did you get heavy rain, lots of melting snow or did a pipe burst? BEcause the latter happened to one of my friend last year or so.

u/Dudeman313 February 18, 2016, 12:54:02 AM

Definitely weather. Over the past 4 days, it's been nothing but ice, sleet, and rain. The beautiful fluffy snow that's in my backyard is actually pure ice. My yard is literally a skating rink right now. I don't know when it became warm enough to melt, but I guess it did at some point. And even with this weather, I have to go to school, because our new superintendent here in Horseheads decided that he doesn't believe in snowdays or delays, which is pretty unfortunate for those who live in Ithaca, Watkins Glen, and Elmira/Elmira Heights areas that come here.

u/aetios February 18, 2016, 12:58:20 AM

Try to keep the books closed for now and let them dry s l o w l y. The paper might be warped after that but the books will be readable. DON'T try to open them or you will definitely destroy them.

u/Dream of Omnimaga February 18, 2016, 01:22:22 AM

I didn't know that not opening them could actually save them. I was sure they were ruined by now. Can the ink still get messed up if it's poor quality?

u/Araidia February 18, 2016, 02:19:09 AM

Just did a little search and found this.
It has procedures for all types of wet conditions.

Last Edit: February 18, 2016, 02:21:51 AM by Araidia

u/aetios February 18, 2016, 02:22:33 AM

The first part is almost exactly what I said..:

QuoteBooks that are thoroughly wet. Do not attempt to open the book. Do not attempt to fan the leaves. Do not remove the covers. Place the book in a closed position (with boards slightly open) on its head on sheets of absorbent paper. To permit water to drain efficiently, place small pieces of binder's board at the fore-edge. Place absorbent sheets of paper between the text block and the binding. Change the paper on the table when it becomes wet. If the book is placed in a moving current of air, it should soon dry to the point at which it may be opened for the next step.

u/alexgt February 18, 2016, 01:19:54 PM

Wow sorry DudeMan313

I hope you can recover your books

u/Dudeman313 February 18, 2016, 09:26:56 PM

Me too. Thanks for your advice, guys. I just wonder what might happen to all our shoes, cards, paintings, sheets, bedding, and other valuables. (We keep a lot of things in our basement

)

u/Dream of Omnimaga March 07, 2016, 07:52:00 PM

@Dudeman313 did you manage to recover most of your stuff? What are the books condition?

u/Dudeman313 March 07, 2016, 08:35:12 PM

Yup. It turns out that the only place that the water didn't rise to was where all the books were. Thanks for asking!

u/Dream of Omnimaga March 28, 2016, 02:15:15 AM

Glad to hear. You got lucky there though. I would not like to live too close in height to a river because of high risks of flooding. At least in my area it would take about 5-6 inches of rain in just an hour maybe to generate a minor flash flood due to sewers not keeping up, and that's it. We probably have more chances to be hit by a small earthquake than that happening, though.

u/Dudeman313 March 31, 2016, 09:56:21 PM

Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on March 28, 2016, 02:15:15 AM
Glad to hear. You got lucky there though. I would not like to live too close in height to a river because of high risks of flooding. At least in my area it would take about 5-6 inches of rain in just an hour maybe to generate a minor flash flood due to sewers not keeping up, and that's it. We probably have more chances to be hit by a small earthquake than that happening, though.

I don't think I live near a river, but then again, I live near Elmira, NY, which is in Finger Lakes area.
We don't have floods hear, it's just our house that has a backyard that collects a bunch of rainwater and snow-melt.

u/Dream of Omnimaga April 14, 2016, 06:54:47 PM

Yeah it doesn't matter really. There are many things that can cause flooding:

-Being near a river or lake during heavy rain or snow melting period. Some people gets flooded every Spring.
-Storm surges
-Sewer network that can't keep up (Montréal, I'm looking at you) during a big thunderstorm.
-City water pipe bursts
-The example you stated in your post (there's a place nearby that got flooded that way during a big hail storm 20 years ago)