Water damaged basement carpeting

[Ninten-doh]

Hey guys,
Got some water in my basement from the rain storms here in NJ over the weekend.  The carpeting (and padding underneath) got very wet, but the water didn't rise over the carpeting.  I've been wet-vaccing like crazy.  Any other suggestions?  Is this the kind of thing where no matter what I do the carpeting is ruined and/or it's gonna develop mold?  Any ideas or words of doom appreciated.

[Crax]

Get some high powered fans down there and try to get them completely dry as quick as possible.  If you're pads underneath got soaked, you just may need to replace it all.

[Chris G]

Our basement was flooded the first summer we moved in when our neighbor's water line broke.  The company we called to fix the damage brought in a dozen or so high-powered dehumidifiers and fans and ran them 24 hrs a day for days.  All the carpet and padding ended up garbage anyway.  The water was pretty much at or above the level of the carpet, though, so maybe you'll fare better... good luck!   

[Ninten-doh]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Chris - Did you have to do anything to "seal" your house so that wouldn't happen in the future?  I'm assuming I'll be replacing the carpeting, but I don't want to have the same thing happen again.  This is the first time this has happened in the 5 years we've lived in the house.      Just want to avoid this happening again.

[JackTucky]

The carpet is toast.  There's germs and junk (technical term) in that water and even if you dry it it will stink.

If your walls got wet at all, get dehumidifiers in there, and maybe even stick blowers into the walls.  Drywall and insulation sucks up water.

=J

[Chris G]

Our's was a fairly unique situation, so probably not relevant to yours, but here goes...  The neighbor's house was at a higher elevation than ours.  When their line broke, the water ran down to our foundation and pooled up behind it.  Turns out there was a hair-line fracture in our foundation which the water, of course, found.  In less than 24 hours, the trickle managed to flood over an inch of water all throughout 1200 sq ft of basement.  We had to have a company come in to drill holes up and down the crack and pressure-inject a sealant to plug it up.  Fortunately our home-owner's insurance covered everything (including new carpet!).

[lordtodd75]

The only way to save the carpeting is to tear it up gingerly and remove the padding. The carpet itself will dry in a few days using a couple of fans, but once the padding is wet there is really no saving it. Make sure you spray everywhere with an anti microbial and then just replace the padding. If your lucky you can do all of this without damaging the carpet.

[ChadTower]

If your walls got wet at all, get dehumidifiers in there, and maybe even stick blowers into the walls.  Drywall and insulation sucks up water.

This is a veeeeeeeeeeery important point.  Do everything you can to prevent mold in the walls.  Homeowner's insurance often does not cover mold and it can destroy your home in a hurry, not to mention the health of the people living in it in very insidious ways.

[mpm32]

I have a slight water seepage problem in my basement.  I had black and white vinyl stick down tiles down there.  When the water would seep, you'd step on the tiles and it would come out between the joints.  I kept my mame cabinet up on blocks in case of a flood.

I took all the tile up. Cleaned, etched and sealed the concrete floor.

I then put these on the gutters;

http://www.rainguardusa.com/index.php?osCsid=9f413ce8cb2255345477be590e61f6fa

These keep the rainwater away from the foundation, the further the better.

And I installed this;

http://www.greatmats.com/products/carpetflex-tile.html

The carpet tile has standoffs on the bottom of it that keeps it off of the floor.  It snaps together so if it did ever get wet, I could just pull up a section and bring it outside to dry.

I live in the northeast so this past week has been a real test with the 8" of rain that we got.  I lifted up the corner where we usually got water and there was nothing, not a drop.

[ChadTower]

I tried those rain guard USA things... they didn't last one MA winter before becoming so brittle the thing wouldn't roll open anymore.

Then I installed these and they have performed flawlessly.

[Ninten-doh]

Well, I removed the carpeting and the padding.  That friggin padding was like a sponge.  Totally saturated and it was really starting to smell this morning.  I'm now staring at a dirty concrete floor, with a large fan and medium sized dehumdifier cranking away at the last remnants of dampness.  Any suggestions as to what I should put down there (besides the Heavy Barrel cab I want  ) ?  Though we never had a water problem before, I'm going to assume this will happen again and want to plan accordingly.  I was going to go with something like mpm32 suggested, but the ceiling is already kinda low, and I don't want to decrease the headroom.  My father keeps insisting I should just paint the floor and put some throw rugs down.  This way if water ever comes down there again, just wipe it up and be done with it.  Just seems a little cold that way, and having the nice basement was a big plus for us when my wife and I bought the house.  Man, this really blows.

BTW Chad, those downspout extenders are great.  I have those on my downspouts as well and nicely take the water away from the foundation.  Too bad I apparently had other issues.

[ChadTower]

You need to figure out where that water came from.  Every time water comes in, if you don't fix the problem, it gets worse.

[mpm32]

It only raises the floor around 1/2"  Not much to even notice.

Also the Rainguard things last a couple of years, I like the way they roll up so I can weedwack around them and at $40 for the four I need, it won't break the bank.

[Chris G]

You need to figure out where that water came from.  Every time water comes in, if you don't fix the problem, it gets worse.

Agreed - you shouldn't be resigned to having it happen again!  I would want to know for sure what the root cause is and get it fixed, if possible.  Better to find out now rather than when you try to sell the house and the inspector finds it. 

[Ninten-doh]

Okay, agreed.  How does one go about finding out the cause?  Do I need to bring an "expert" in?  All the family "experts" seem to think it came up from underneath for what that's worth.

[Chris G]

Since the flooding happened when it rained, it's possible that you have a crack in your foundation somewhere.  However, I think it's more likely that your family experts are correct.  Like mpm said - it's extremely important to provide channels for water to flow away from your foundation.  If you have poor drainage, the water could very well be pooling and coming up from underneath.  If that's not the problem or if there's no reasonable way to fix it, you may just have to install a sump pump for flood protection.

To answer your question - personally I would opt to get a professional's advice, especially since having that area as living space is important to you.

[ChadTower]

Yeah, if it's coming from underneath, you're going to have to grade away from the house and look at where the water came from to get underneath.  In the meantime, while the floor is exposed, seal the crap out of it with Drilok floor paint.

[RayB]

Well hold on there. Does the house have a sump pit?

[ChadTower]

If it doesn't, it should shortly, since that's a great question.