Waterworld, part 3

[cathyr19355]

I was in the basement just now, attempting to get the several gallons of water absorbed by my throw rugs *out* of the throw rugs, when I noticed that the floor way, way beyond the rug was wet! Horrors! Could this mean the water had encroached even farther than I thought?

It could have, but it didn't. Closer inspection shows that when the wet-dry vac I have is sucking water out of a rug, instead of slurping up actual puddles, it throws a spray of water *out the back vent*. The harder I was scrubbing the rug, the more I was sprinkling the tile behind me.

Whimper....

Comments

[pmat.livejournal.com]

Much sympathy. We also have some flooding, although it sounds like less than you do. I'm glad the frogs were useful, but sorry there was occasion for them to be.

[cathyr19355.livejournal.com]

Me too. Especially since they woke both of us out of a sound sleep at 4 A.M., and esrblog does not handle that particularly well. Any recommendations for a contractor I can consult?

[fadethecat.livejournal.com]

Bad wet-vac, no biscuit!

[tafkad.livejournal.com]

If it makes you feel any better, I once had a housemate who didn't like the tile pattern in the basement. She wanted to put carpet down. I warned her that the basement frequently flooded and that she really didn't want to do this. Did I mention that she's 99% incapable of listening?

Can you say "yellow slime mold"?

[cathyr19355.livejournal.com]

Yes indeed. And bad Cathy too, who tried again close to a bookcase and spattered a couple of books (Fortunately, the few that were spattered were an old. replaceable ring binder and a few paperbacks with plastic-coated covers).

[cathyr19355.livejournal.com]

Ugh. I hope your housemate acquired a better opinion of your advice after the mold reared its ugly, er, head/s.

[tafkad.livejournal.com]

Would have been wonderful, but that whole "99% incapable of listening" thing kind of trumped everything else.

[cathyr19355.livejournal.com]

How unfortunate. I hope the person wasn't your housemate for long.

[tafkad.livejournal.com]

Years.

[cathyr19355.livejournal.com]

Ouch.

[ddelony.livejournal.com]

Out in California most people don't have basements. How high is the water table out there?

[landley.livejournal.com]

In Austin we haven't got basements because we're on granite. (You need drilling and explosives to install a swimming pool, let alone a basement.)

[cathyr19355.livejournal.com]

I have no idea how high the water table is in the vicinity of my house; that sort of thing varies a lot out here in the East.

I can tell you this; my house is a split-level. The room that is the basement, as measured from the front of the house, is actually ground-level in the back, because the house was built into the side of a hill. We have been here since 1996, and the basement used to be bone dry. Even now, it only leaks after a prolonged rain (like, say, steady rain for most of 24 hours).

Even if you had basements in California, I'd bet you don't get rain in those quantities.

[cathyr19355.livejournal.com]

On the bright side, it means that you can't have basement leaks because, hey, no basement. On the other hand, it means less room in your house, unless you build a house with a bigger footprint (though in Austin you can do that; there's plenty of real estate).

[ddelony.livejournal.com]

I imagine that not having a basement in a tornado-prone state would be a real gamble.

[landley.livejournal.com]

Actually we have hills to our west so storms big enough to produce tornadoes are shunted north of us, where they hit a town along I-35 called Jerrold. (Which has been leveled by tornadoes something like three times, yet they keep rebuilding it...)