Isn't it funny that when you think you just about have your house organized, something pops up to remind you that things are never done. Our three month old, brand new, finished basement flooded. Warning, long story.
This past Saturday I awoke around 9am to a strange smell. I could not figure out what it was, so I got up and went downstairs to find the hubby. He worked the day before and usually will sleep on the couch or go down to the basement when he gets home at 6am. I followed the smell down to the basement where my husband lay in slumber...how I have no idea because the smell was awful. I rounded the corner and saw water everywhere, completely soaked into the carpet and about an inch high.
I started screaming for the boy to get up, and ran to our finished bathroom, where I found water coming up from the shower drain. How I had no idea at the time. The hubby woke up groggy and ran to shut off the water, which did nothing. We started moving things out of the way of the water and began throwing water out the back door.
It was about 20 minutes into this that we both realized this was raw sewage and not a random overflow. We called the Sanitation committee, the developer, a plumber, and our insurance company. The plumber got there first and took us out to the street where we found an overflowing sewer, backed up to the rim.
This past Saturday I awoke around 9am to a strange smell. I could not figure out what it was, so I got up and went downstairs to find the hubby. He worked the day before and usually will sleep on the couch or go down to the basement when he gets home at 6am. I followed the smell down to the basement where my husband lay in slumber...how I have no idea because the smell was awful. I rounded the corner and saw water everywhere, completely soaked into the carpet and about an inch high.
I started screaming for the boy to get up, and ran to our finished bathroom, where I found water coming up from the shower drain. How I had no idea at the time. The hubby woke up groggy and ran to shut off the water, which did nothing. We started moving things out of the way of the water and began throwing water out the back door.
It was about 20 minutes into this that we both realized this was raw sewage and not a random overflow. We called the Sanitation committee, the developer, a plumber, and our insurance company. The plumber got there first and took us out to the street where we found an overflowing sewer, backed up to the rim.
By then, the water had stopped-which the plumber kindly told us was because people had finished their morning showers and toilet duties, ha, ha, ha.
Someone from sanitation showed up and found that someone, probably a contractor for the building in our community had closed something they should not have-causing the backup. Since we are the lowest point on our street, we got the run-off. ( We found out later our neighbors basement flooded as well.)
So, that evening Service Master came out to steam the basement and rip up our new carpet. It pained me to watch. They have to scrub everything and steam anyting that got touched by the water. They did a great job.
At about 10pm that night was finally rested. At this point, all we could do was laugh. Any intial anger or frustration was gone, and we fonldy have been telling people about our"poopy basement." Our insurance is paying for everything and will be going after the guilty party, whomever is responsible for the backup. Plus, we get a new carpet, which is kind of nice since the intial move in added some dirt marks.
The only regrets are I had just finished the basement-furnishing, pictures hung, shelves organzied, dvd's and cd's alphabetized (yep, I am a dork) and bar stocked. But, things happen and it is a funny story.
Someone from sanitation showed up and found that someone, probably a contractor for the building in our community had closed something they should not have-causing the backup. Since we are the lowest point on our street, we got the run-off. ( We found out later our neighbors basement flooded as well.)
So, that evening Service Master came out to steam the basement and rip up our new carpet. It pained me to watch. They have to scrub everything and steam anyting that got touched by the water. They did a great job.
At about 10pm that night was finally rested. At this point, all we could do was laugh. Any intial anger or frustration was gone, and we fonldy have been telling people about our"poopy basement." Our insurance is paying for everything and will be going after the guilty party, whomever is responsible for the backup. Plus, we get a new carpet, which is kind of nice since the intial move in added some dirt marks.
The only regrets are I had just finished the basement-furnishing, pictures hung, shelves organzied, dvd's and cd's alphabetized (yep, I am a dork) and bar stocked. But, things happen and it is a funny story.
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