HELP - Basement Rental Flooding - Course of action

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HELP - Basement Rental Flooding - Course of action

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Logan, UT · Member since 2016 · 35 posts · 13 votes

I am in need of some guidance on how to handle a situation. I am posting this in behalf of my in-laws who are the landlord of a rental affected.

The landlord was notified last night of flooding in the basement unit in a duplex (upstairs, downstairs configuration) (older home). Upon arrival we found at least 4 inches of water throughout the basement. The water was coming in from the storm drain in the stair well of the front door. With all the rain, and snow melt locally, the storm drains, and sewers are backed up. Many other homes in the valley are affected.

I went out to assist removing the water using a shop vac. With two shop vacs going, and and several industrial fans drying the ground, we were able to lower the water levels to fine puddles. I was able to cap off the storm drain, and slow down the water flow from the street (but I didn't stop it). However, when we went inside, we saw that there was water coming in from the walls. I believe it's just coming straight through the foundation into the house.

We've relocated the tenant to a hotel for the night, and it's looking like we will house him there for the next while. We determined that we can't stop the water from coming in, so we have determined that this is too much for us to handle until the rain / snow / snowmelt / saturated ground is over with.

I'm sure there is someone in the BP community that has faced a situation like this before, and I'm counting on you to help us out. What steps should we take? 

These factors we do know:

  • The tenant cannot return to this place and will probably need to relocate.
  • We will need to get a professional cleaning service / GC to come in and fix and prevent this from happening again.
  • We have to contact insurance to determine what is covered in the home-owners.
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Steve Babiak
Real Estate Investor · Audubon, PA · Member since 2009 · 13k+ posts · 8k+ votes
9y

@Sid Leibowitz suggested that if drywall is present that the lower portion be removed; I would suggest that you measure up about 48 inches to snap a chalk line and take out whatever drywall lies below that, so that you can use full sheets of drywall to replace the wet sections. The edge of the full drywall sheet is tapered, so that lets you have a cleaner (less bulging) joint where new meets old in the middle of the wall - so less noticeable.

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  • Sid Leibowitz
    Contractor · Glen Cove, NY · Member since 2016 · 209 posts · 89 votes
    9y

    I agree with Deanna. I only take out what is wet. No need to use a full width board. You can cut the board lengthwise easy enough and use the height you require. It is important to remove the wet insulation as well and letting the wet stud dry out before installing new insulation and sheet rock. 

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  • Adam N.
    Investor · OH · Member since 2015 · 36 posts · 4 votes
    9y
    I have had two sf homes with water issues; both foreclosures where the bank in their wisdom chose to not pay the utility bills, and both properties lost power to their sump pumps. Both had to be pumped, and were fairly dry after an hour. I would recommend a sewage company, as their equipment in on steroids and gets the job done fast! And yes, they should have clean pipe for just this purpose! I discovered the first home was graded well, but the backfill was soil not gravel. (Code violation back here.) Thinking the soil may have crushed the exterior pipe, I had a small portion of the basement floor dug up to see if the tile was intact, and was rewarded with a positive yes! A little cement to repair the opening and I was good to go. But the water was still coming into the crock faster than the sump could handle. After doing some sluthing, I discovered a previous sump pipe and followed it to the neighbor's front yard, were his flooding problem was partially solved by backtracking through this pipe and into my crock and the basement! A simple cap solved the problem. The second, was also backfilled with soil, graded ok, but while the home sat vacant with water within and around the foundation through many freeze and thaw cycles, the basement experienced its own form of the game Twister. I had the basement waterproofed from the outside, installed 2 battery back up dumps (both crocks present when purchased), and needless to say, it is now bone dry. One a simple fix, the other a little more costly. Something you may consider, if this happens regularly is to have an electrician raise your electrical outlets about 3' off the floor. Fastest was to hurt yourself if they are submerged (although the breaker should prevent that). Gutter and downspout redirection, French drains, dry wells, and swales all work. The challenge is to find the right solution for your problem. But I agree, think simplest first!
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    OP
    Logan, UT · Member since 2016 · 35 posts · 13 votes
    9y

    @Deanna McCormick This lovely home does not have insulation in the below ground level walls, which is convenient for this situation. I'll talk to the landlord and maybe we'll have a project for this weekend to go cut and remove drywall. Good thing the trash can is empty!

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  • Nathaniel Watson
    New Orleans, LA · Member since 2017 · 1 post · 0 votes
    9y

    Basement floods can be a major concern for home owner because in the event of water damage it is the area which badly gets affected. For example during floods the water makes entry in home only through basement. Even in other cases of water damage or leakage the water ultimately reaches to the lower portion of home that is basement. So to protect basement we need 24 hour basement water cleanup in Manhattan New York for its complete solution.

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