my basement smells like a sewer--REALLY!
tuesday_tues
16 years ago
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jimonthebeach
16 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
Basement smells like a sewer
Comments (2)well, after lots of sluething around my basement, i found the wall the smelled the worse. i moved everything from it hoping to find a dead something or other--nothing. so, in tears, i go to my neighbors. they came over and we all then decided it must be a dead animal under my front porch. there used to be a skunk that lived under my porch from time to time, we tried to get rid of him but putting rocks and dirt down the hole. so we go out there, and the hole is there, we do a bit of digging, huge flies, maggets and all of a sudden--that SMELL. so we decide it is a dead animal under my porch. now, my porch is a concrete slab on the dirt so we throw some moth balls in it and mix up a 50lb bag of cement with rocks and put that in the hole. i am sure i will have to deal with the decaying smell for a while but i hope it goes away soon. the hole probably has a long tunnel so trying to dig under the porch is nearly impossible unless i wanted to get a construction like company out there to do it. i am so tired. and i just realized my granite counter top has oil stains on it from making brushetta so i have to figure out how to get the stains out and get it sealed. i am getting tired of being a home owner. sue...See MoreNo basement floor, aweful smell and Oh Deer!
Comments (21)Ann, No job changes for either of us right away. The area of National Park and Woodbury are within a modest drive. I did time my commute the other day. It was after rush hour and it took under 30 minutes...certainly within my comfort level for a daily commute. On Sunday it was about the same. With my job if I trasfer to another store within my chain its a lateral move but if I trasfer out of state I would lose all my seniority within the chain. That would mean basically starting over. Not really ready to do that but there is a store in South Philly-near the stadiums that is just a hop to the bridge. The great news is I am pals with the store manager there and he said he would love to have me join his team!! Frank is a mailman in suburban Philly. He can probably ask to be transferred since south Jersey is part of the Philadelphia postal system. But he is fine with staying put. He does have a part time job a few nights a week and will no doubt transfer once we move. Drew just started working as a bagger at my store so if he were to transfer he would not be losing anything. Amy works at a store closer to her school so she'll have to decide what she will do when she decides if she is staying at that school...she was considering switching to a better school for business. (St Joes-yeah Pam!!) As for looking...jeez its seems like every chance we had, we'd drive over with a list to drive around and look. So far we've only actually looked at 6 houses-3 were new construction-an option we are still considering. Annie, you cracked me up....the deer slayer LOL!!! The father and son SO reminded me of Hank Hill from King of the Hill and the son was a dead ringer for the boy in the show. I really like that house but I think the BBall hoops were the biggest turn off...I mean, if the nieghbor is a hunter, theres a good chance I'd get some good deer meat right?? I will continue to Motor on!! Cheers! Susie...See Moremy house smells like smoke!!!
Comments (6)jamaraz The flame emblem on your thermostat means nothing other than your furnace or boiler is supposed to be operating. Some digital thermostats have a very tight band of controlling your thermostat setting. Obviously, yours does not. I don't recall my thermostat for my dual fuel system ever overshooting or undershooting stat setting. You might ask your dealer about this as it can affect both comfort and operating cost. It is doubtful that the overshooting that you appear to have is the cause of the "smell". Keep in mind that most if not all nat gas distributors place an odor additive in the nat gas to alert users of a possible leak. Nat gas by itself and carbon monoxide do not smell. Ask servicing dealer to check for both carbon monoxide and nat gas leaks as well as good operation of your boiler. I still think discussing your situation with the local fire dept is a good idea. IMO...See MoreHuge Water Issues/Basement Smells
Comments (20)I don't think it's impossible to waterproof a stone foundation. I haven't researched it, and maybe someone else here has experience. My guess is that you'd probably have to parge the stone from the outside with cement or something similar, then add the usual sealer and membrane over that. I suppose you'd have to excavate inside the crawl space to get to that part of the foundation, which doesn't sound like any fun at all. If you just can't do a proper exterior waterproofing, I'd suggest doing all the other (exterior) steps on the list - gutters, downspouts, grading, swales. That will at least reduce the amount of water entering the cellar. If it's still too damp, then you need to remedy that. To consider crawl spaces, ventilating them used to be the standard practice. Today there is a trend toward sealing and conditioning them. Personally, I raise an eyebrow at the idea of heating and air conditioning a space that nobody but mice is living in, but who am I to say? In your case, that's all moot. If your cellar is going to be damp, you have to get rid of the excess humidity somehow. You can run up a big power bill with multiple dehumidifiers. Others may disagree, but IMO, it's more economical to ventilate the cellar. You can replace your cellar windows with crawl space vents, and make one or two of them exhaust fans. Fans cost around $100-150 each, and use considerably less electricity than dehumidifiers. I'll be interested to see what others suggest....See Morelazypup
16 years agolast modified: 9 years agotuesday_tues
16 years agolast modified: 9 years agotuesday_tues
16 years agolast modified: 9 years agobus_driver
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16 years agolast modified: 9 years agolazypup
16 years agolast modified: 9 years agotuesday_tues
16 years agolast modified: 9 years agobrickeyee
16 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
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