Flooded my basement, need advice

13 years ago

Doing an upstairs toilet plumbing repair today, thought everything was good to go, went to hardware store and when I came back I heard water running. Ran to bathroom and water was shooting out of shut off valve at great force. I was gone for about 20 minutes so was running up to at least that long.

After getting water shut off, went to finished basement and water was pouring out of 2 of my recess lights and the seams of the ceiling drywall.

Fast forward a few hours. I have the carpet pulled up and am working on drying that out.

My concern is the drywall. I'm assuming I need to replace the ceiling drywall? It would be probably a 15 X 15 section or so. It doesn't look bad right now (just the seams) but I'm assuming mold will grow if I leave it as is?

Also, I don't see how it wouldn't have run down the outside wall as well? There is no damage showing on the wall sheetrock but I'm guessing the insulation is wet behind there? Do I need to pull off that drywall as well? The last thing I want is mold problems but not sure what is necessary to do at this point.

Any help would be greatly appreciated on what I need to do and think of. I will of course make sure the plumbing repair is taken care of as well.

Thanks.

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Comments (4)

mike_kaiser_gw
13 years ago
This is a good example of why not to drywall a basement ceiling. At the very least, you need to get it open and position a fan so that it dries out. A dehumidifier would be a good idea as well.
User
13 years ago
We had 8" of sewage backup in our basement this summer. Our first step was to cut out the bottom 14" of the drywall walls and we found soaking insulation and wood framing behind. We got rid of the drywall and insulation right away, ran fans and humidifiers for the next couple of weeks. At that point, we found that the backside of the wood framing was still wet and turning very black.

We gutted our finished basement.
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Homebound, thanks for the feedback. I cut holes along the one wall every 10 inches just below where the baseboard would cover them. The drywall is damp (not soaked, but definitely damp)but the insulation thus far is dry (thank god). Going to continue along the other walls and get some more heat and fans on them. There was a "Watchdog" back-up to the main system. The thing that really irks the $(*&%(&! out of me is that we DID NOT lose power. The main unit must have failed and the friggin Watchdog never alarmed (not even sure if it engaged or not). Our house is 10 years old and it was already installed when we bought the place 10 years ago so I have no re-course with them. The seepage was a result of the drain tiles filling and not being emptied because the sump wasn't doing it's job. (wasn't cascading down the walls or anything). We had about 12 inches of snow that melted overnight with 50 degree weather and then rain on top of it. Annoyed at myself for not recognizing that the sump wasn't going, though because the rain started after the massive melt off I just never thought about it. I have back-up insurance and will call the agent tomorrow. I'd rather bounce a few things off him than go the "800#" route so that he can coach me on what to say, etc. before having anything logged. I took pictures of the mess so they can review them. Just grateful at this point that it doesnt appear that I'll need to cut the lower portion of the walls completely out. The watchdog is lit up like a Christmas tree right now. Not sure what the deal is. I replaced the main sump and will get a replacement back-up next week. I tried taking the watchdog piggy back off the main unit and plugging it directly into the outlet and still no luck. So much for "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I thought about replacing the units this fall at the 10 year mark and never pulled the trigger.
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drywall_diy_guy
13 years ago
Dry out everything as needed. Inspect for water seepage in the walls - I would say remove drywall at the ceiling near the walls and feel the top of the batts to see if they are damp - do this as soon as possible. If you can dry this up fairly quickly you may get by with just some small repairs to the drywall. If the insulation is wet, then you have much more to do. See the link below for tutorials on drywall repair. You might even opt for a drop ceiling, if you have the room.

Here is a link that might be useful: Drywall Repair Tutorials
pjmystic
Original Author
13 years ago
Update:

Last night, shut off valve fixed.

I cut 2 small holes (enough to get my head and an arm in) in the ceiling in the basement and a smaller one in the wall.

The first hole in the ceiling was in the floor space where the 2 recess lights are that the water was pouring out of. Sheet rock was completely dry, couldn't feel any dampness at all.

Second hole in the ceiling was directly below the toilet and it was slightly damp but not bad at all. Have a fan up there now blowing.

Smaller hole in wall toward the of the ceiling, no dampness and insulation dry.

I honestly don't get it. Could it be that it was because it was such a short period of time that the water ran and it had a place to escape that it doesn't seem wet?

Maybe it's because the other end of each of these spaces goes into my unfinished storage room which also gave the water another place to go? I have fans in there as well blowing up into the spaces now. It appears that I've caught a break (unless I'm missing something?)

Flooded my basement, need advice

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Flooded my basement, need advice

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