File Under "Perils of Homeownership"
This year we've been on the receiving end of a number of torrential downpours. Prior to this year, there has only been one instance in the 11 years I've now been in my current abode that we have gotten water in the basement, but this year alone water has already gotten in THREE times, the last time being on Monday.
I think that the hydrostatic pressure is just so great that water bubbles up and seeps in through cracks in the floor slab creating random puddles, which is probably ruining all the vinyl tiles I put down just two years ago. What makes it worse is that 1.) of course our basement is totally full of boxes and other assorted odds and ends in various piles or groupings, and that various cardboard boxs (and presumably some of their contents) have now soaked up water, and 2.) litter from the catboxes always gets tracked and scattered all over the basement floor, and when the floor gets wet the litter ends up creating this cloudy film over the tiles.
Whenever this happens I have to spend an hour or two with a mop, moving piles of stuff back and forth so I can mop up as much water of the filthy water as possible. I end up getting less than a third of a bucket, so it's not like it's a flood or anything, but it's upsetting just the same. Makes me feel like we are under seige - Mother Nature has declared hostilities, and won't consider a parley to discuss terms. Last night I discovered that even though the basement was dry elsewhere, a pile of dirty laundry was still sopping wet (and had been obviously for two days) because it was over one of these aforementioned cracks. So I started doing laundry immediately before the clothes could be ruined by mold. It's kind of altered my awareness and sensitized me to the weather conditions. It started pouring rain again this morning as I left to go to work and now I can't stop looking out the window.
I'm starting to get paranoid about it.
I think that the hydrostatic pressure is just so great that water bubbles up and seeps in through cracks in the floor slab creating random puddles, which is probably ruining all the vinyl tiles I put down just two years ago. What makes it worse is that 1.) of course our basement is totally full of boxes and other assorted odds and ends in various piles or groupings, and that various cardboard boxs (and presumably some of their contents) have now soaked up water, and 2.) litter from the catboxes always gets tracked and scattered all over the basement floor, and when the floor gets wet the litter ends up creating this cloudy film over the tiles.
Whenever this happens I have to spend an hour or two with a mop, moving piles of stuff back and forth so I can mop up as much water of the filthy water as possible. I end up getting less than a third of a bucket, so it's not like it's a flood or anything, but it's upsetting just the same. Makes me feel like we are under seige - Mother Nature has declared hostilities, and won't consider a parley to discuss terms. Last night I discovered that even though the basement was dry elsewhere, a pile of dirty laundry was still sopping wet (and had been obviously for two days) because it was over one of these aforementioned cracks. So I started doing laundry immediately before the clothes could be ruined by mold. It's kind of altered my awareness and sensitized me to the weather conditions. It started pouring rain again this morning as I left to go to work and now I can't stop looking out the window.
I'm starting to get paranoid about it.