Well, with all the rain we got on Friday nite/Saturday morning, our basement in the house we're in now didn't flood. But the house we are moving to, has like 1" standing water in the basement. Luckily, it's an unfinished basement, but still sucks!!
On the plus side, we do get to move our stuff in early!! YAY!! I moved the first 5 boxes in today. I went and got the key from the realtor and we had to sign a paper that says we take responsibility of ownership, have insurance on the house, and have the utilities switched over or something. So tomorrow I'll be cleaning and putting stuff in the house. I'll have my dad help move some stuff in as well. We aren't going to be doing the woodwork and painting right away, like we'd planned but oh well. That is due to unexpected new car buying last Thursday. Impulse buy, I think. lol. Oh well. We'll just have to give up a few things for a while, like cable tv and cable internet.
We are lucky though. Mom and Dad's basement flooded with sewer water, not rain water!! Dad said the water was spewing from the floor drains like 6" high!! So they had to get rid of all their carpet down there, and Mom spent Mother's Day cleaning and doing laundry at my brother's house all day long. And they both took today off work- Dad so he could clean, Mom so she could study for her finals at college.
It was a really sh*tty weekend!! Many, many people had water damage in their basements. One person had their house totalled out and their 2 cars as well, from water damage!! I couldn't even imagine. You should see all the cr*p that people have out in their yards that was damaged by the flooding!! Everyone's got something, it seems. I live by the West fork of the Des Moines River, so I expected to have flooding in our basement at this house, but got like 1/4". And our new house is on a hill, so I didn't expect it to have anything at all!! Well, you learn something everyday!! LOL. It doesn't make any difference. Brad's cleaning it up, it's not sewer water, and the basement is scary anyway, lol.
Make the basement not scary. I really wish I were you. Renting is like throwing money into a fire. Make the most of what you have. Relish and enjoy the feeling of security and privacy that I do not have as a renter. This bozo[landlord] is at the property outside my windows all the time, parking and blocking me from leaving the driveway [the street is a few yards further to walk], and watering my lawn[weeds], until mushrooms spring up, and the cactus die... When he runs the water, I cannot take my shower, there is nothing coming out, and the toilet won't flush. Just let me know, he says, and merrily makes my life a living hell [I like to exagerate, but it sucks- I cannot relax away from work or at work, I deal with the public, whether I want to or no] Years ago, I gave up having sex in this building, try doing that with some guy outside the window, and I don't feel comfortable at all living here.
wow..Kittys Mom...that place sounds horrable..that would be the day that i give up having sex because of where i live...might be time to look further...i know that you have dogs..i dont know how many...but just having them at times is a hinderence in renting...but keep your eyes open..and i would stay on this guy to get conditions better...I wish you lots of luck...Take care...
Wow, Kitty. Those are the exact reasons I told Brad I would die before I would rent. 1. I would NEVER give up my dogs for a stupid a$$hole that doesn't like them 2. I would hate to waste my money like that and 3. Because I would never want someone to OWN me, which is basically what your landlord is doing. Granted, I'm sure there are some non-scuzzy landlords, my boss being one of those. But I've heard more horror stories than good ones, so I'm gonna avoid that like the plague. I'm thinkin it's time for you to buy. Even just a lil house, so you can have your doggies and live by yourself and not have to worry so much about someone else watching you have sex. I have sex in my house in the living room!! In front of the window!! Granted, I have miniblinds and curtains, but the miniblinds have holes in them from Chopper ruining them when he wants to see something outside. We bought the house we're in now for like 32k I think. And sold it for 38k. Our payments are prolly less than your rent, so I'm thinkin you should buy. Just do like Huron says, keep your eyes open for some good deals!!
I'm so glad to hear that you're finally moving into your beautiful house!!! I know the rain sucks, but maybe it'll stop long enough for you to get moved in. Will the basement be able to be fixed so that water wont keep coming in? Maybe you can build a levy around your house with dirt (as a last resort) and stop it that way.
Kittys Mom - do you have Codes in your area? Here in Nashville, property owners have rules they must follow which are issued by the Codes Department. If things aren't kept up to par, the renter can complain and if the landlord does not take care of the problem, he/she is fined. The water issue would be a definite Codes violation here. Landlords can be d*cks sometimes. They really can. My father is a landlord as well as a butcher, so I know....lol. He owns rural properties though. All are homes with an acre or 2 and not near a city. Out there he doesn't have Codes to deal with because it is a different County than where I live. He keeps his rental properties just as nice as his own home though (well, nearly as nice). The sad part is when you get a renter in there that doesn't give a crap about the beautification of the place and they tear it all up because it isn't theirs anyway. Never understood that. Then you have renters who are so thankful to get a nice place to rent and they do whatever it takes to keep it looking that way. Different strokes for different folks I guess.
Dad told me that the only way to keep it out is prolly to do tiling around the house. I can call my uncles for that, although I don't wanna ask anything of them. My dad's family kind of sucks. But Brad thinks it is just the outside window that leaked. There's a hole around the window outside, and there's a cement slab, like a patio, around that. They had put a board on top of the hole, which, of course didn't work. So he's gonna get one of those dome thingies and see how that works. I hope that's the only thing though. I'd hate to have to spend all that money for tiling around the house!!!
We don't officially own the house yet. We just have the key for it. I don't think the owners should have fixed it.........it was really a freak storm, 6" in a couple hours...........plus it rained really hard!! I don't expect to have a whole lot of those kind of storms anytime in the next 5 years, I think.
Molly, get the situation fixed, or you will be growing mold. You want the dryest basement possible. A sump pump should be installed if you dont have one and if you do, a back-up is needed if you flood. And a dehumidifier. If you think its the windows, get the owners to seal them before you close. Good luck.
Trouble is, they live in Indiana, I'm in Iowa. They've already gotten their things out. And we've signed the responsibility of ownership paper so that we could get in there to clean and do woodwork and such. So I don't know if it'll hold still??
But the walls also leak, as well. This is the thing that sucks. It was a freak rainstorm though. We don't have those all too often. So I don't think it'll be a huge deal if we don't do tiling around the house this year or even next.
Mollie..did you have an uinspection done by a professional before you started moving stuff in? It might not be too late...I got out of a house deal with one. Look into it..as they mentioned the black mold issue plus foundation problems and or walls caving in and or floors buckling up. I know you have 1 year to get out of a deal when the old owners didnt disclose details about the house...call the real estate now..Get a contractor out to give you estimates of what the problem is and the cost to fix it..it will be easy to be able to tell if the basement has flooded before...call and get help now..while you can still do some thing...You could forse them to fix the problem or else the deal is off...not being a bad buyer...just not being a sap..I got screwed in my house I had before the fire..I have a well that runs dry...they claimed everythng was good..well i started running out of water..and went back to the sellers realestate and he put me off for a long time..finally he waited until the year was up and I could not go back on them...The well still sucks and no one can dig wells in this area..so i have water tanks in my garage what hold 5000 gals so I dont just let the water go out of the water table...I wish you luck..dont fell like squaking is being a Bit*h...it isnt..it is called being an informed buyer...Please dont take a back seat to this...Again..good luck
Thanks, Huron. I don't remember if they said the basement leaked or not??? Well, I think maybe they did, but only leaked in one spot, we could tell where it had leaked before, but it didn't even leak in that spot this time. Leaked around 3 walls down there though. I think the one place where we'd noticed had been wet before, it just got a lil damp is all. The leaking is coming mostly from the windows down there though, I think. Underneath all of them, you can see on the walls all the streaks from the dirty water running down the white walls. Dad says it is leaking around the bottom though too. Probably will have to call my uncles, they have a tiling biz, see what they have to say. We can't let this house go though, we have no place else to go and we close on Monday, on both houses. So I think we're just going to have to deal with it for now. It really, honestly was a freak rainstorm though. I think we got like 6" within a couple hours, and it was raining REALLY HARD!! My parents' basement never gets nearly as wet as it did this weekend either, they have black mold around the edges of their walls near the floor too. Has been that way for many years. I'm not real worried about it though, probably should be. I try not to let things get to me like that. We'll figure it out. The only thing is that I'm going to be running my dog grooming out of the basement so we do need to get it fixed though. *forgot to add that we did not have an inspection done beforehand. But have signed papers, taking responsibility of ownership.
Mollie..as a very wise person once said...deals are made to be broken...You ccan get out of any deal signed papers or not..I know it is a really P*ss poor time to do it..But you can. Call the real estate and ask then just to satisfy the curiosity..You have 1 year to get out of the deal..but better to start before u actually getin...You can force them to fix it..Ask the realestate to look on what they discloed on the "disclosure statment" they MUST disclose all things in the house or the deal can be voided and renegotiated...Use it as a barganing tool...I wish you luck..and donr want to see you strapped with problems further down the line that you cant see right now..Like..cracked foundation say. Im not trying to rain on your parade trust me..I know that you love the house and it is a fantastic house..Im saying to look into a renegotiate deal where they fix the foundation...or what ever is causing the problem..Insurance is crazy these days about mold too be careful...what you might do today can bite you in the butt tomorrow..I want to see you come out on top..I truely do...
My parents house growing up their unfinished basement always leaked too durign a rainstorm. I don't think much the previous owners could do anyway. Esp if you live on a slnt or the bottom of a hill you going to get some flooding no matter what you do. My parents had their basement sealed but I think they still get a little bit of water here and there just wet arks here and there no puddles. But I guess it's never been dry enough to finish the basement since they'velived there for 30 yrs and never have. Good Luck and Congrats!!!
Dad said the water was spewing from the floor drains like 6" high!! So they had to get rid of all their carpet down there, and Mom spent Mother's Day cleaning and doing laundry at my brother's house all day long. And they both took today off work- Dad so he could clean, Mom so she could study for her finals at college. 
