Hi Mathew,
Yes, I have experienced flooding in my basement. It is no fun.
My display room is located in my basement. Immediately behind by display room is an unfinished area of the basement in which I keep all my toy soldier boxes on shelves. The display room is nicely carpeted and includes a rolltop desk, an oak file cabinet, an antique library table, and eight large oak curio cabinets. My problem began during an especially wet and rainy Spring. Unbeknowst to me, my sump pump failed in the middle of the night and water began to flow from the sump pump pit into the unfinished area of the basement. As a few hours transpired, the water reached the finished carpeted area and the carpet began to act as a sponge. And, as the carpet became soaked, the water began to wick up the sheet rock walls.
Fortunately, I always check the basement every morning and, much to my dismay, I discovered the problem. I immediately contacted the necessary services to help resolve the problem. Within a half hour, personnel arrived and began to pump water from my basement. Once the water was removed it was necessary to utilize industrial fans to dry the carpet. The fans ran for more than a week. Luckily, we were able to dry and save the carpeting and the sheet rock.
Since my toy soldier boxes were all on shelves and the water level never got high enough to reach them (there was less than one inch of water), they were all okay. However, we had recently painted the unfinished portion of our basement and there were a number of books that had been temporarily stacked on the floor. My book loss included my pristine copy of The Great Book of Britains. Several other copies of important and expensive books were also damaged.
While our insurance helped cover the expenses (including replacing my Great Book of Britains), the total expense exceeded our insurance coverage. It was also necessary to widen and deepen the pit in which our new sump pump was installed as well as adding a battery backup system to the pump. In all, it was quite expensive, but the water never reached my figures nor my toy soldier boxes and I never had to empty my curio cabinets. Even on an emergency basis, it would have taken hours to carefully remove all the figures from my curios.
The saving grace for me was the fact I discovered the problem early enough and acted quickly enough to prevent greater damage. I hate to think what the expense might have been if the water had been allowed to rise to much higher levels.
Now, during any storm, I check the basement quite often.
Good luck with your new carpeting. I am sure you will enjoy it a great deal.
Warmest personal regards,
Pat :smile2:
