Basement apartment flooded

[Swifty]

So yea I finally got back into my place today, my buddies who live upstairs let me and my other roommates stay up there for the night, but heres where it starts.

Yesterday around 7pm me and my one roommate were about to head out to town we had our coats and shoes on and I turn around to look water started pour out from under our sub floor to the kitchen, and I told him he said the only thing that was an understatement F%#%, and one of our buddies from upstairs came down because he heard him swear, seeing us grab the big screen tv, his computer, speakers, couch and other random stuff on the floor up onto higher grounds, we called our landlord and he thought my roommate was kidding he came finally, with a 30 gallon shop vac and another guy, but that was hard work I was walking up and down the stairs with it full dumping it and coming back down, about 25 times, the city came to snake our pipes in the bathroom but that was not the cause our sump pump was working over time because the sump room was full of water, and then the city guys said hey unplug the sump pump for a second, and we had our hardwood flooring pretty much saved, then we said okay, and then all of a sudden water started pouring out from the baseboards and the shop vac was filling up in 5 seconds it was just too much, our landlord was freaking out because he did not know what to do the sump pump was not working he didn't have rubber boots either.

I tried contacting my other roommate to hurry up and get home because he was out curling and drinking, and he said "Ill be back later" we were kind of like yea okay we will remember this next time, then I go to my room to find my room starting to fill with water, I started unplugging everything my power bar was half way deep in water I threw everything I could get on my bed, luckily I didn't lose anything at all, just wet clothing on the floor, then the roommate who was out his room started getting water in it and I called him and he came as fast as he could typical when his stuff is in trouble he wants to come, so at this time the water is about 4" deep luckily we had a sub floor to all the bedrooms and kitchen area, we found out a main water line busted outside on our main street, luckily we get water from another water line, but the city started digging about a 30foot deep hole, and we had service master here using a jet pump that pumped a lot more water than our shop vac for sure, at this time our hardwood floor was floating so when he finished sucking the water out he helped us take the flooring outside then he cleaned up the concrete with jet pump and sucked the water out of our carpets in our bedrooms and laid some anti mold spray on our carpets, and for the sub floor I have no idea if there is going to be mold but the way the house is set up is slanted to move all the water to drain on one end, I haven't slept I have been all over the place stressed out this was the craziest thing that has happened and I even have pictures enjoy looking it was just wow.... and the service master left us 2 industrial sized fans and 1 industrial sized humidifier to dry our place out.

 

[Brink]

WOW Nick,

What an adventure in water world. I sure hope to much wasn't damaged.

 

[profdlp]

Good grief!

I'm glad your stuff is OK. What a mess... :shock:

 

[Swifty]

Oh I am surprised there was not a lot more damage than the flooring, I tell you, water is good to drink but it causes a lot of damage, I am just happy it was not raw sewage, then we would have just left, I don't even have insurance I am very well considering getting some after this, its proved anything can happen and just 13 dollars can cover everything so I could just push everything in and get new stuff!

 

[marsmimar]

Sure glad the damage to your personal effects was minor. Used to live in a ground floor apartment. Apartment above mine blew out a water pipe and gravity did the rest. Everyone was at work so nobody noticed anything for hours. Right after that I moved to an upper apartment and got renter's insurace. Stuff does happen!

 

[nitroman84]

It is amazing how quick those things can happen, lucky you were able to avoid total loss.

 

[seekermeister]

Maybe you said and I missed it, but did you determine the exact source of the water?

 

[Beginning]

Sorry to here about your ordeal sir... Nasty results!

 

[A Guy]

Sorry to hear that, good thing it didn't happen 5 minutes later, after you had all left! I had a ground floor apartment once. The guy on the 3rd floor started his tub filling, and then fell asleep on the couch. I started to hear what sounded like water running in pipes, but in the walls. then water started coming out of the light fixture in my bathroom! I didn't lose any of my possessions, but because it was hot water, they had to pull up all the carpets and padding. Will never move into anything but top floor again. Let me be the noisy guy upstairs

A Guy

 

[Ciara]

:shock: Thats awful ! where did all the water come from ?

 

[A Guy]

we found out a main water line busted outside on our main street

A Guy

 

[smsff7]

wow scary. Good thing you did not lose anything, but do you know who is going to cover the cost of getting the floors fixed and everything cleaned up to prevent mold?

 

[thomascanty]

Sorry to hear that, good thing it didn't happen 5 minutes later, after you had all left! I had a ground floor apartment once. The guy on the 3rd floor started his tub filling, and then fell asleep on the couch. I started to hear what sounded like water running in pipes, but in the walls. then water started coming out of the light fixture in my bathroom! I didn't lose any of my possessions, but because it was hot water, they had to pull up all the carpets and padding. Will never move into anything but top floor again. Let me be the noisy guy upstairs

A Guy

I had something very similar happen to me once. The maintenance guys were doing some work on the water heater and had the water to the building turned off. The neighbor upstairs turned on the water on the bathroom sink and when nothing came out, just walked away. She eventually left home to run some errands. Shortly after maintenance turned the water back on I had hot water streaming through the light fixture in my ceiling.
Now I live on the top floor...

 

[Swifty]

wow scary. Good thing you did not lose anything, but do you know who is going to cover the cost of getting the floors fixed and everything cleaned up to prevent mold?

Yea it was pretty intense stuff going on for the next two days I just woke up I was over tired slept 18 hours did not really want to I had stuff I wanted to take care of today, but I guess I needed the sleep, our landlord has insurance on everything so hes covering everything seems to be alright now, the house is finally dry what we can see, I am sure under the house is still wet but our land lord is stopping by tomorrow with a carpet cleaner, but our porch carpet we are going to tear up to see what is under it because it is still wet from friday, and we are going to take off one of the baseboards to look under the sub floor to see what's under there,

 

[profdlp]

...we are going to take off one of the baseboards to look under the sub floor to see what's under there,

Maybe you'll find Jimmy Hoffa.

 

[seekermeister]

Swifty.

our landlord has insurance on everything so hes covering everything seems to be alright now

I hope that is true, but landlord insurance usually only covers the landlord's losses, not the tenant's. A renter usually requires having their own insurance to cover their losses.

 

[Swifty]

I hope that is true, but landlord insurance usually only covers the landlord's losses, not the tenant's. A renter usually requires having their own insurance to cover their losses.

Nothing of our own personal items were lost, one of my roommates has insurance and covers up to 45,000 dollars, everything else was the landlords losses.

 

[Colonel Travis]

Sorry to hear that, good thing it didn't happen 5 minutes later, after you had all left!

Seriously. I know that sucked, but it could have sucked a gazillion times more. Last year I was examining the water line of one of the toilets at our house, had not turned off the water yet, I was just checking to see what size it was so I would get the right kind of replacement at Home Depot. I barely touched the thing, didn't unscrew it, didn't even want to unscrew it, I just wanted to see what was written on the paper taped to the hose, and it popped off. I guess it hadn't been changed in decades, and water started shooting all over the bathroom. Our house was built about 40 years ago, so there is no main line cutoff inside. It's outside by the curb. So I tried to screw the line back on and it wouldn't go, it was like a damn Three Stooges episode. I was absolutely drenched, like I'd just jumped in the pool. So I had to run to the @#$%! garage, get the water key, run out the @#$%! front door, open the box and turn it off. By the time I did all this, our bathroom and laundry room and part of the kitchen was flooded. I couldn't believe how fast that water was coming out.

Minimal damage to the wood floors, thankfully, but I feel your pain, Swifty.

 

[profdlp]

...I barely touched the thing, didn't unscrew it, didn't even want to unscrew it, I just wanted to see what was written on the paper taped to the hose, and it popped off. I guess it hadn't been changed in decades, and water started shooting all over the bathroom. Our house was built about 40 years ago, so there is no main line cutoff inside. It's outside by the curb. So I tried to screw the line back on and it wouldn't go, it was like a damn Three Stooges episode. I was absolutely drenched, like I'd just jumped in the pool. So I had to run to the @#$%! garage, get the water key, run out the @#$%! front door, open the box and turn it off. By the time I did all this, our bathroom and laundry room and part of the kitchen was flooded...

A youtube moment if there ever was one.

 

[seekermeister]

If the water causes those floor boards to warp, the landlord may need to use Squeeeeek No More to keep the boards from squeaking...either that or lay a new floor.