Flood Gates Are Opened.

[Carl Provan]

After shooting a 4 stage level I match at the local club, comming home to find the power is out. Not unusual during a thunderstom. Then to walk in to the house to find water flowing in from the garage. This is unusual since my driveway slops away form my house. The storms delievered 5 to 11 inches of rain in less than 2 hours. I now have water soaked carpeting in my reloading/gun room and in my family room.

I have since then removed all of the wet carpeting, some of the baseboard moldings and have a house in total dissarrey. In 3 weeks or so and about $2500 later I should have my house back to a liveable condition.

I know that my flooding problem is minor compared to some of the areas that have been flooded out. I know how much it will disrupt your life and your family's life. I guess I had to much time on my hands and need to rebuild part of my house.

I have lived through 5 tropical storms and have never seen it rain so hard that you could not see 50ft. down a drive way. I live in southern Michigan and the area just could not handle the amount of rain that fell that night. I now have a generator. I will have a battery operated sump pump or similar. I hope I never see it rain that hard again.

Thanks for listing

See you at the ranges.

Carl Provan

[Merlin Orr]

Carl

Been right where you are. Flooded out in an area that "never" floods. It Sucks!

Hang tough.

[AlamoShooter]

Wow Rain == that would be nice, my yard is dry & cruchy event after I water it.

[Flexmoney]

Damn Carl. That sucks.

Dilute some bleach and put it in a spray bottle. Apply often to keep the mold down.

[bountyhunter]

Sorry to hear it. We haven't been hit much by flooding, but the north bay (Napa , Sonoma, Mendocino and the rest) have been getting horrible rains every winter. They had one last year where they got about 1/2 of a normal YEAR'S rainfall in a single storm. Fllod levels of about 16' in one town were 'slightly" exceeded.... the crest went to about 28 feet!

I don't think we will ever have normal weather again.

[Cameron]

That sucks.

I guess you can now get that carpet with DVC written all over it!

[Carl Provan]

Pergo flooring. I am going to set the pattern to DVC.

Thanks for the idea Cameron.

[Front Man]

Damn Carl. That sucks.

Dilute some bleach and put it in a spray bottle. Apply often to keep the mold down.

Flex is on it; don't let mold become an issue.

You may have to move someday and you want a clean slate.

FM

[BigDave]

1 C of bleach per gallon of H2O is the guideline

The biggest thing is getting the wet stuff out of the house and getting the humidity down. Run your central AC and some fans if you can, and leave the lights on (if that doesn't make sense, think about how mushrooms are farmed and it should be crystal clear).

Ceramic tile flooring over concrete is about the best floor in terms of resistance to flood damages. Any other pore-filled, cellulose base material just won't cut it.

[Carl Provan]

I had 90% of the carpet out within 24 hours the remaining was out in 48 hours. The water seeped in around the wall and doors. I didn't have standing water in the house. My garage that was a different story. I just had to get rid of a few boxes. The areas that where wet are now very dry. I am planning on putting flooring down starting on friday. I am going with Pergo laminate floors in both if the rooms that had carpet. The small bedroom is used as a reloading gun room so carpet is not the best choice for that one. The family room with a limited traffic pattern, hallway to stairs, I am also going with the laminate.

Dave, I looked in to the ceramic tile for the reloading room and could just see me droping some large metal part on the floor and cracking a tile. Not what I would call fun. I will have a mat to put in front of the reloading bench for protecting the floor and to give my something to stand on that is not hard like concrete. The family room will get an area run that will match the decor.

[kimel]

Yeah, Pergo and water = big mess. It doesn't take very much water at all to ruin Pergo.

[Bear23]

Sorry for the disaster.

[Carl Provan]

I understand that ceramic tile is the best for potential water conditions. I do believe that the rains that caused my problems where unique. That amout of rain all at once was just to much. Had I not had a power failure, this would not have happened.

That being said, the important room is 90% done. That is the reloading room. It had carpet in it that I wanted to remove because of the powder. Getting powder out of berber carpet is not fun. You should not use a vaccum cleaner, static and gunpowder not a good combination. Hard floors are much better for cleaning up any spills.

Thanks for the information about the bleach. I am making sure that I do not have any future problems with mold or water. A back up sump pump is going in along with have generator on hand will help.

[markm]

Hate to tell you, but bleach doesn't kill mold. Only masks the problem. Blast with high pressure air and plain baking soda. Follow with a micro bacterial wood treatment.