Water in Basement

[mountainside13]

I'm in Iowa and we have been pounded with rain since 10 am. Flash flood warning until tonight. I went to the laundry room and had a decent size puddle and sump pump has many inches of water in it. Sump pump isn't working. The worst part is the water is coming in from the elevated finished portion of the basement (daycare area). I have no clue where on the finished side! Pretty sure the only way is to tear up that side to find out. Only lived here 2 months and our first major repair, wondering if the sellers knew and kept it to themselves

[hope]

Do you have a wet vac? Our basement flooded once and we were afraid water would get to the furnace. We used our wet vac to value up and carried the water up and out. You may consider doing this till the pump starts back up.

[Blackcat31]

I'm in Iowa and we have been pounded with rain since 10 am. Flash flood warning until tonight. I went to the laundry room and had a decent size puddle and sump pump has many inches of water in it. Sump pump isn't working. The worst part is the water is coming in from the elevated finished portion of the basement (daycare area). I have no clue where on the finished side! Pretty sure the only way is to tear up that side to find out. Only lived here 2 months and our first major repair, wondering if the sellers knew and kept it to themselves

If they did, you can go back and put this on them.

One of my DCF's recently bought a house. The basement started flooding. They started working in it. Found out the basement wall had collapsed at one point and the sellers pretty much covered it up and never said a word.

The contractor my DCF called had given the previous owner a bid (but they obviously never had it fixed) so he recognized the issue and told the DCF.

They ended up moving (after being in the home for almost 6 months) and getting ALL their money back from the sellers.

I would do some digging and asking....contact your realtor and ask if there was any prior disclosures about this.

I also wonder if it just isn't the severe weather...when you get that much rain in such a short period of time, weird things happen and usually things that you've never seen before or have happened before. Water is weird too...it will find it's way to the strangest places and not always in tune with gravity.

Sorry this is happening to you! :hug:

I hope the rain stops soon. Our lakes are sooooo full and there is no end in site for us. We can't open the locks and dams because that will send WAY TOO much water down the Mississippi and from what I hear NO ONE south of us can handle any more water so we have to keep it.

[mountainside13]

Do you have a wet vac? Our basement flooded once and we were afraid water would get to the furnace. We used our wet vac to value up and carried the water up and out. You may consider doing this till the pump starts back up.

We don't have a shop vac yet. We keep intending too but always end up just borrowing my fathers.

If they did, you can go back and put this on them.

One of my DCF's recently bought a house. The basement started flooding. They started working in it. Found out the basement wall had collapsed at one point and the sellers pretty much covered it up and never said a word.

The contractor my DCF called had given the previous owner a bid (but they obviously never had it fixed) so he recognized the issue and told the DCF.

They ended up moving (after being in the home for almost 6 months) and getting ALL their money back from the sellers.

I would do some digging and asking....contact your realtor and ask if there was any prior disclosures about this.

I also wonder if it just isn't the severe weather...when you get that much rain in such a short period of time, weird things happen and usually things that you've never seen before or have happened before. Water is weird too...it will find it's way to the strangest places and not always in tune with gravity.

Sorry this is happening to you! :hug:

I hope the rain stops soon. Our lakes are sooooo full and there is no end in site for us. We can't open the locks and dams because that will send WAY TOO much water down the Mississippi and from what I hear NO ONE south of us can handle any more water so we have to keep it.

Oh wow! I didn't know they did that. I thought once you sign the papers that's that and nothing can be done.

Water does find the smallest opening to get through! When we did the plumbing for our 75 gallon saltwater tank it would find any opening to get out! ::

Our lakes are pretty full but not as bad as yours!

[Blackcat31]

Oh wow! I didn't know they did that. I thought once you sign the papers that's that and nothing can be done.

Property Disclosure Requirements

Sellers must disclose certain known defects about a dwelling. Failure to do so could result in a lawsuit later on. The State of Iowa provides a form for property disclosures. It asks specific questions regarding structural, roofing, plumbing and sewerage, lead-based paint, radon, electrical, pest infestation, and other issues.

http://research.lawyers.com/iowa/buying-a-house-in-iowa.html

[SilverSabre25]

get that sump pump working if you can; does it need plugged in?

we had a leak for awhile that was coming from one corner. Pulled off paneling and some drywall even trying to find it and nothing. One day it stopped leaking and now I haven't seen water in there in almost 2 years. Weirdest thing ever...but I'm NOT complaining!::

I hope you can get it fixed either easily OR on tthe seller's tab if they didn't disclose

[AmyKidsCo]

Oh no!

I have friends who were in a similar situation. They contacted Sure Dry Basements and discovered that the previous owner had gotten an estimate but never had the work done and didn't disclose any problems when the sold the house. They got everything fixed at the previous owner/realtor's expense.

Our basement leaks too but we weren't as lucky - the previous owners claimed they didn't know.

[coolconfidentme]

Check to see if you downspouts are draining away from the home. It's one of the leading causes of wet basements.

I own rental properties & one became vacant recently. At inspection, I found the non-finished basement VERY wet. The tenant never said a thing. Further investigation I found the tenant turned the downspout splash pans around. When I asked them about it, they said with all the rain it was washing out their flower bed.

[Leigh]

Check to see if you downspouts are draining away from the home. It's one of the leading causes of wet basements.

I own rental properties & one became vacant recently. At inspection, I found the non-finished basement VERY wet. The tenant never said a thing. Further investigation I found the tenant turned the downspout splash pans around. When I asked them about it, they said with all the rain it was washing out their flower bed.

Agree with this. And get a new sump pump today (and get that hose as far away from the house as possible). Those two things probably have more to do with water in the basement than anything.

[mema]

Do you have a carpet cleaner? We had a ton of water last Monday night. The seal on the basement window was cracked in 1 spot. The 2 inches of standing water on the patio had no where to go but the window well. I watched the water pour in and push the caulk out from around the window as it went. Carpet cleaner ****ed it up. Took a while since every 30 seconds the tank was full, but it worked better than towels and blankets. Good luck!

[Annalee]

If they did, you can go back and put this on them.

One of my DCF's recently bought a house. The basement started flooding. They started working in it. Found out the basement wall had collapsed at one point and the sellers pretty much covered it up and never said a word.

The contractor my DCF called had given the previous owner a bid (but they obviously never had it fixed) so he recognized the issue and told the DCF.

They ended up moving (after being in the home for almost 6 months) and getting ALL their money back from the sellers.

I would do some digging and asking....contact your realtor and ask if there was any prior disclosures about this.

I also wonder if it just isn't the severe weather...when you get that much rain in such a short period of time, weird things happen and usually things that you've never seen before or have happened before. Water is weird too...it will find it's way to the strangest places and not always in tune with gravity.

Sorry this is happening to you! :hug:

I hope the rain stops soon. Our lakes are sooooo full and there is no end in site for us. We can't open the locks and dams because that will send WAY TOO much water down the Mississippi and from what I hear NO ONE south of us can handle any more water so we have to keep it.

You got that right, the south, Tennessee for me, does NOT need any more heavy rains!

[mountainside13]

My hubby was able to fix the pump last night. The float was not attached, at some point the bolt was taken off or fell off. Thankfully it was an easy fix!! Our down spouts are under ground, it's actually pretty nice. They all drain at the back of the property. It's possible maybe one is cracked or broken. We would only have to dig up one. I'm going to call around during nap time. Do you think they could tell me if an estimate was done on the phone?