Sump pumps

After our couple vacations in July, we came back to a wonderful surprise.

I said, "Mark, I smell something."

He said that he thought he did too.

The kids wanted to play in the basement, so I told them to go for it.

And then all of a sudden...

"MOM! THERE'S WATER ALL OVER THE BASEMENT!"

Our sump pump had failed.

 We figured that it had happened quite a few days earlier because the water had soaked up into the drywall about 18 inches and had dried in other places.

 There's mold growing on the walls...hard to see.

 

 Mold growing on the end tables and the bed skirt is wet...it had been wetter because you could see where it had dried.

So we called our insurance company and they gave me the name of a company that takes care of things like this. That company sent people the following day (since it was Sunday) and started the cleaning out process.

 They tried to dry the carpet out to salvage it, but it ended up being all stained.

 It took a few weeks, but they did a terrific job.

Our carpet, walls (the areas were cut off), trim, and door jams were ruined and all had to be replaced. Most of the furniture was okay after they cleaned it with whatever they clean things. I washed down the remaining walls with a bleach solution, just to be on the safe side. 

We ended up having to re-landscape to make sure we didn't get any other water in the basement. 

Here Marky is working on that. 

The dirt to move over to the side of the house.

And here's the boys, helping. :)

Next post will be the end results.