OK, so it's an overdramatic title. However, that night demonstrated exactly how humbling nature
can be... as well as demonstrate how much people (or me, at least) depend upon an uninterrupted
flow of electricity!
At around 9PM in the evening the power went off during a VERY CRAZY thunderstorm. We waited for a while,
but the power did not come back on. In the basement (which is where my room is) we have a sump pump (no,
not in my room, next to it in the laundry room). Normally, water trickles down into this well and then is
pumped back out again via an electric motor. Well, when it storms this fills up rather quickly. And when
the power goes it, it obviously will not turn on! So if the power is out for a significant amount of time,
then this will eventually overflow. It's been a very long time since it's happened, but it does. The last
time we came close I was down there bringing buckets of water upstairs making sure it would not flood.
This time I was not so lucky. After it appeared that the power was not going to come on for a while, my
brother and I made a run for Meijer hoping they had a 12 Volt sump pump, or even a bilge pump for a boat or
something. I have a 140 Watt inverter in my car, but it would not power the sump. In any case, Meijer had
nothing we could use. By the time we got back, the water had already crept over top of the well. I knew I
was in trouble.
So I started to run buckets in and out, up and down. But the water was coming in way too fast, and after 12 or
15 trips up and down the steps with an industrial sized bucket full of water, I just couldn't do it anymore.
We found we had another motor in the garage that we use with the pool sometimes. We hooked it up to my car and Viola!
It worked. So my brother hooked it up in the basement (again, running all the way upstairs and outside to my car).
But after 15 minutes of this thing chugging away, there was still no change. In fact, the water was getting so high,
it was about to creep into my room beneath the walls!!! The water was coming in SO fast that even this motor could not
keep up with it.
We ran the motor for hours until finally it got too hot to run anymore (my father had to go to the gas station to get
some gas for my car because it would have run out it had been running so long). But it did no good, the water was in
my room...
My girlfriend and I moved everything we could away from the area where the water would come into the room
(the closet). Unfortunately, everything on the floor of the closet got soaked (namely her clothes which hang
on the bottom rung and some blankets).
Now, when I forked over the cash to shape up this room to be a living space, I knew this was a possibility. So
I invested in some nice cinder blocks and put my entire entertainment center on top of these blocks. I also have
my large left and right speakers on blocks. So my baby was safe :). Now, our bed is a metal-framed futon which
sits against the far wall, away from the closet. So even if the water got that far, it would be OK. The loveseat
was again a short distance, and it was supported by a wooden frame, so it should be OK too. The big computer desk
sits high, and shouldn't be a problem.
The problem was the carpet. It just sits on the concrete floor. That water got into that carpet
like it wasn't even there. Just from looking at the pictures above you can see that there were
standing puttles of water. It broke my heart. It would really suck if I would have had to replace
that carpet...
Eventually in the wee morning hours the power came back on. The sump pump ran for something like
15 minutes before the water even started receeding.
Now came the hard part. My back already hurt from carrying those buckets of water up and down the freakin'
stairs. Now I had to start getting the water out of the room. Thankfully my mother and my girlfriend helped
out (they did A LOT OF WORK). After many hours, we got the standing water under control and out of the room.
But still, there was the carpet. Now, my mother has a Bissel (sp?) carpet steam cleaner, which uses water. So
she started using that thing, and we had to empty the water container like every five minutes, that's how much
water was in the carpet. My mother had to finally get some sleep because she had to be to work. So my girlfriend
and I kept at it. Eventually she got tired too, and I ran that thing for what seemed like days. At around
four in the morning, there was no more standing water in the room, and the carpet was looking better. But the question
of salvageability still remained. If we just let it dry would it smell? What should I do!
So, I got out the trusty yellow pages and started hunting for 24 hour emergency carpet damage services. Now, this is Toledo
we're talking about, and I thought I was probably out of luck. But low and behold there were several such places. But then
getting a hold of them was another issue. Some would not answer, and others were just paging services (which no one ever called back).
Luckily, one person did call back. They said they were very busy (obviously, this was a bad storm), but would be able to make it out
first thing in the morning. So I said OK. She was talking big money, something in the range of $300 to properly get it done. That scared me,
for I could get new carpet for that price, but the estimate was free.
Now, it was already 4:30 or 5 AM... it wouldn't have made much since to go to sleep, since these people would be arriving at 8AM or so.
If I would have slept I would not have gotten up until 2PM or so :). So I stuck it out, and started to remove the standing water from the
rest of the basement (the storage room & the laundry room). That really sucked because we layed down strips of carpet in those
rooms, and I had to roll those wet things up and carry them upstairs and outside. They were VERY heavy...
Finally, I got that done, too. I had about an hour or so to kill before the carpet people arrived, so I plugged the playstation back in
and started killing some time (I didn't have any sound, because I unhooked all the speakers due to the water :) ).
They arrived and looked at the situation. The price dropped big time due to the fact that the carpet was just sitting on the concrete,
with no padding or nothing. After some water damage restoration education, she gave me a price of $150 to do the extraction & keep a blower &
dehumidifier for a day. Reluctantly, I agreed. The carpet ran me something like $230 in itself. But what I feared was moving all the furniture.
ESPECIALLY the entertainment center. To take all that apart, move it, then put it back was just too much of a hassle. So, I gave in.
They did their thing, and after a day with the blower the carpet was relatively dry. But it still took until the end of the week before I had
everything back into place. I had to take that Monday off work just so I could get the carpet people in and so I could sleep :).
This entire situation sucked! :)