Mopping in the morning

[Coytee]

I typically wake up anytime after 5:00 a.m. (without alarm) every morning. Last night, wife & I went out for dinner & mosey'd around one of the "local" malls (25 miles away). Got home late, got the dogs outside for their last chance about 11:30 or so. Was heading to bed at midnight which is a bit late for me. no problem as I was thinking I could sleep in today (perhaps until 6:00?).

Usually in the mornings, the dogs start to jump all over me in their playful way. They NEVER bother Marion in the mornings as they know she's not the one who'll take them out early and feed them. As it was, since they were out late last night, they too were kind of sleepy this morning and bottom line, we didn't get up until about 8:30. yes I was awake but I was playing with them and watching some show on the science channel or something.

Finally get up to take them outside, get downstairs and I hear something strange. I hear "splashing". As there is nothing downstairs to splash, I became curious and paused on taking the dogs out.

To cut to the chase... we're fixing up the basement and currently working on the bathroom/laundry room. This is going to be a fancy room (ask JC & Mark about the Cherubs in our 1/2 bath). Anyways, this is going to be a fancy room and as I walk in, the splashing sound is stronger. The entire floor is flooded. I might add that just yesterday, a guy came out to lay the first layer of concrete flooring for our walk in shower. hmm. Seems some stupid oaf (that would be ME) pushed the washing machine back into its closet to gain some floor space while we keep adjusting things in there to work around them. Moving it back gave some slack to its drain hose. Last night at midnight Marion did a load of laundry. As it was heading into its final rinse cycle, seems the water jetting out of the hose, dislodged it from its drain and the hose was laying on the ground, pouring all the water out. Since the water level never rose to 'full' and have the machine cut the supply OFF, it was in effect, pumping water out all night from sometime after midnight, until 8:30.

Yeesh... I got the dogs outside, woke Marion and spent the next several hours moving things out of their, including a soaked rug that fortunately, acted like a HUGE sponge for most of the water. This rug was destine to be burned anyway, so I'm not concerned about keeping it. Got stuff picked up, moved doors out, durrock out, drywall out. Other pieces of drywall have wicked water up to about 3 inches off the floor.

I've thrown away my Paxton 'box' fan. It was a real tornado, but it fell and didn't work. No one had a fan to borrow. Fortunately, I had a big shop vac and pulled some water up but honestly, 90% of the water left when I LUGGED that rug outside (something like 9'x12' and SOAKED).

Hand dried most of the floor and pulled my dehumidifyer out to simply get some dry air moving around in there.

Wife use to ask me why I was so let down that we didn't have a floor drain in this room (she thought it would be ugly).

I think she now has a clue. []

As an aside, the Jubilees are destined for the room next to this, water DID get into the larger room. My LaScalas are currently IN the larger room but no water got near them.

Rug = soaked/toast

Particleboard cabinet = soaked/toast

3" drywall at base of floor = soaked/perhaps toast

LaScalas = high & dry [H]

[wuzzzer]

Whew! Glad to hear everything was mostly ok! My wife did something similar with our washing machine's drain hose once and fortunately for us we have a drain in the floor. There still was a lot of water around that took awhile to clean up. The way our basement is designed is that in our laundry room we have a few inches of cement coming up from the floor as supports for the wall and sheet rock. Fortunately the water never even got close to going above that level.

Good thing, because there's just a few $$ worth of Klipsch speakers just on the other side of that wall! []

[dtel's wife]

What a mess! I was LMAO, Coytee. I would love to have seen your face when you saw all that water.[]

I am glad everything worked out okay with the Scalas.

[Arky]

Your house always seems to be "hoppin".

[SteelerFan]

Not a good way to start the day. Look at the bright side, you didn't have to jackhammer up the concrete floor to find a pipe that's leaking like I've had to do 3 different times now.

One more thing, I got a dog that's 18 and one that's 16 so I pretty much mop every morning.[]

[oldbuckster]

Are you telling us that the wonder speakers couldn't make enough air movement to dry out that room? Rough way to start the day...........it's always something...........home ownership has it's bad sides...............YO, Coytee.........Happy New Year Bud.......

[oscarsear]

One home I owned was the water disaster house.

Towit:

1). Installed power flush toilets all around. Having dinner party one evening and the smoke alarm in front hall way starts chirping. No fire, no problem. Turned out the upstair head had an internal failure and was shorting out the smoke alarm as water was soaking through the ceiling, in the hallway. It had already done so in the entertainment room. The manufacturer of the toilet covered the damages.

2). When installing the rain gutters on the house the contractor poked a hole in the stucko near where two corners met. When it rained hard enough the gutter would fill and poor water water inside that wall, down two floors to the window casing, again in the entertainment room. Builder fixed problem.

3). When installing the stainless steel cap on a dual fireplace the sheetmetal guy found the precut holes didn't fit, so he cut another one. He thought he had water proofed his fix but no. What he made was a whistle that wailed in the wind and leaked in the rain. It took the builder eons to figure out this leak source. It ruined a bedroom set, etc.....

4). The downstairs power flush toilet fails the weekend of Christmas by exploding water all over a guest using it (oh joy). Could not get parts to fix it due to theholiday. Had guests for one week with 2 upstairs heads and 9 kids and 6 adults in the house.

5). Downstairs head drain is in line with shower pan. Both do no have very much drain drop slope so toilet constantly plugged. Plunge toilet and crap comes up shower drain.......luvely.

6). In wall water leak. Garage wall. Builder fixed.

7). In wall water leak kitchen island. Covered by home owners insurance.

8). Same as here, had washer drain hose jump its drain pipe...yeah it got the entertainment room.

9). Failure of washer cold water supply line...same hallway..same entertainment room.

10). Property backs to common area hill. Common area drainage fails during major storm. Takes out my yard and the neighbors yard. HOA insurance fixes.

11). Outside window trim not properly waterproofed. Water infiltration on about 15 windows fixed by builder.

Yet through all of these persistent, awful aggravating messes the Khorns in the dining room were gleefully kept dry. Needless to say the builder used some subpar subs. The local disaster fix-it company had my name on speed dial. God I hated that house.

[Coytee]

Oscar, now that this is evidently behind you, I hope you'll pardon my laughing during your tale there. That really sounds like someone had to TRY to be so inept. I woudn't wish anything bad like that on anyone (though I might wish Oldbuckster to have to spend a full day hanging out with Hillary [6] )

Most of my issues seem to be behind me now. I had the dehumidifyer running most all day yesterday and that helped dry out the whole room/closets. Perhaps a silver lining is this "allowed" me a chance to also clean the room up. I had a place where I had my pile of tools (most soaked). Mixed in with this pile was an old cardboard box that USE to hold various things, until it finally collapsed. Additionally, there were construction remnants all over the floor (drywall pieces, nails, screws...)

Now I've got all the tools back in a NEW box and all the other 'trash' which needed cleaned up, cleaned up!!

The guy doing the shower tile came by yesterday & decided it would be better to allow it to get completely dry before he went on to stage two.

so, after this fiasco, I got to watch my Bengals go from feral cats to... well... I guess baby kittens []. Tis amazing how they've been able to be so "bungals" for so many years.

[theplummer]

Might I make a small suggestion.

Since you do not have a floor drain in your laundry room, go to your local plumbing supply house (Not a home center, they will have no idea what your going to ask for), and purchase a moisture activated solonoid switch. I can't remember right off hand who manufactures it, but they should be able to help you as they have hundreds of catalogs to order from. Be persistant, some employees think its better to blow you off than to do their job.

This device will connect between your laundry hose bibbs and your rubber laundry hoses, then there is a sensor that lays on the floor below the washer. If it ever detects water on the floor, it shuts the water supplies off immediately, and some are equipped with an alarm.

I 'm sorry I can not remember the brand right now, as I do mostly new construction and I make sure there is a drain close so this is not usually and issue.

Good Luck!

[colterphoto1]

I feel for you guys. I have a house that sits low on the lot. That in itself is not too much of a problem, but the elderly people who owned the place just did not keep up with repairs.

First spring here, the sump pump line sprung leak about 5' outside the house. So the pump would pump the water from the basement drains, which would percolate through the soil, and reenter through the window wells. At one point ina storm, the wells in front filled up like aquariums. I tried to catch the water draining down the walls and reroute it to the sump by use of garden hoses, but was unable to keep up until the problem exposed itself by blowing a hole in the soil where the pipe erupted. Ended up with second set of pumps and fire hose routing water far away in back yard.

Downspouts exit to extensions about 6' from the house, but the grade is so bad (and cant be improved because it's already at sill plate height), so in extreme weather, water gathers at foundation and weeps in through stone through crack between block and plate- oozes into crawl space under bedroom wing of house, then finds it's way down that wall and into the basement. Luckily that is on the side where the sump is, but the floor stays wet.

Driveway has been repaved so many times that it is HIGHER than the garage floor. There is a single drain at one side that does most of the work, but it drains into the basement sump (a flawed system), and occasionally water weeps into the garage under the door. The triple layer of neoprene seal material should have been a give-away.

Numerous other problems that inspectors failed to notice. The worst is that I still don't have title to this place and nearly had it sold out from under me for lack of paying property tax.

Oh well, time to give the attorneys a few more thousand of my hard earned money.....

[Guest Anonymous]

Here's what happened to my wife and I. Our neighbors went out of town one weekend and asked us to watch their house and their dog they even left us the keys just in case we had to go inside, but they said we did'nt really have to, so we did'nt. They left on Friday and got home sunday evening ,when they went in they discovered that their basement was half full of water. There were no floor drains anywhere in the basement all of the electrical outlets were under water they had to turn off all power to the house and called the fire dept. They began pumping out the water and we just stood by our house and watched, and we felt so bad. It took weeks to clean up everything, but what had happend was they were doing some remodeling and replaced a water line, well it did'nt hold and the line came apart so the water was just pouring in. If we had gone in we might have cought it in time, but we did'nt.

[oscarsear]

I forgot two:

12). Landscape contractor breached the water main in the front of the house and left it running for 1/2 day t'il a neighbor who knew how turned it off.

13). The water line regulator failed allowing full line pressure to the house (which probably precipitated many of these other events) and blew out a new water heater in under a years time. Builder replaced both as that voided the warranty on the heater.

You can bet that I've paid much closer attention to build quality since then. My current home is so overbult for where it's located that it's almost ridiculous. Worst problem here is the toilet at the end of the line upstairs draws sluggishly and easily plugs.

[Coytee]

Worst problem here is the toilet at the end of the line upstairs draws sluggishly and easily plugs.

We're probably heading into a terratory of "too much infomation" [A]

[theplummer]

Worst problem here is the toilet at the end of the line upstairs draws sluggishly and easily plugs.

We're probably heading into a terratory of "too much infomation" [A]

What brand toilet is it? If it's any other brand other than a Mansfield (Economy) or a Toto (Expensive), I'd bet dollars to donuts that's the problem. If so, trash it and replace it with a mansfield (less than $100.00)

[oldbuckster]

Low water flush toilet, no doubt.................they work well on town or village septic, but don't work so well going into septic tanks...............great idea, low flush, but they need more work to work in a septic system.........................if that's the problem.....................

[oscarsear]

Yeah, I thought the same as you all have 'bout that terlit. It's in our guest room and it doesn't get used often. If people are careful it's okay. It's on my to-do list with a few other things. Now were redoing the kitchen counters (see ktichen counter thread). I've got 2 bathtubs that need glass enclosures too. Found what I wanted at Basco. They're a manufacturer in Florida and the closest retailer is 500 miles away and they won't sell direct (sound like any company you know?). I installed those power flush toilets in the house mentioned earlier but that was years ago and I've become disabled since (my dad was a plumber, grandpa was a carpenter). It's frustrating to see things that need doing that you know how to do but cannot. [:@] Then ya gotta pay some YaHoo megabucks to do it and you gotta watch every move they make to be sure it's done right.

[theplummer]

Yeah, I thought the same as you all have 'bout that terlit. It's in our guest room and it doesn't get used often. If people are careful it's okay. It's on my to-do list with a few other things. Now were redoing the kitchen counters (see ktichen counter thread). I've got 2 bathtubs that need glass enclosures too. Found what I wanted at Basco. They're a manufacturer in Florida and the closest retailer is 500 miles away and they won't sell direct (sound like any company you know?). I installed those power flush toilets in the house mentioned earlier but that was years ago and I've become disabled since (my dad was a plumber, grandpa was a carpenter). It's frustrating to see things that need doing that you know how to do but cannot. [:@] Then ya gotta pay some YaHoo megabucks to do it and you gotta watch every move they make to be sure it's done right.

I don't know where you are from, but, If you find any supply house that sells Lasco fiberglass tubs and shower enclosures, bets are that they will also sell Basco shower doors, as they are owned by the same parent company, If you would like PM me with your town and state and I'll contact my dealer rep and locate a much closer dealer for you. I would recommend the "framless" doors (there's still a frame though), they are cheaper and easier to keep clean. It only means that there is no frame around the glass.

Good luck.

[oscarsear]

Yeah, I thought the same as you all have 'bout that terlit. It's in our guest room and it doesn't get used often. If people are careful it's okay. It's on my to-do list with a few other things. Now were redoing the kitchen counters (see ktichen counter thread). I've got 2 bathtubs that need glass enclosures too. Found what I wanted at Basco. They're a manufacturer in Florida and the closest retailer is 500 miles away and they won't sell direct (sound like any company you know?). I installed those power flush toilets in the house mentioned earlier but that was years ago and I've become disabled since (my dad was a plumber, grandpa was a carpenter). It's frustrating to see things that need doing that you know how to do but cannot. [:@] Then ya gotta pay some YaHoo megabucks to do it and you gotta watch every move they make to be sure it's done right.

I don't know where you are from, but, If you find any supply house that sells Lasco fiberglass tubs and shower enclosures, bets are that they will also sell Basco shower doors, as they are owned by the same parent company, If you would like PM me with your town and state and I'll contact my dealer rep and locate a much closer dealer for you. I would recommend the "framless" doors (there's still a frame though), they are cheaper and easier to keep clean. It only means that there is no frame around the glass.

Good luck.

Kind Sir... I'm in Post Falls, Idaho which is just next to Coeur d'Alene and about 25 miles east of Spokane, Washington. I personally contacted Basco and they told me that the nearest dealers were in Boise (south, quite a ways) and in Montana. They took my info and said they'd pass it to the dealers and that was that. Nada, nil, nothing. I wonder what the CEO's of companies would do if they knew that customer service was throwing business leads into the trash. Let me know what you got and I'll be most appreciative as should Basco. I'll try and work you a spiff if something comes to fruition.[Y]

[theplummer]

Yeah, I thought the same as you all have 'bout that terlit. It's in our guest room and it doesn't get used often. If people are careful it's okay. It's on my to-do list with a few other things. Now were redoing the kitchen counters (see ktichen counter thread). I've got 2 bathtubs that need glass enclosures too. Found what I wanted at Basco. They're a manufacturer in Florida and the closest retailer is 500 miles away and they won't sell direct (sound like any company you know?). I installed those power flush toilets in the house mentioned earlier but that was years ago and I've become disabled since (my dad was a plumber, grandpa was a carpenter). It's frustrating to see things that need doing that you know how to do but cannot. [:@] Then ya gotta pay some YaHoo megabucks to do it and you gotta watch every move they make to be sure it's done right.

I don't know where you are from, but, If you find any supply house that sells Lasco fiberglass tubs and shower enclosures, bets are that they will also sell Basco shower doors, as they are owned by the same parent company, If you would like PM me with your town and state and I'll contact my dealer rep and locate a much closer dealer for you. I would recommend the "framless" doors (there's still a frame though), they are cheaper and easier to keep clean. It only means that there is no frame around the glass.

Good luck.

Kind Sir... I'm in Post Falls, Idaho which is just next to Coeur d'Alene and about 25 miles east of Spokane, Washington. I personally contacted Basco and they told me that the nearest dealers were in Boise (south, quite a ways) and in Montana. They took my info and said they'd pass it to the dealers and that was that. Nada, nil, nothing. I wonder what the CEO's of companies would do if they knew that customer service was throwing business leads into the trash. Let me know what you got and I'll be most appreciative as should Basco. I'll try and work you a spiff if something comes to fruition.[Y]

Man, I'm sorry I opened my mouth, without driving over 200 miles your not going to find a dealer closer than that.

You entered: Post Falls, ID 83854

M D M Supply Inc (160.3 mi.)

105 Cooperative Way

Kalispell, MT 59901

Phone: 406-752-1402

Map: Click here for a Map

M D M Supply Inc (240 mi.)

1600 National Avenue

Helena, MT 59601

Phone: 406-443-4012

Map: Click here for a Map

Consolidated Supply (285.3 mi.)

10621 W Emerald

Boise, ID 83713

Phone: 503-684-5904

Map: Click here for a Map

Water Mosaic (318.4 mi.)

12 Pronghorn Trail B

Bozeman, MT 59718

Phone: 406-585-2930

Map: Click here for a Map

M D M Supply Inc (319 mi.)

2150 Industrial Drive

Bozeman, MT 59715

Phone: 406-586-8650

Map: Click here for a Map

I even inquired about me buying the doors from my local supplier and doing a "drop ship" to your door. No can do. Basco will not ship by any other carrier other than their own trucks. Too much chance for damage.

I wish I could be of further assistance, but it looks like your going to have to order over the phone and take a 4 hour trip to get the darn things. That's still probably a cheaper way to go than paying for shipping from another carrier. Too bad to, these are some nice doors. Good luck.

[oscarsear]

No problem. I appreciate the interest and the effort. I think what gets me most about my dealings with Basco is that they really do not seem to care. This area is one of the fastest growing markets in the country for exactly the kind/level of product they make. They're allowing themselves to be hohummed out of a great opportunity. What they should do is get their Boise distributor on the line and establish a dealer for this region ASAP. C'est la vie.