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pandora’s basement: bad to worse with one air test

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So when we last talked about the basement, we had just started ripping the walls down.

Gemil informed us that the best way to know if we had mold was to do an air test.  It would say what type of contaminants were in the air and how much.

We continued to take down the walls; focusing on the area behind the plastic.  The drywall had been wet and needed to be replaced anyway.

We found where the crack was from the inside.  How long had that be developing??  It had to have been a long time coming.

Another issue that Gemil found was that the insulation had been packed in too tightly and the foundation was not able to breath.  The insulation was wet and parts were moldy.

It only took a day to get the results from the air test.

37,000 ppm.

That is the number of mold spores that we had in our basement.  37,000 parts per million.

I cried.  How could we have lived down there?  How long was the mold growing?  Where was it coming from?

We hadn’t found enough mold in the plastic area to get a result that high.  Gemil said the carpet had to go.

We moved into power purge mode.  Everything that was in the basement was moved upstairs.  But we had to wipe everything down before it went up because we didn’t want to carry the mold upstairs.

In the matter of a day, we had the full contents of the finished side of our basement, which included a full set of couches and tables, added to the existing contents of our living room and dining room.  It looked like a flea market up there.  We could barely sit down to watch TV.

So now that the furniture was gone, we could remove the carpet.  With knives in our gloved hands, masks on our faces, we started at the opposite side of the room from where the plastic area was.

Instead of using wooden baseboards, the previous owners had just used a strip of carpet around the room like a baseboard.  That was the first part to be removed.

And there it was.  Black mold. It was on the carpet, it was on the wall.

We moved fast.  Cut and rolled the carpet, packed it in industrial size garbage bags, tuck taped it up and hauled it up to the garage.  Many bags later, we were finished.

It’s now 11pm at night.  We’re physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted.

So where was the mold coming from??  We had to find out!

Gemil cut a hole in the dry wall where the black mold was.  The studs were damp.  He cut the hold wider and taller.

Then my emotions just took over.  I cried so hard.  Physically shaking, Craig held me.

We found a second crack.

This is the second post of the “Pandora’s Basement” series.  I hope that through these posts, I can help others keep their family safe.

pandora’s basement: opening the box

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Some of you may remember that I started documenting the issues with our basement:

Here’s a refresher in case you forgot, or are new and want to catch up:

That was back in March and April of last year.

I stopped talking about the basement.  Once we started working on the inside, the issues started snowballing and I got completely overwhelmed.  And a bit embarrassed.  I didn’t want to come across as a bad homeowner or a bad parent.

What we learned over the past year is too important not to tell the world.

We know a Home Inspector, Certified Indoor Air Quality and Mold Inspector.  He said that we needed to remove the drywall that had been wet because there was a risk of mold.

Just in case, he put up a protective wall of plastic so that dust and the potential mold spores wouldn’t go everywhere.  He did an air test to see if there were any mold spores in the air and sent that off to the lab.

Gemil started to take down the drywall and then with each step, the evil became more and more apparent.

“The “box” was actually a large jar given to Pandora, which contained all the evils of the world.”   ~ Wikipedia
This is the first post of the “Pandora’s Basement” series.  I hope that through these posts, I can help others keep their family safe.

friday funny: there’s a hole!

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I’m so happy that the guys started the work on the foundation yesterday!

Munchkin used our main floor powder room and then sticks her head out and says “Can I flush?”
I asked BigDaddy if they had turned the water off, trying to figure out why she was asking.  I asked her, “Why can’t you flush?”

“I don’t want the water to go into the hole!”

I love her …and her imagination!!

Digging the hole

The crack went from the top of the foundation all the way to the footing

First layer of sealant

Things left to do:

  • another layer of sealant
  • fancy plastic stuff
  • stone
  • back fill the dirt
  • lift the interlocking brick
  • regrade front yard (probably needing a dump truck of dirt)
  • regrade walkway
  • relay stones and front steps
I’m sure there’s more but it’s very overwhelming.
Yet a relief at the same time.  I’m so happy to see it getting fixed!

rain rain go away

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Good news: our foundation will be getting fixed starting Thursday!

Bad news: a week of rain

It’s been a month and a half since the leak was discovered.  For the most part our basement has looked like this U+2192.svg

Originally we just rolled the carpet back and put down some towels.  But it kept getting wet and would take forever to dry.  The under padding was like a sponge.

Last Wednesday, I wanted to rip my hair out.  It had rained pretty hard and the water came in.  The towels and the carpet were wet.  I got out the box cutter and cut out a huge piece of carpet and under padding. The water was still coming in, but at least it was easier to clean up.

I kept telling myself… “only one more week and this will all be over with.”

After interviewing several companies, we chose who we wanted to do the repair work and we were excited to get this fixed. But the “call before you dig” people needed a week to get all the utilities marked out so we chose April 27th as a start date.

All weekend we watched the forecast.  And here is what it says today…

We were contacted by the foundation guys and they’re going to try to start on Thursday.  I guess that’s not too bad. But the rain is coming first.

We decided that the piece of wood that he had propped up at the front of the house, just wasn’t working.  We were still getting a flood ever time it rained.  Yesterday, I dragged out the tarp and rigged it up and then prayed that it would at least slow the water down…even just a little.

Last night, the rain started.

And it worked!!

I checked the towels this morning, expecting to see water everywhere.  But they were only damp!

Thursday can not come soon enough.

When it Rains it Pours

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Get up.
Brush teeth.
Have a shower.
Dry hair.
Get dressed.
Remember that you need grab sock from the dryer for the girls.
Run to the basement.
Walk into laundry room.
Flick light on.
Splash.
Look down.
Find yourself standing in a stream of water.
Curse and swear.

That was Monday.

Generally, I’m not a fan of Mondays to begin with and now this.

I followed the stream of water, back along the wall back into the rec room area of the basement to find that the carpet is wet. The wetness goes around the corner and under BigDaddy’s desk!

More cursing and swearing.

I run upstairs and quietly whisper to BigDaddy. “I’m not going to work today. The basement has a leak and it’s under your desk.”

He curses and swears.

We spent the morning moving stuff around the basement, getting it out of the corner. BigDaddy’s desk and computer had to be moved. And I’m not sure how we got so much stuff, but we have way too much stuff.

We put in a phone call to some friends who have a construction company to find out what we do next. They suggested that we cut some of the dry wall to see if we can figure out where the leak in the wall is and there could be a drainage/grading issue outside.

Our next phone call was to another construction friend who is also a home inspector who is trained in mould detection. He said pull back the carpet and get some fans to get things dried out.

By the end of Monday night, we had narrowed down where the leak is coming from and had rounded up 4 fans. BigDaddy’s desk was out of the way and he was able to work. Albeit, he was a bit cold from all the fans, but still working. We also got some down spout extenders to make sure that the water goes as far away from the house as possible.

I went to bed that night praying that it didn’t rain again.

Tuesday night, BigDaddy had a Volunteer Builders executive meeting. So we got more input from more construction people. It is very nice to know construction type people…so many resources to choose from. We were under the impression that nothing could be done about our problem until the spring but that’s not the case.

Yesterday, one of those construction guys, Scott, came over to take a look at our wetness problem. He concluded that the outside of the foundation needs to be fixed, the bottom 2 feet of drywall on 2 walls and the carpet needs to be replaced.

Our next step is to get a hole dug outside. Scott going to see about getting a bobcat/digging-type machine to do the digging. If not, we’ll hire a couple guys to dig it by hand. That is definitely not our first choice as it will take the longest. And we’re not taking a little hole. We’re talking 4 feet wide and the complete depth of our foundation! That’s huge!

They’re going to have to remove the interlocking brick steps and part of the walk way and the planter box under the window.

Then he’ll repair the wall to stop the water from coming in and regrade it so the water drains away from the house better.

The next couple weeks are going to be a bit crazy.  The girls are going to love it if he can get the digger thingy.  They love trucks and machines. And I’m sure BigDaddy will take lots of pictures which I can share with you.

And what makes this even better? Peanut’s 4th Birthday party is at my house on March 12th.

They say, “When it rains, it pour”. They weren’t kidding.