Big Storms

The other night we were treated to some very loud, very wet thunderstorms. What happens when booming thunder cracks overheard so loudly that it shakes the house? Joe and I end up with a couple extra kids in bed with us.

Rain Update

The basement seems to have dried up in most spots, thankfully. To put things in perspective, the local middle school is closed because of flooding and numerous local houses that have never experienced water in their basements had trouble during this last storm. These were extreme circumstances.

But, there's more rain in the forecast today, but tomorrow looks sunny so far. And, from what I hear, the violent storms producing the flash flooding and tornados are over. At least for now.

Long term I don't know what we're going to do. The drain tiles and palmer valve should take care of the wetness problem, just apparently not when we get 2.5 inches of rain per hour which is very, very unusual. I suspect we'll start with some regrading and mud-jacking the driveway in some suspicious spots. My answer Saturday night while moving the contents of our basement to higher ground and cleaning up gross messes was just to chuck it all and move. But given the reports I'm hearing of wet basements abounding, I think that's a pretty extreme reaction.

I'm in clean-up mode today. Throwing out old carpet remnants that lined my laundry room floor and washing rugs from the family room. After the basement is cleaned up and normalcy is returned to our chaotic house then we can start mulling over long term solutions.

Some good news: Elisabeth is feeling better. Completely recovered, I'd say. Oh, and we had the most delicious sandwiches ever last night. I'll share the recipe later today. YUM!

UPDATE: This is mere moments from our home. See why I feel thankful the damage wasn't worse?

Dry Basement

Our basement is dry. Seriously.

What cured it? Our plumber. Apparently the valve attached to the drain tiles was clogged, and probably has been the entire time we have owned our house.

What a stupid, easy thing to fix. And it only took us four years to finally figure it out. Still though, I feel immeasurable relief.

Hurray!

Rain, Rain, Go AWAY!

And don't come back again. At least for a few weeks, anyway.

Rain here for the past two (three?) days. Various showers and storms the week prior. Rain forecast for the next three to four days. My psyche can't take much more wetness, and neither can my poor, wet basement.

UPDATE: Wonder of wonders, our plumber actually called me BACK! He even thinks he might-- might-- be able to come out today and unclog our main drain which is backing up all the drain tile and causing all the awful water all over our basement (where all my kids' toys, our TV, sofa and the kids' computer reside). Here's hoping!

UPDATE (this is soooo fascinating, isn't it?): Between the plumber and the drain tile guy, they finally flipped over whose domain we fell under. The plumber lost, but so did we because they didn't figure this out until well after 3 p.m. and I've yet to hear back from the plumber. *Sigh* Another day of rain and sopping wet rugs.

Oh well. C'est la vie, no?