My Basement Flooded! Now What?

I get calls all the time about basement floods. Here is is the perfect example. Shane calls me, he was out of town for a week and his upstairs toilet flooded his basement. He came home to 3' of water and is frantic. Here's what he needs to do.

1) Shut off the water to whatever is causing the flood.

2) Try to find out if your basement has a sub pump. Most basements have a pump & a drain. If the basement has a pump you can use it to drain the water. If you do not have a pump you can rent from a local building supply company.

3) Now that you have removed the water from your basement you need to assess the damage. How high did the water rise? Any drywall that has been saturated needs to be removed. (this is expensive due to the mold hazard). It is important to where a mask and remove the drywall / sheeting as soon as possible. You can use a chalk line to mark the walls so that you only have to remove the damaged lower portion.

4) Set up fans in your basement to dry it out. If you get your house dry fast enough you have nothing to worry about.

5) I am confident that anyone can handle these first things, but putting it back together might be a project out of your skill range. It is important to know your strengths & weaknesses so I recommend that you hire a handyman or contractor to put your home back together.