More Heavy Rain, More Water in the Basement

2006.11.06

So, I was going to finish demolition on the back room of the basement throughout the summer; tear down the remaining drywall, wood paneling, and framing, haul it off and sweep up the debris.

But I never got around to it.

Then, after an unseasonably warm and sunny October and early November, the Northwest was hit with a dreaded “Pineapple Express”, a relatively warm system of heavy moisture, which pounded us with rain.  The coast has suffered with severe flooding… houses sliding down cliffs and that sort of thing, and everybody’s basements have been leaking.  Including mine, of course.

I bought a rain gauge a few weeks ago, and since the rain started about five days ago, it has filled up to the top (five inches).  I emptied it out this morning.

When I came home from work today, I checked the back room of the basement, and sure enough, water was steadily creeping across the floor.

Wet basement again
Wet basement again

Looks like it’s gonna be a late night of running the shopvac.

2006.11.07

I was up till around 3:00 this morning sucking up water with the shopvac.  I decided to stay home from work today so I could keep an eye on things.  I can dial into the office to do some work as well, so the day won’t be a total loss.

This morning I emptied the rain gauge again, it had registered four inches since yesterday morning!  Wow.  And that’s on top of five inches or so in the previous week.

I ran the shopvac about every hour or two all day today.  The rains eased off today, only about half an inch in the gauge, so by evening it looked like the water had stopped coming into the basement.

2006.11.24

We’ve had some steady rains again the past couple days; not as bad as that system earlier this month, but enough to put water in my basement again last night.  I ran the shopvac before going to bed, and this morning it looks dry, so not too bad this time.