~8/8 Weather Thread~
- Thread starter Clones21
- Start date
Great lightning show and very loud thunder here in West Des Moines. Listening to my scanner, the metro fire departments are busy with false alarms from this weather. As I am typing this, a big bolt came down not far from me and put out all the street lights on the block because it was so bright!
Round 2 is here and alive in Des Moines. I'm going to try to sleep on this one. See you guys in the morning.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
I cannot believe that we did not have a power outage at work with this storm. We usually don't make it through weaker storms than last night.
Got nearly 4.5" in my rain gauge overnight in the Beaverdale area. Checked my basement and sump pump around 2am and it could barely get a rest for 10 seconds at times as quick as the pit refilled. The floor drain is just a couple feet from the pit thankfully but I am tempted to look into a battery backup option just in case I ever lost power for extended time. Have some seeping water in parts of the floor so would hate to think what it would be like if I didn't have the sump we installed this spring. Lot of lightning, some must have been pretty close as a few rumbles shook the house. I'm in the middle of a basement remodel project so the wife and I didn't sleep too good last night wondering if that would get wet but luckily none of the drywall was touched and I'm resigned to the fact there isn't much I can do in a 1956 house when you get 4.5" of rain in 3 hours to stop a little water seeping from the floor.
Could be worse, a co-worker is out today with standing water, my boss has 2 sump pits and has standing water and showed me a video of water running in pretty good through the foundation walls.
Could be worse, a co-worker is out today with standing water, my boss has 2 sump pits and has standing water and showed me a video of water running in pretty good through the foundation walls.
In Ames, we got 4.6" of rain in our gauge, and less than 3 hours of sleep last night. At least 3 separate downpours which led to overflowing gutters and rain coming in a basement window. Our sump pump worked without a break for a long time. Early on it tripped the circuit breaker several times. Our electricity remained on, thank goodness. Otherwise I would probably be home going nuts with all the water we would have still had in the basement -- finished room, no less.
Had about 4.5" of rain in Ames. My basement carpet is wet, but it never has been before so I have no idea where it came in at.
I'm REALLY glad I checked my gutters and put the extra 10 feet of extensions on them when I got home last night. Water table is so high can't do anything about the floor seeping but with that much rain keeping as much of the runoff away from the house as possible probably helped more than I know. Have had to build up one of the window sills last year after I found water running into it and haven't had that problem since then thankfully.
Guessing the floor. Water takes the path of least resistance so all you need is a pinhole leak somewhere when the ground gets that saturated.
Ha, you saying that just made me feel a ton better about my situation. I just bought a house (moved in Thursday) and woke up to a very small amount of water in the basement even with my sump pump. The house was built around the same time as yours. I was a little worried that I just bought a house with a leaky basement. You're right, it could be much worse.
Once again the storm got weaker as it headed towards my town. I love storms, but as a owner of an old house, I don't mind so much when they don't hit directly.
Not much you can do about older basements. Just make sure your sump pump is in working order and anywhere outside you can build up around the house and help the runoff go away from the foundation is about all you can do. Only other option is to gut everything downstairs and have someone come in and professionally water proof it but that can cost you as much as $5000+ depending on the size of basement and extent of the work that needs to be done.
