Mancave is flooded!!!!

[Flightwhite24]

I come downstairs this morning into my "MAN CAVE" which is located in my basement and I turn on the light as I am coming down the stairs only to find my cave flooded. MOTHER {CUSSWORD}

Words can't explain what I am going through/feeling right now. The switch on my sump pump failed. My whole basement is flooded. I'm talking about a 1000 sq ft. I've called several companys and they want to charge me an arm and a leg. I did pull the sump pump and took it over to Home Depot and they replaced it for free because it was a Rigid Sump pump.

My concern now is the carpet. The only damage to my funiture was my Bose Lifestyle Set which is fairly old, the sub-woofer is soaked. I'm thinking about calling my insurance co to see what they have to say but a friend who went through this said his insurance co. would not cover a sump pump. If I can stay under $500 and save my carpet in the process I would be happy or should I say feel a little better. My Wedding Anniversary is this friday Had some pretty nice plans for the wifey but now I might have to make some changes.


Any advice, I'm currently using a carpet cleaner to dry and soak up this mess until I can make a decision on my next move.

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Mancave is flooded!!!!

Do you have flood coverage? It's a seperate coverage on your home insurance, if not, you're unfortunately going to have to fit the bill for this one.

Sorry man

[Hova57]

Re: Mancave is flooded!!!!

Same happened to me three years ago. This is the thing if its problem from the street pipes insurance will cover it if its within your home its not covered. Your better off cutting and pulling before you basement stinks and mold grow. Once you pull it up , use your shop vac again and run humidifer it helped pull water up off floor .

[Flightwhite24]

Re: Mancave is flooded!!!!

Same happened to me three years ago. This is the thing if its problem from the street pipes insurance will cover it if its within your home its not covered. Your better off cutting and pulling before you basement stinks and mold grow. Once you pull it up , use your shop vac again and run humidifer it helped pull water up off floor .

When you say cutting and pulling do you mean cut the carpet and throw away??? I do have a guy I used to work with who owns a carpet cleaning business and he is saying he can probably get some kind of chemical into the carpet on Friday if the carpet/pad is dry enough. He will charge me around $150-200. He also recommended that I pull the carpet back and put fans between the carpet and the pad.

Man I'm getting depressed by the minute. Starting to get a headache as well. Thanks

[BurghFan]

Re: Mancave is flooded!!!!

That sucks man. As for what to do with the carpet, where did the water come from? I think the general rule is that you should always tear out and dispose of carpet that is touched by floodwaters especially if its in a basement.

[Hova57]

Re: Mancave is flooded!!!!

yea pulling the carpet and tossing, I believe that chemical your buddy is talking about only works if its a relatively new carpet maybe 5-8 years old. After that the pad starts to decompose. In my case when it happened it was a forclosed home when i bought it closed down for a couple of years so I'm sure it happened before.

[Flightwhite24]

Re: Mancave is flooded!!!!

yea pulling the carpet and tossing, I believe that chemical your buddy is talking about only works if its a relatively new carpet maybe 5-8 years old. After that the pad starts to decompose. In my case when it happened it was a forclosed home when i bought it closed down for a couple of years so I'm sure it happened before.

I bought the home this last June 2010. The carpet can't be more than a couple of years old. Looks new.

I went ahead and pulled 2/3rds of the carpet away from the wall as my buddy instructed to do. Crazy thing is all the water is in the pad. He swears that it will be okay. He is having me suck as much water out of the pad/carpet and tonight we are putting some area fans under the carpet to dry it all out. He is saying by Friday/Saturday that he will be able to clean the carpet. I'm just leary about the "MOLD FACTOR". I'm seriously thinking about just pulling all this "CUSS WORD" up and just replacing it.

[Flightwhite24]

Re: Mancave is flooded!!!!

That sucks man. As for what to do with the carpet, where did the water come from? I think the general rule is that you should always tear out and dispose of carpet that is touched by floodwaters especially if its in a basement.

My guess is from under the basement. When I replaced the sump pump and plugged it in the water instantly started to go away throughout the basement. If only I would of slept in the basement last night as I sometimes do when staying up late gaming/watching tv I might of would of had a chance to stop this disaster that I have on my hands right now.

[Hova57]

Re: Mancave is flooded!!!!

Good luck man I hope you can keep your carpet. I haven't replaced mine yet because i would have to remove a big bookshelf to install among other stuff . Welcome to world of panic now everytime it storms or big melts your heart will now drop at the thought of a flood.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: Mancave is flooded!!!!

My advice would be to toss it..........3 years ago when I still lived in northwest Indiana it was a massive flood and my sump pump died and I ended up with 4 feet of water in the basement.

Had to toss everything that was down there, from carpet to furniture, even a $800 solid oak computer desk. Even had to toss the washer and dryer because the water completely messed up the motors on both of them. Also had to toss my sega genesis, NES, SNES, PS One, PS2, PS3 and over 300 video games combined.

All in all I was out like $5,000. Insurance didn't cover flooding, I was like damn........

Ever since that day, I don't ever put crap that is expensive in the basement. When I moved to New England, I didn't put crap in the basement. Forget that........only thing in my basement now is the furnance and hot water tank.

Just made the living room my man cave.

[Flightwhite24]

Re: Mancave is flooded!!!!

My advice would be to toss it..........3 years ago when I still lived in northwest Indiana it was a massive flood and my sump pump died and I ended up with 4 feet of water in the basement.

Had to toss everything that was down there, from carpet to furniture, even a $800 solid oak computer desk. Even had to toss the washer and dryer because the water completely messed up the motors on both of them. Also had to toss my sega genesis, NES, SNES, PS One, PS2, PS3 and over 300 video games combined.

All in all I was out like $5,000. Insurance didn't cover flooding, I was like damn........

Ever since that day, I don't ever put crap that is expensive in the basement. When I moved to New England, I didn't put crap in the basement. Forget that........only thing in my basement now is the furnance and hot water tank.

Just made the living room my man cave.

The insurance not covering is what I am pretty upset about. I'm gonna wait and see what happens when everything padding/carpet dries out. The wifey is down in the cave right now helping suck up the water with the carpet cleaner. I can say everything is just damp as of right now. Keeping fingers crossed.

Damn I can't get FNC off my mind. At least all is not lost

[Cusefan]

Re: Mancave is flooded!!!!

A Sump-pump Failure is not a flood, it is covered under home owners insurance. Fight this, do not give up, talk to a attorney if you have to. I used to work in this business and they will try and F you. When people put up a little resistence to these companies, they usually fold as they are required to pay.

[Cusefan]

Re: Mancave is flooded!!!!

The insurance not covering is what I am pretty upset about. I'm gonna wait and see what happens when everything padding/carpet dries out. The wifey is down in the cave right now helping suck up the water with the carpet cleaner. I can say everything is just damp as of right now. Keeping fingers crossed.

Damn I can't get FNC off my mind. At least all is not lost

You need to hire a professional to clean this, they have fans and other equipment that can dry every thing out pretty quickly. Your biggest enemy is time right now, The amount of money it costs to clean this up now is nothing compared to the amount of money it will cost to clean up black mold that develops beneath your floor and walls.

A tip for the future and anyone else with a sump-pump: buy a Alarm for it...

[Flightwhite24]

Re: Mancave is flooded!!!!

You need to hire a professional to clean this, they have fans and other equipment that can dry every thing out pretty quickly. Your biggest enemy is time right now, The amount of money it costs to clean this up now is nothing compared to the amount of money it will cost to clean up black mold that develops beneath your floor and walls.

A tip for the future and anyone else with a sump-pump: buy a Alarm for it...

After talking to my buddy and listening to my options I decided to go with a Professional Co and they came right out. Stuck for a few bills but the peace of mind was what I needed at this point. They have 4 blower fans under each corner of my basement carpet and it looks like a hot-air balloon. Lol

Only thing now that has me kinda upset is they are saying my cave will be down for about 2 weeks. WTF??? Guess the wifey is gonna have to move into another room because my 2 chic systems Xbox & PS3 will be moving into our bedroom for a while

[NDAlum]

Re: Mancave is flooded!!!!

I just want to send my condolences for your temporary loss. I think many of us OS'ers have a mancave and truly feel your pain.