I spent all of yesterday on my basement. It was kind of fun. It felt like a Project. I haven’t done a proper Project since the pond.
The “cleaners” came around 11am. Before that, I had been bagging things and hauling them to the back yard. I was trying to get the floor clear so the “cleaners” could disinfect. It turns out, that was a good thing to do. They only mopped the middle aisle of my neighbor’s basement. I got almost my entire floor mopped. But maybe I should put the word “mopped” in quotation marks, too. All they really did was smear around the dirt on the floor. But at least they smeared it around with crazy-strong disinfectant.
After the “cleaners” were done, I made two trips to the dump. As it turns out, that’s all I really needed to do in order to get my basement clean: throw everything away. Genius! I had no troubles at the dump for a change. It was nice.
After throwing everything away, I spent several hours cleaning the floor. I hadn’t previously realized how much the floor slopes to the back drain. Because it slopes so much, I could just take buckets of water and flush the floor with them. So my pattern for that whole time period: fill a bucket with hot water, pour in bleach, dump on floor, pick lint and other trash out of drain so it starts working again.
The results were pleasing.
BEFORE CLEANUP
AFTER CLEANUP
In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that the whole basement isn’t empty. I moved the big pieces all to the front end of the basement. Some of these things still might go, but I couldn’t take them to the dump yesterday.
The big thing I’m worried about now is whether or not my washer and dryer will work. They were in the deep end of the basement. The washer seems like it would be okay after sitting in several inches of water, but I don’t know about the dryer. I don’t even know how to tell. I suppose I’ll just wait as long as I can before using it again, and hope that any water inside it has dried.
Oh, and Lauren, HERE’S the video of the water coming through the wall. It’s not as clear on YouTube as it is in the original file. I wish I knew how to fix that.
I think you can turn any broken or damaged stuff bill into the city, and they have to fix it. That’s what we did, because they determined it was their fault.
I already have the phone number of the legal claims department. I will call it today, except I left my case number at home, dang it. I bet they won’t do anything if I don’t have my case number.
hi brad…
basement looks good.
miss u.
come to fb more often…..everyone is there.
call me.
bye.
Wow!! Your basement looks absolutely fabulous! Even the front part looks good! I’ve always said, when someplace is hopelessly messy, “This needs a good fire”. I guess a flood works equally well.
P.S. Who or what is Harvey? A bunny?
P.P.S. Thanks for the video!
P.P.P.S. Heh – I said ‘pee-pee’.
Harvey is indeed a bunny. I was referring to the picture on the wall of me and Harvey. It’s from a hundred years ago when I did plays at my church. It was a prop that I got to keep. It’s the only formal portrait of me that’s ever been done. (Being a model for art class in college doesn’t count.)
Woot. Woo. That really is amazingly cleaner. My hearty congratulations!
Holy Cow!! Your basement looks GRRRRREAT!! I guess every cloud really does have a silver lining!
And I love before & after pictures…I keep looking at them over & over. And your crazy clean, sparkling basement has really inspired me! I can’t wait until my house floods!
With sewage! (?)
hehe
I am glad you can see the benefit of having raw sewage seep into your basement. Enjoy the cleanliness!
Will you be eating any meals off your clean basement floor?
Go ahead! I dare ya!
Karla, my comment was going to be something about eating off the floor, but you stole it!
That must mean that we’re kindred spirits! 🙂
I feel a Haiku coming on!
Basement filled with poo?
Wasn’t a problem for you.
Brad to the rescue!