...oh so much going on...

I'm sorry that I haven't posted in FOREVER...It has been a whirlwind couple of weeks. As most of you know I live in Colorado. While I don't live in Boulder (all they talk about on the National News) I do live in Arapahoe County, which was the 2nd worst hit by the biblical flooding a couple of weeks ago.

So, I woke up on Thursday September 12th, like any Thursday...grumbly because it was 6am and I was up and getting dressed to go to a fairly unfullfilling job. I ran down to the basement as I was getting ready to leave for work, because I wanted to grab some popcorn in case I wanted a snack. As soon as I hit the bottom step, I was standing in 2 inches of water...oh CRAP! I screamed for Shane, who was luckily off work that day, and he came down and said the same thing...oh CRAP! I called in to work, and I started shop-vac-ing water while he ran to Home Depot and fought a guy for the final sump-pump.

By the time he got home the water had increased to 2.5". We were making great headway, when I opened the door to the down stairs bedroom and...oh CRAP! All of the carpet was underwater. We thought we had caught it soon enough that it had only drenched the unfinished portion...NOPE!

My basement...yikes

So, Step 1:

Remove Drenched carpet...I mean I really did hate the pink carpet from the 1980s, but I wasn't in the mood to remove it all while it was weighed down by 20lbs of water...or less than a month before the wedding (and a million house guests!)

Step 2:

Begin Flood cutting the drywall. The sheet rock had soaked up the water and was drenched to about 18", so we cut it at 2 feet high to make sure we removed all of the moisture to mitigate any potential for mold. 

Step 3:

Finish removing drywall and sweep up ALL dust so that we could turn on huge carpet fans and dehumidifiers to clear all moisture. This would enable us to spray anti-mold spray. 

Step 4:

Remove all insulation because guess what, the water had penetrated THAT too...

Luckily, it didn't rain on Friday, which gave us tome to accomplish this monumental task. We also went to check on the ponies. They had not grown flippers...so we felt good: 

Wet, but not as bad as I thought. This was only after day 1 of the biblical flood though...little did we know, there would be more.

We finished cleaning all of the basement, had it 90% dry and we were feeling really good on Saturday evening when it started raining...AGAIN. 

This used to be my neighborhood street...

I ran down to check the basement, and...you guessed it...oh CRAP!

So, we called out the water removal people who had sprayed for the mold and they came out and shop-vac-ed the water back out, turned the fans back on, turned the dehumidifier back on, and we started all over again...Thank goodness there was no drywall. That was hard work and I would not have been happy to have to remove it again!

When the storm stopped and the water was removed and the basement was drying, we were able to find the entry point, a tiny place where the concrete foundation had contracted from the cinderblock walls and was allowing water in. So, I packed it up to Home Depot and bought concrete patch and masonry sealant. Shane had to go to work, so this was my project! I was going to beat the WATER! SO, 

Step 1:

Patch the concrete. I did this around 9pm on Saturday night. It said to give it 24 hours to dry and 7 days to seal. I obviously did NOT have that kind of time. We were due to get another 3-4 inches on Sunday. So, 

Step 2:

Seal the wall. We did this around 9am on Sunday morning. We had given the concrete patch as much time as possible to dry, because the sealant would need time to dry as well. 

Step 3:

Bring some humor to the whole ordeal...

So, we were set...right? Sunday, like clockwork (WOW the weatherman was right!), at about 12:15 it started raining...hard. We rushed down to the basement immediately when the first thunder hit to marvel at our craftsmanship...oh CRAP! 

Water was rushing in a giant hole. Apparently the can of concrete patch was right, because the water mixed right with the still damp patch and punctured through the wall...

SHIT!

Well, at least now we knew EXACTLY where the leak was. We ran outside and tarpped the side of our house to avoid any more water. 

No water has entered the basement since we added this gorgeous piece of garden sculpturing, even though it has rained 2 or 3 times. 

Shane has a solution to the issue, but we need a dry spell so he can fix the concrete and let it dry. I think that is the mission for this weekend. Until it is patched up and fixed, this tarp isn't going anywhere...

So, long story short, we have been dealing with this fiasco. Since we had to clear the basement and get everything out, the clean upstairs that was ready for company in a couple weeks was once again destroyed. So, the last week has been spent cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. The house is now back in shape, and I can start spending some time with the ponies again. 

Let's Hope...