Such pretty smells
My mom’s basement, especially since we’ve started cleaning it out, has seemed to have this odor that I couldn’t quite place nor could I find a specific source. I figured that part of it was probably us moving things that hadn’t been disturbed in years. I also thought some of it might have to do with the cats that lived down there with my brother and his girlfriend. It was a reasonable theory I think. Well, I think we’ve found the source and I’m none too pleased because while the initial cause couldn’t be helped, the resulting damage is certainly something that could’ve been prevented.
As we worked through the basement we found some tiles that when we stepped on them would squirt water out from beneath. This was a couple days after a major rain storm so we figured that water seeped in because of the puddling in the uneven grade outside the basement wall. It turned out that the gutters were completely clogged and heavy rain would result in waterfalls rather than water draining off as you’d expect. Jeff got up on the roof and cleaned the gutters that were packed full of muck, tree saplings and leaves. It was a huge mess and a big job. This job should have been done at least once a year but, of course, was not. We figured this would at least alleviate the water puddling near the foundation and hoped that would do the trick as a storm was due to roll in that night.
After the storm we investigated and the wall seemed fine and we found no evidence of new water. At least nothing like what we found before we cleaned the gutters. Fast forward to last week — I started to think that maybe the problem was from the water that had gotten under the tiles and that we needed to get that dried out. We started breaking up the tile next to the wall and my plan was to let it dry thoroughly (most of that tile was starting to buckle anyhow) and then when I eventually scrubbed the floors I’d treat the area with something that would kill any mold and mildew that may have built up over the few days that the tiles had water underneath. Sound good? Yeah, I thought so too.
Since Jeff was off today we headed to my mom’s to check out the basement to see if the dehumidifier and pulling up the tiles helped. Nope. What did we find? Well, more tiles needed to be pulled up because there was water under them. The kicker? This was not the rain water from the previous week. This water was from when the pipe burst under the stairs — three years ago. The area where the water and moisture was trapped wasn’t near the wall and was too far for the water to have traveled. However, it was in the path of the pipe and where the water had rushed when it burst.
My mom could never go investigate closely because my brother and his girlfriend were always in the basement and making her feel like she was intruding on their privacy and she has a problem getting around well, especially in tight quarters. Rather than trying to mop up the mess and drying it up, my brother did absolutely nothing. There was further evidence of this under the stairs where we found buckets full of water still sitting there that had never been dumped out after the pipes were fixed. No flooring was mopped, no buckets emptied and nothing disinfected. Disgusting. Not only did his unwillingness to do basic maintenance cause some of the leaking into the basement, his general laziness has resulted in a ton of cleanup and extra work for us.
We had to take frequent breaks after we started feeling the effects of the pollution in the air in our eyes and throats. I think at one point I started seeing red although that was due to anger rather than errant spores. Now we have boxes that had become wet and moldy and trim that is still wet and now black. I am so pissed off I can’t find words to express the degree. This will get cleaned properly, we’ll remedy the damage and we’ll make sure there aren’t any health hazards resulting from the moisture. But no matter what, this all could have been avoided for the most part if my brother wasn’t so damn lazy. And if you were wondering — he paid no rent.
