Disagreement with wife on finishing basement after…
0 reactions
Disagreement with wife on finishing basement after snowmelt flood. Is one heavy rain enough of a test?
I am looking for advice on a situation I have run into. My wife and I are at a disagreement of whether or not we should put off refinishing the basement flooring.
CONTEXT: I have been away from home the last week for work. I live in a city where it snows quite a bit. My basement floor is concrete with studs drilled into the concrete for walls to be added later. I have a sump pump, and I bought my home a couple of years ago.
Discovery of Incident: When I came home today I noticed an unpleasant smell in the basement. Later that night I went in the basement to locate the smell. I discovered the smell was moisture in the rug. Water was coming up from the cove joint (where the floor slab meets the wall). The water seeped into the rug and gave off the odor. I emptied the dehumidifier and turned on a fan overnight. (The rug is in the garage)
This tells me that my sump pump/drainage system is insufficient to handle what occurred over the last week. While I was away for work, about three feet of snow around the house melted. This degree of stress on the sump pump's ability to ensure the basement stayed dry failed.
I told my wife about it tonight and recommended we push back our plan to finish the basement flooring another year. I told her my reasoning is because we need to test the system we use to ensure it's efficient.
She thinks it can be solved with a French drain and dry creek. She thinks a strong rainstorm would be a sufficient test on all sides of the house to ensure our plan worked.
I do not think a rainstorm is a sufficient stress test. I think we should wait another winter to see three feet of snow melt in a week's time to ensure it's sufficient.
My rationale is that waiting would ensure we don't have to rip up the flooring later down the line, which could be costly, very ugly, and not easy to fix.
Has anyone else dealt with this? Am I being too cautious, or is a heavy rainstorm really a good test for snowmelt conditions?
#diy
source
I am looking for advice on a situation I have run into. My wife and I are at a disagreement of whether or not we should put off refinishing the basement flooring.
CONTEXT: I have been away from home the last week for work. I live in a city where it snows quite a bit. My basement floor is concrete with studs drilled into the concrete for walls to be added later. I have a sump pump, and I bought my home a couple of years ago.
Discovery of Incident: When I came home today I noticed an unpleasant smell in the basement. Later that night I went in the basement to locate the smell. I discovered the smell was moisture in the rug. Water was coming up from the cove joint (where the floor slab meets the wall). The water seeped into the rug and gave off the odor. I emptied the dehumidifier and turned on a fan overnight. (The rug is in the garage)
This tells me that my sump pump/drainage system is insufficient to handle what occurred over the last week. While I was away for work, about three feet of snow around the house melted. This degree of stress on the sump pump's ability to ensure the basement stayed dry failed.
I told my wife about it tonight and recommended we push back our plan to finish the basement flooring another year. I told her my reasoning is because we need to test the system we use to ensure it's efficient.
She thinks it can be solved with a French drain and dry creek. She thinks a strong rainstorm would be a sufficient test on all sides of the house to ensure our plan worked.
I do not think a rainstorm is a sufficient stress test. I think we should wait another winter to see three feet of snow melt in a week's time to ensure it's sufficient.
My rationale is that waiting would ensure we don't have to rip up the flooring later down the line, which could be costly, very ugly, and not easy to fix.
Has anyone else dealt with this? Am I being too cautious, or is a heavy rainstorm really a good test for snowmelt conditions?
#diy
source
| 2,000 mlx | |
| 3 | |
| 0 |