March 29, 2024

Another home flood, I kid you not.

We’ve gotten a bit over 5 inches of rain the last three days (It’s bright and sunny out now), and that was after a prolonged drought.

The last few years, a gentle spring rain was my cue to clean out the rain gutters, but there were no gentle rains this year. Then came the gully-washer. I heard the gutter overflowing in front of the dining room and resolved to get it cleaned out when the rain stopped.

Day 2 of the Rains: wife comes and says, very calmly, "there’s water in the basement". It took us a while to find the source, trickling down the wall behind the fiberglass shower enclosure.  This was coming from the area where the gutter was overflowing upstairs.

And, again, having a wet-vac saves.  My wife has some tips for the wet-vac novice:

Tips for using a wet vac

Always empty a wet vac before using. If it happens to have fireplace soot in it, use a large trash bag that you have taken outside first. . Do not upend wet vac into the trash can in garage. (Note to self, take cars to carwash tomorrow).

A wet vac has allot of suction! Possibly enough to pull carpet off a tack strip. Use caution.

Avoid using a wet vac if you can. Ask a child who is no longer afraid of vacuum noise to operate it for you. The threshold age seems to be somewhere over 21, give or take a year or two.

Never ever turn off a wet vac before letting it siphon off the contents in the wand and hose. You will have to re-vacuum an area, if this happens to you.

Using a wet vac on sopping wet carpet can be very tedious. You can not talk on the phone or watch TV, how ever, an adult beverage can be consumed, using care not to spill…or if it spills, you are ready.

The gutters were cleaned during the rain, and latest home flood is under control, and if there’s a silver lining, at least there aren’t any snakes in the house.

 

5 thoughts on “Another Home Flood!

  1. I got plenty of inside housework done because of the rain, which is good. I now have a red dining room.
    At one point, I looked out in my back yard and saw my flat bed trailer had water up to the axles. It made me reconsider those rediculous propeller reciever hitch covers I always see spinning down the road. I thought I was going to need one.
    Ah well. Today was spectacular and I drove home with the windows down. Tomorrow will be in the 50’s. Woot!

  2. We had about 6 1/2 inches of rain here. Luckily, no leaks at the house. The elem school had a flooded hallway downstairs in the new wing (no surprise; door built at bottom of a hill! Wonderful architects …), one science room upstair at the other end of the new wing had a leak as did the roof/ceiling of the room next door to me upstairs. My classroom was “safe” for the time being!

    Your wife is making more appearances on your blog! It’s good to hear from her! :-)

  3. Since you live in the ‘wet’ area of Tejas…Have you ever just considered ‘stocking’ the basement with bass, perch, or catfish?
    Enjoy your blog, thanks for the hard to find auto parts blog. We found a good company for replacement motors- PowerPro2000 was a good source for a rebuilt 300 Ford pickup motor for a ’65 Ford stepside pickup- they deliver to your home.

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