Water always wins.

[nonelvis]

We're having a slight water event here in the Boston area. Like, about eight inches of rain, apparently, which would certainly explain the inch of water that was in our basement last night, and the two inches there this morning. jagpatel found shop-vacs on sale a few years ago and bought us one; good thing, too, because I filled it at least fifty times this morning. That's not an exaggeration; I was in the basement for an hour and a half, and though I lost count of the bucketfuls somewhere around #38, at a rate of roughly 1.75-2 minutes to fill and drain ten gallons of water, you get fifty buckets.

Huh. The interwebs tell me that's literally more than one ton two tons of water. Go shop-vac!

The basement is busy replenishing its water supply right now, so I figure in another hour or so I'll go back downstairs in a scruffy t-shirt, jeans rolled up to my knees, and my LL Bean boots (I am one sexy beast today, let me tell you), and will vacuum more of this stuff out of the house. Ah, the joys of homeownership.

In other news, in case you are one of the few people who doesn't read XKCD regularly, today's is perfect. (And the rollover text is excellent, as usual.)

Comments

[gritsinmisery.livejournal.com]

When this cartoon popped up on my feed last night, I was very much in agreement.

The Mississippi and Missouri are a foot above flood stage already, and the snowcaps have not yet started to melt. Looks like we're in for another one of those springs. *wishes she owned stock in a sand company*

[nonelvis]

Our basement only floods when there's really severe rain, so in the 10 years we've had this house, on average, it's flooded less than once a year (and usually not nearly this bad, a moppable amount). But man, I'm wishing for some sandbags now, too.

[profrobert.livejournal.com]

At least you don't have an ominous damp on the ceiling in your bedroom where it meets the exposed brick, which also has a bit of ominous damp. I'm steeling myself to climb up on the roof to see what's what. I'm hoping it's just a blocked drain (which will cause water to infiltrate the tightest roof) and not, you know, a roof problem.

Do you have a dehumidifier? They're not to expensive and do a really good job of drying things out after you get rid of the standing water.

[nonelvis]

Eeek. No, we don't have that. Nor do we have water nearly up to the roof of our car, the way some other Boston-area resident apparently does. (I saw that shot on the news today.)

We don't have a dehumidifier, and picking one up this week sounds like an excellent idea. Thanks for the suggestion!