We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat

We had a contractor over last Sunday. It was the same contractor (Cousin Carrie’s husband Jeff) who did our living room remodel in 2016-2017. He began slowly digging into/ tearing down the west wall of my basement studio, which is the west exterior of our home. You may recall that our big storm at the end of July, which also split our maple tree in two, poured water into my studio. There was little, if any, good news as Jeff dug in. Long story short, the rain and sprinklers have been coming into the house through a hairline crack where the basement foundation wall meets the home’s exterior brickwork. The water then ran down a foot or so and spread out in the wall around and in front of the solid window and down the wall on each side and to the floor. 

Contractor Jeff starting demolition

Since the window blinds fell down during the initial storm (due to the wet and rot), I’ve been using a piece of batting taped to the window to block out the western sunlight. 

First, the window framing came off. The paneling and sheetrock on the wall were bubbled, so they got torn off next. There was no insulation on this exterior wall. The studs and woodwork were all sopping wet and moldy. So he tore those out and did all the mold abatement. The brand new carpet (3 months old) and padding were pulled back out of harm’s way. We set up a fan to dry things out. We’re fairly confident that when everything else is repaired, the carpet can be restretched and relaid. What’s left now is the cement basement foundation wall and the window.

This is the problem on the exterior - a hairline crack between the foundation wall and the exterior brickwork. No flashing; building codes in 1963 were not what they are today! 

So, this is how the studio looked for Monday and Tuesday, with plastic separating the problem area off. On Tuesday, I sprayed vinegar on any wood (carpet tacking strips) that may have gotten wet. It is the new preferred treatment (over bleach) for mold. But heavy storms were forecast beginning Tuesday night through Thursday, so Jeff routed out and sealed the exterior crack temporarily and taped it off.  

The storms started on Tuesday night, and the temporary fix worked. We stayed dry all evening and night. The next morning, everything was still great, and we began to breathe easier. 

Cousin Kim came over and we carved out a little area to sew. It was cramped, but we were sewing, listening to good vibes and reminiscing about all the fun of our recent trip. Bruce was upstairs and it poured all day. Occasionally he’d look outside to check the drain at the basement landing outside the back basement door to make sure it was still draining. And it was. About 2:00 I stood up from my chair to move to put in some new music and squish! My feet were wet. It took a few seconds for it to compute. The water had been seeping in the back door; the drain had clogged and risen over the threshold. You never saw three people mobilize so fast in your life!

Bruce threw towels down the stairs for us, then ran out to the sheds to unearth the shop vac. Kim and I moved supplies and fabric up and away as quickly as we could. We were using towels until Bruce brought in the shop vac, then Kim did that while Bruce went out to clear the drain. I moved the furniture (it’s all light) and machines and wrung towels. What a team! Bruce came back in and manned the shop vac while we drove to Home Depot to get more large floor fans and sandbags. Actually they’re silicone bags that expand when wet and contract when dry. Reusable. Brilliant. 

Jeff came over later (and again on Thursday), and we pulled back half the room’s carpet, and moved everything out of the entire west and south side of the room. It rained all day Thursday too, but the sandbags were in place and we had no further issues. On Friday, it was gloriously sunny and dry. We had the doors open to the warm sunshine and things are airing out and the carpet is dry. We think the pads are just about dry too. But this is the state of my studio now.

And through all this, Bruce was feeling miserable with a painful cracked tooth. On Thursday he finally was able to get a root canal and crown done. We’ve been eating soft food all week and he’s been living on Ibuprofen.

Sooo…… guess how much sewing I got done this week? Well, I did get some done between floods. The answer is 19 aqua string blocks. I haven’t removed the foundation papers yet, and there’s nowhere decent to photograph them, but here they are for what it’s worth. I’ll be sharing with Scrappy Saturday.

I was sewing together all my aqua waffle blocks when the flood part two happened, so they’re not done yet. On Sunday, Kim and I will probably just sew upstairs at the kitchen table and I can finish them then, and maybe something else. Who knows. We’ll see what contractor Jeff says and does with the room in the meantime. And then I’ll have to find where I squirreled all my stuff amid the chaos. Maybe we’ll just be working on puzzles another week! 

Oh, and this second round of storms also took out the remainder of our maple tree. R.I.P.  Neighbors are coming over today with a chain saw to cut it off and haul it over to the southeast corner of our property. We are very fortunate to have such a wonderful support group of family, friends and neighbors.

On a final note, I want to thank you all for the kind comments over the last couple weeks. It’s been another challenging time for us. I chronicle many of our life events here in my blog in addition to my hobbies because we convert them into annual printed books. Of course, there is much that I don’t share here (aren’t you glad?) In fact, there are some exciting things happening with some of our kids’ families that we aren’t sharing yet, but maybe in time. So with all the “downs”, there are also plenty of “ups”. Life is good.