up a level
The rental house was empty. The previous tenants moved out of state
suddenly with no appreciable notice. As the rental agent and my wife
walked around the house, she peppered the agent with questions like "they
must have had a dog or something, it smells in here" and "why were
the bathroom mirrors removed?" and "when will that broken window be fixed?"
"Does the grand piano stay with the house?"
I opened the door to the basement and saw light reflected in the corner where
the floor met the wall. "Looks like the basement is wet" I said. I
went down the stairs. It was only when I neared the bottom that I realized
that the whole floor was covered with water. Even then, it was only
when I stepped in it that I realized that there was several inches of water
covering the entire floor.
Over to my right, at the bottom of the stairs, there was a sump pump built
in to the floor. Walking carefully, and trying to keep the water from
leaking into my sneakers, I ventured over to the sump pump. The floor
near the pump appeared to have been pitched towards the hole to encourage
liquids into the sump. The pump was plugged in to the outlet, but it
was silent.
I went back upstairs to report my findings. After looking at the second
floor, and seeing that the whole place needed a thorough cleaning and painting
(no mirror in the second floor bath either) I got interested in my basement
find again. Knowing that overloaded devices can trip electrical circuit
breakers, I started to look for the electric panel. It was not located
on the first floor. I went back downstairs to see if a breaker had
been tripped. At this point, my feet were still dry.
As I sloshed around down below I saw a few more things. Not much stuff
down there. A new looking socket wrench set. Washer and dryer,
not up on blocks, but sitting in the water. Cans of paint and other
remnants of house maintenance projects. Then I found the electric
panel. Below the panel was another sump pump. Again the floor
pitched towards the hole, which was directly in front of the panel. About
this time, my feet got wet, despite walking carefully and on my toes. I
turned, and splashed over to the stairs.
Over the next few days, we had several converstions with the rental broker.
Apparently, there had been a new pump installed a three days before
we arrived to look at the house. " They forgot to plug it in" was the reason
why there was water in the basement. "But now the pump is working and
the problem is solved," reported the broker.
So now we get to the questions:
If the house had a 1500 square foot footprint, and there were three inches
of water,
how many cubic feet of water was in the hole?
How many gallons is that?
After you "plug in the sump pump" How long does it take to remove the above
amount of water?
After you pump out all of the water, What else needs to be done to ensure
the safety of the future occupants of the house
How much water has soaked in to the concrete?
What would the building inspector or health inspector do if they saw this
dwelling?
How high is the water table?
If the basement was dry when they forgot to plug in the sump pump, how many
gallons per day entered the basement?
How many gallons per hour?
If you wanted to buy this house, how much would you pay to solve the problem?
Could you get a mortgage for this house?
What is the current state of the septic system likely to be?
How many 30 yard dumpsters would it take to remove this house?
Here are some links for further information:
DETERMINING THE AMOUNT OF MANURE IN A PILE OR A POOL - http://www.agnr.umd.edu/users/Bioreng/facts176.htm
Ultra measure meter - http://www.electrical-contractor.net/The_Store/CI/Ultra_MMaster.htm
Measuring the size and volume of ponds - http://www.wvu.edu/~agexten/aquaculture/pondarea.html
1500'sq x .25' = 375'cu
375 x 28.317 = 10618.875 liters of water
10618.875 x .2642 = 2805.506775 gallons of water
