Aug 30, 2011

The Basement

Thank you all for your kind words over Irene!  As we continue to dry out our basement, I thought I would share a little bit more about the last minute shelving situation that helped save our stuff. 

Before Wednesday of last week, our basement looked like an episode of hoarders.  I didn’t take a “before” picture due to the panic of the situation, but if you need a mental image I suggest going here.  Mike noticed that there were a couple of small puddles in the middle of the floor (on the very narrow pathway to the washer and dryer) and some of our stuff was wet.  Even before Irene, here in NJ we’ve had an incredibly wet month and the ground was way over-saturated.  But we were scared into immediate action because we had no idea where the water came from and not only was Irene in the forecast, but we were due for several rounds of severe thunderstorms the following day. 

Mike picked up a few plastic shelving units from Home Depot and we worked into the wee hours, clearing the floor.  We got rid of lots of junk and put everything up on the shelves.  Unfortunately because of the rush we didn’t have time to organize anything, but we’ll get to it soon. 

I am so grateful for that leak because without it, we never would have purchased shelving at the last minute.  Our basement never had water before despite some very wet weather and like so many other people, never realized how bad Irene was going to be.  The shelving kept our stuff dry and out of harms way.  When the water kept rising, we still had enough time to clear the bottom shelves and bring that stuff upstairs.  We also figured out where the leak was coming thanks to the flood of water and can now take steps to repair it outside and in.