A Pain in the Drain

A pain in the drain
rainy spring, waterlogged basements

May 31, 2008
by Stephen Deere
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Jessir Carson of Woods Basement Systems work son securing PVC pipes that are part of a sump pump system in the home of Jerry Gibson in Chesterfield. Gibson decided to get the system after a couple inches of water flooded parts of his basement. Carson said basement water calls have his crew fixing those problems instead of their normal foundation work.

Jerry Gibson wandered down into his Chesterfield basement one day in March and noticed a wet spot on his carpet. He looked around and found water slowly seeping through the walls.

"It was coming n on three sides," he said. "You couldn't stop it."

He started calling basement waterproofing companies but quickly found out he wasn't the only one whose basement had grown soggy.

"Each one of them quoted me 10 to 12 weeks of lead time," Gibson said.

So far, the beginning of the year has been the wettest of any on record for the St. Louis area. More than 27 inches of precipitation has fallen at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, according to the Nation Weather Service. That's 12 inches above normal.

All that extra water had to find someplace to go.

From Illinois to St. Charles County, companies that specialize in waterproofing basements and repairing moisture damage are reporting a flood of business.

And last weekend's constant showers didn't help - especially in Wentzville, where rain caused sewer backups and flooded basements of 40 to 50 homes, said Mayor Paul Lambi.

"With the saturation of the soils, the basements reach a breaking point," said Dave Thompson, the marketing director for Woods Basement Systems.

The flooding is affecting houses all over, Thompson said, and the age of a home doesn't seem to matter. "It's happening to three-, 30- and 60-year-old houses," Thompson said.

With more people making media rooms out of their basements, it has become increasingly important to keep the space dry, Thompson said, noting that some to sink tens of thousands of dollars into home entertainment systems.

This past Tuesday, the phones at Woodard Cleaning and Restoration Services, a company that restores waterlogged carpets, would not stop ringing. In all, the company received 410 calls for help with water damage, said Scott Dieckgraefe, Woodard's marketing director.

"That is the second-highest in our history," he said. "The highest was this past March, when we recieved 430 calls in one day."

Scott Vandover, Woodard's vice president of restoration, said people should contact a restoration specialist within 48 hours of when they first notice water in their basement. Otherwise mold can set in, causing irrevocable damage. The company, located in Brentwood, uses high-tech probes to detect damage not visible to the eye and high-velocity commercial fans and dehumidifiers to combat moisture.

Woodard - unlike Woods Basement Systems - doesn't fix cracks in basements or install sump pumps to prevent future leakage. So once the company is finished drying out rugs or dry-wall out, home and business owners must decide how they want to prevent future water problems.

Many, Vandover said, do nothing and hope for the best.

"You would be surprised at how many residences we make multiple stops at every time it rains," he said.

Larry Case, executive vice president of the Missouri Association of Insurance Agents, said he hasn't noticed an increase in claims from homeowners with flooded basements, but that didn't surprise him. Insurance policies don't generally cover flood damage, he noted, unless people request it.

Until now, many haven't had much of reason to do so.

"There's been places that have flooded recently that have never flooded before,"Case said.

Jerry Gibson, a retiree, built his home 30 years ago. Because it's in a hilly area, he never expected the home would flood.

But he's having to rip up carpet and drywall and has hired Woods Basement Systems to install a sump pump to ward off water in the furture.

The tab? Nearly $10,000 and rising, he said. "It's an expensive lesson."