Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Carpet & standing water don't mix

We live in a basement…and for the most part it hasn’t been that bad. The rent is cheap, the space is big and the temperature is a constant 68 to 70 degrees year round. Over the past couple of days we have noticed a little water coming up through the carpet along one wall. I was pretty sure we had a problem with the out door faucet just up above. I wasn’t too worried about it….just called the landlord to come have a look. It is times like these where I am glad I don’t own a house.

The landlord instructed us to clear out the area and he would have a plumber come around the next day. A friend and I cleared the area and then I decided to pull up the carpet to check out the crime scene and to try to start the drying out process. Oh what a mess. Apparently this had been leaking for quite sometime. The carpet pad was completely saturated and mold was forming. The stench was horrible and within minutes the stank-aroma covered our whole house. I wanted to begin the drying process though so we left it uncovered and turned some fans on.

We closed off our room and opened the windows and slept quite nicely but one step into the rest of the house was met with the same familiar stench. No drying had taken place.

The problem is now fixed but our place is still in dissarray. We hope to have things back under control within the week.

2 comments:

dee06 said...

In just reading your story, I would be afraid of the mold/spores still growing under those conditions. How long have you lived in the apartment, and is any one sick. Sometimes we have symptoms like a cold that just won't go away, or other adverse symptoms that go unexplained which could be attributed to the mold. Please visit my website through the discussion forum, if you are in question of these issues.

Darlene
Owner/Moderator
The Nation's Indoor Environment -- Toxic Mold
www.moldenvironment.com

Anonymous said...

Interesting to know.