Spring Cleaning

scroll down to read the update I just posted

3 days of sweeping, pumping, sucking
+
$140+ out of our emergency fund
=
A long & tiring weekend!

Friday morning all was well in our lovely home and we headed off to our work days. Friday night, I arrived home and headed down stairs for something (can't even remember what it was now) to find water in our basement. Thanks to God for giving me children that play well together and entertain themselves because we spent the next 4 hours getting the 1.5" deep water out of our basement. I started with a push broom near the drain in the floor. Ryan joined me in the basement and brought his pump that he uses on cattle stomachs. It was slow going but we were making progress. We eventually got smart and started using the wet/dry vaccuum. Ryan has it plumbed into a 55 gallon trash can (thanks for that idea Eric) to use for sawdust. My did that thing come in handy. We dumped it way too many times before we had the water cleaned up. We went upstairs at 11pm to eat supper before showering and heading to bed.

It was no surprise in the morning when it had filled right back up. This is a basement that doesn't get water in it, at least as far as Ryan was told when he purchased the house. And maybe it never had before but we could have floated through the rooms that day. Ryan went to work and I decided to call for help. My folks were feeling under the weather so I called Ryan's parents (who actually had plans on coming down to bring some stuff anyway). They brought the enclosed trailer so that I, against my husbands desire, could unload all the crap from the basement and get it cleaned up. This caused a little bit of a disagreement with Ryan who's not a neat-freak organizer like me. Saturday we once again sucked up the water as we perfected the the vaccuum system. Ryan cleaned up water, I hauled crap out of the basement (think: Ryan's woodshop, storage, area that his wife doesn't touch or organize for him), Ryan's dad loaded it to the trailer to keep it dry should it rain, and Ryan's mom watched the kiddos.

...more to come, my tummy is hungry...

*updated April 23rd:

We eventually found a spot where the water was pouring in between bricks where the mortar was gone. It was as if someone had turned on a drinking fountain and let it flow. It was also coming up through the concrete floor. Mark (ryan's dad) worked and worked to keep the floor free of water hoping that it would slow down the flow. And it did slow some but never stopped. Tired and sore, we eventually left the basement. We went to bed that night and while we were praying together, I specifically prayed that God would either stop the flow of water for us OR that we would connect with someone that could help us out with a sump pump that they weren't using.

Sunday morning we woke to more water, but not as much is the morning before. Ryan stated that he would be watching baseball that afternoon and not be working in the basement. We do believe in the day of rest but in this situation, we needed to get it cleaned up. Our morning was filled with phone calls before we headed to church. Between my car and the church, I ran into our friend Chris who lives across the street. I told him what we'd been up to over the weekend and he told me that he had a sump pump in his basement that he wasn't using and we were welcome to use it. I was floored! I specifically prayed for that very thing and it was so cool to see how God divinely intervened on our behalf. That is not a coincidence! Anyway, Ryan spent Sunday afternoon working rather than resting. He ended up buying a new pump (they were on sale) when he bought the other items needed. Our friend Rhett had a concrete saw that helped tremendously. Our little buddy entertained the kiddos while I cleaned up water and Mark came down and helped Ryan put in a new sump pump. Oh the joys of spending money on "maintenance" type of stuff rather than fun stuff. As of this morning, the basement is still drying out...

Here's a few pictures for a quick review:

This was day 3, sucking out water, busting concrete and digging a hole all while water continued to poor in. Sounds like fun doesn't it?

My kiddos loved being outside. I couldn't get Scott to stay still long enough to get a decent picture of him.