A River Runs Through It

"I'm rain boots! I'm by the basement door!"

Now why would rain boots be by the basement door? This story begins back on December 26th when we got our first good snow storm of the year. Then it snowed again the next week...and the week after that...and the week after that! No, these weren't little snow storms, they were monstrous things that dumped lots of snow on us.



A borrowed snowblower. Woo!

We thought it was a little inconvenient to have to shovel snowfall after snowfall until the piles were taller than we were, but we can look back now and appreciate that the snow had some manners. You know, it stayed put, sat up straight, and stayed out of the house. Water is more rebellious, finicky, and rude. We need water to live, so water thinks it's boss. I think I'm boss. But I'm mostly water, so don't listen to me.

All that snow, that well-behaved conforming snow...it melted. Water moved into the basement. I worried as I walked down the stairs, because I knew I hadn't been down there in about 2 days. And I don't have pictures of what I saw, because I quickly sprung into action and taking pictures was the last thing on my mind. There was a lot of box-moving. And mopping. And vacuuming. And thanking God that even with all the work it took, we didn't have any "measurable" water. I can't say we had this-many-inches of water in the basement. Nah. We had puddles everywhere. Dry spots too. I wore rain boots because I like rain boots. And I'm a heavy stepper. Splash!



 I worked for seven hours, filling a 1.5 gallon vacuum over and over again.



"Hang On!", cheered the tiny Shopvac.

As Mini-Vac and I were toiling away, I was delighted to see progress- certain areas were totally drying up, and I found that there was only one source of the water. It was a little spot where the wall met the floor.

 I made a hedge of protection with towels. It wasn't that effective, but I felt better.

Great Wall of Towels.

Later that afternoon, Erik came home with a HUGE wet/dry vacuum that made our problem a lot more manageable. Sorry, little guy.



This water was like a newborn baby...in that we woke up every two hours to tend to it. If we waited any longer, it would flow past the towels, under the stairs, over to the other side. Don't cry me a river, water-baby. Mama's here.

The next day at work, several people told Erik that they also got water in their always-dry basements and commiserated over Shopvacs and sump pumps and concrete patches. He got some great advice. One person told him to get this stuff called Hydraulic Cement. Told him it worked in her basement, and that it was "Cheap as Chips". I ran out and bought it.

• Stops flowing water in 3-5 minutes.
• Use above or below grade.
• Sets up under water.

Whoa! Hold the phone. I'm having a memory from the early 90's. Squand.

So Hydraulic Cement is nothing like Squand. Because squand becomes loose sand when removed from water, and Hydraulic Cement can apparently become hard as a rock, even under water. They're both magic, though. And that's what they have in common.

Okay, so here's Erik doing all the work. And clearly looking stylish while doing it.

Chiseling and wire-brushing.



Smooshing with water until it formed a putty.

Then he got to work patching the wall. After it was all done, this is what it looked like.

Not the prettiest solution, and certainly not a permanent solution, but it worked. It totally worked. Even set-up while the water was trying to get in.

Magic. Just like Squand.