When we first bought our house, the basement was always wet.
- We had all kinds of trouble with mold growth, mildew and musty smells.
It made the basement area of the house nearly worthless. I finally contacted a company that specializes in fixing wet basements. They installed two different sump pumps and dug a drainage trench around the outside perimeter of the house. It was a messy and expensive project. When the job was done, however, the basement was completely dry. I was thrilled to no longer need to wear rubber boots when I did laundry. I bought a rug, couch, recliner and a television and set up an area for the kids to play. I also invested in workout equipment for a home gym. I spent quite a bit of money purchasing a treadmill and an elliptical, as well as a yoga mat, weight bench, dumbbells, kettlebells and battle ropes. I had everything I needed to get in a really great workout every day. The following spring, a big storm hit our area. There were high winds, torrential downpours and rapid snowmelt. Falling trees and branches took out electric lines and left a lot of people without power for several days. With no electricity, we had no lights, hot water, internet or refrigeration. We also couldn’t run our sump pumps. The basement flooded. There was several feet of standing water down there. It ruined my new furniture, carpet, washer, dryer as well as my treadmill and elliptical. There was mold growing on the yoga mat and other equipment.