My basement flooded.

[Estil | 1,265]

On 8/14/2023 at 8:55 PM, CodysGameRoom said:

Mods, if this isn't the right category, please move my post.

Sometimes I think I'm not allowed to be happy in life. I got married on August 5th to the love of my life. We went on a honeymoon to Jamaica and got back Saturday. Amazing happy times.

And did you know last year was Jamaica's 60th birthday?  Too bad you didn't get hitched last year because I bet that would've been a fun celebration to be a part of!  I do in fact find these flag changing ceremonies quite fascinating, like the Hong Kong one I got to watch (I happened on it by accident) back in 1997.

Edited August 16, 2023 by Estil

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

Man this is weak. Im so sorry! 

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,014]

Damn that is the worst case scenario for sure. I have cheap Wi-Fi cameras stuck to the walls in my house. Just one more way to give me peace of mind while I'm away.

It does scare me though bc almost all of my collection is in the basement. I made sure to put anything valuable over a foot off the ground and the heavier stuff about 3 ft. Even my gaming set up is hooked up a light switch the cuts power to the whole set up. 

[CodysGameRoom | 2,008]

Thanks everyone. Your support and the support of the community on Instagram has been incredible. Just hearing everyone's support has helped lift my spirits with this situation. 

I'm going to share an update and respond to comments at the same time here: 

 

Quote

Yikes, most insurance contracts have a caveat where you're not allowed to leave the home vacant for more than a few days and I have heard of claims being denied for people that go away on vacation without arranging someone to check on the house weekly. Any time I leave for an extended period of time, I always have someone come over once a week to walk around and check all the rooms, flush the toilets and give me a quick report.

My wife's aunt stayed in our home with our kids and pets while we were gone. The house was never vacant and there weren't any issues. 

Luckily, the insurance agent came today and confirmed that everything will be covered, including the plumbing, pack-out of items, tear down, and restoration.

Quote

And the furnace drain? It wasn't even through the toilet system?

 

My understanding is that the main line out of the house was clogged. This caused the basement toilet and furnace room drain to backup with human waste water. 

 

Quote

Be very VERY careful about any sort of DIYing...because if you (not Cody personally I just mean a hypothetical sort of "you") don't do it right, as the saying goes, you gotta do it twice.  And that second time with the professionals might even up being even more expensive with the added cost of dealing with the DIYers screw ups, if this makes sense.

Luckily, restoration is covered by my insurance so we've hired professionals to do the job... once I get all of my massive collection of stuff out of the way.

 

Quote

And did you know last year was Jamaica's 60th birthday?  Too bad you didn't get hitched last year because I bet that would've been a fun celebration to be a part of!

 

Yes, it was awesome. We actually arrived one day after their independence day. It was a really lovely honeymoon.

 

So yea, basically, they have to replace the entire floor. Which means that anything sitting on the floor has to be moved out of the basement. They will do a pack-out service and cover it, but that doesn't mean they will handle my items properly. So I am packing as much as I can on my own. My back seizes after about 2 trips upstairs so I will have to let them do the moving but I will pack as much as I can first. Any wooden or particle board style shelf was ruined and every item on those needs packed and moved so they can be destroyed. Any wall that the water touched has to have the bottom two feet of drywall cut off. Since my shelf brackets run ceiling to floor, that means any wall that needs any work will have to be completely emptied. 

So the end result is floors and walls needing replaced, and before that can happen, almost my entire game and collectible collection needing to be packed, moved upstairs, and then at some point, unpacked, and re-organized.

It is daunting. I am in a much better place mentally than I was two days ago, but knowing the amount of work ahead of me is absolutely daunting. 

[captmorgandrinker | 1,649]

Do you have sewer or septic?

[CodysGameRoom | 2,008]

1 hour ago, captmorgandrinker said:

Do you have sewer or septic?

City sewer. The plumber said that the clog was within our mane, and not at street level.

[Code Monkey | 2,011]

2 hours ago, CodysGameRoom said:

My wife's aunt stayed in our home with our kids and pets while we were gone. The house was never vacant and there weren't any issues. 

How did they not notice the smell of the backup downstairs?

 

45 minutes ago, CodysGameRoom said:

City sewer. The plumber said that the clog was within our mane, and not at street level.

But that would mean someone in your house flushed the wet wipes.

[Estil | 1,265]

7 hours ago, CodysGameRoom said:

It is daunting. I am in a much better place mentally than I was two days ago, but knowing the amount of work ahead of me is absolutely daunting. 

IOW, once you got over the initial shock.  But it sounds like you are stepping up to the plate and know just what to do.  I'd like to think I was like that when my late wife sadly passed away...which I can't believe it already a little over two years ago.  And just as the community here was so supportive of me then, you Cody shouldn't be the least bit surprised at all that we are doing the same for you.

As Red Green would say, I'm pulling for ya...we're all in this together.

 

Edited August 16, 2023 by Estil

[Kguillemette | 1,545]

I've seen pictures of your collection. This really sucks. I'm glad everything is covered under insurance. Stuff is always replaceable, though the time you spent hunting it all down is not. I'm sure the road only gets better for you from here on out. Good luck to you!

[Estil | 1,265]

40 minutes ago, Kguillemette said:

I've seen pictures of your collection. This really sucks. I'm glad everything is covered under insurance. Stuff is always replaceable, though the time you spent hunting it all down is not. I'm sure the road only gets better for you from here on out. Good luck to you!

Stuff might be "always replaceable" but the memories and sentimental value won't be the same at all.

[JamesRobot | 5,808]

Dude, sorry to hear. 

Every time I hear these stories I contemplate selling the collection.  I'll probably never really sell but I'd also not go out of my way to replace for the most part. 

Congratulations on the marriage and honeymoon though.  As far as silver linings go, that's pretty major.  Cheers to the bride and groom! 

[CodysGameRoom | 2,008]

20 hours ago, Code Monkey said:

How did they not notice the smell of the backup downstairs?

There's a misunderstanding here. We had our wedding and honeymoon and returned Saturday the 12th. When I got home, I went to the basement and everything was fine.

The flood/water backup occurred sometime on Sunday the 13th/ Monday the 14th. I did not notice any kind of smell until I walked downstairs on Monday the 14th, and I was out of the house earlier in the day, so I'm assuming that is the day the backup occurred. 

20 hours ago, Code Monkey said:

But that would mean someone in your house flushed the wet wipes.

Two things. First, yes, this is correct, obviously. However, no on in the house claims to have flushed them. So either my wife (very unlikely) or children (possible but unlikely in my opinion) are lying about it. The children have literally been told before not to do it. Her aunt has denied flushing them. So it's a mystery that will most likely remain unsolved. Another thing to note is that the clog was wet wipes AND hair, and while I shave my head, the other three people who live here all have long hair. So we've taken measures to limit the amount of hair going down the shower drain going forward. 

 

13 hours ago, JamesRobot said:

Every time I hear these stories I contemplate selling the collection.  I'll probably never really sell but I'd also not go out of my way to replace for the most part. 

Not gonna lie, the thought of selling some of it has crossed my mind but.. that's another huge time consuming task (if I want to do it the right way). So I'll probably just hold on to all of it. When all of the restoration is done, I don't know how long it'll be before I get the motivation to re-set everything back up. If it was right now there'd be zero chance I'd want to do it. So we will see. 

[Jfreakofkorn | 282]

Sounds like its been a mission on not getting a head and heart ache

Had that experience and pain at when i lost it all after a hurricane dropped and left . Lost everything 

So have you considered in building everything off the ground , like 3 feet ? 

[TheGreatBlackCat | 20]

OP, I'm sorry to hear, but my advice is to move your collection up into that spare second story room and to store any excess that you can't display in waterproof tubs. Over my 20 years of collecting I've read too many stories of mold, leaks, and floods ruining tens of thousands of dollars worth of items because they were stored in basements. It's for that exact reason why I created a game room out of my second floor office.

I hope that most of your collection is salvageable and intact. Floods are up there on a list of worst fears for collectors. It's good to know that your insurance will cover it (thank God).

[Tyree_Cooper | 757]

my stuff is on the 1st floor, but we have water leaking in from the sides and the roof, because the fuckass who owns the last floor decided to put a large tent covering which deflects all the rain water and makes it run on the house walls, which are old and not meant to be a river bed.

sorry about the damage, though i am wondering, if you had been at home when it happened, would you have noticed it quick enough to avoid any damage? i mean if you don't go down there every day, it might not have made a difference?

either way it sucks and i think about water damage to my house stuff every day. fucken wota!

[fcgamer | 4,730]

9 minutes ago, Tyree_Cooper said:

my stuff is on the 1st floor, but we have water leaking in from the sides and the roof, because the fuckass who owns the last floor decided to put a large tent covering which deflects all the rain water and makes it run on the house walls, which are old and not meant to be a river bed.

sorry about the damage, though i am wondering, if you had been at home when it happened, would you have noticed it quick enough to avoid any damage? i mean if you don't go down there every day, it might not have made a difference?

either way it sucks and i think about water damage to my house stuff every day. fucken wota!

I thought water, ehhh wata was supposed to be good for games

[Tyree_Cooper | 757]

if they're graded, they float, don't they?

remember Pennywise from the book or the movie?

“Oh yes. They float, Georgie. They float. And when you’re down here with me, you’ll float too!”

[Dr. Morbis | 2,091]

Man, this sucks, and I hope you're able to get through it alright.

I will say, though, that I've been seeing posts like this every year or two since I started collecting in '99, and it's the sole reason that I have never kept my collection in the basement.  I know it's not an option for a lot of people, but I'll never put my video games in the basement of any house I own as long as I live...

[OptOut | 8,889]

Sucks to hear it dude, I hope the restoration process will be swift and as painless as possible!

 

[CodysGameRoom | 2,008]

22 hours ago, Dr. Morbis said:

Man, this sucks, and I hope you're able to get through it alright.

I will say, though, that I've been seeing posts like this every year or two since I started collecting in '99, and it's the sole reason that I have never kept my collection in the basement.  I know it's not an option for a lot of people, but I'll never put my video games in the basement of any house I own as long as I live...

Makes sense, wish I had more space above. The basement is my only option right now unless I want to drastically downsize.

Regardless of what happens, I'll be taking every precaution I can going forward. 

[GPX | 1,370]

@CodysGameRoom, commiserations for the ultra bad luck! Sounds like you’ve remained sane and able to withstand the traumatic experience. If any good that has come out of this situation, is that you have the moral support of this online community. 

Congrats also on the marriage! You’ve probably experienced one of the most unique early marriage roller coaster that anyone of us has gone through. Probably not what you’d want to go through again, but certainly makes a nice story telling episode for future kids/grandkids!

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

Sorry to hear about this my friend. I went through a very similar thing in 2020 when my basement flooded and it was a rough few months. The expansion tank on my water heater exploded because the builders cheaped out and didn't install a pressure-reducing valve. A bunch of semi-valuable stuff was destroyed, but I just thank God that I was home and awake at the time it happened. I was helping my son brush his teeth when the water pressure dropped precipitously. I knew no one was outside using the hose so I ran down to the basement to a sight of extreme horror. To onlookers, I'm sure it was extremely comical to see me fighting a giant spray of water to the face as I tried to reach the main water shutoff valve.

Anyways, things turned out just fine in the end. Insurance covered all the floor, wall, and furniture damage, but wouldn't replace any videogame items. I learned that the collection needs to be separately insured, so now I've got a policy covering all that stuff and a much better tracking system. Also, everything I lost was just sitting on the floor for a reason; I never used it or looked at it or really cared that much about it. I haven't replaced a single item and I don't miss them in the slightest.

So, I hope everything works out okay, but in the end it's just stuff and it isn't the be-all end-all in this life.

[CodysGameRoom | 2,008]

Thanks all for your continued support. Today, I have an update.

After meeting with the adjustor last Wednesday, I put in 3 13 hour days on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday last week packing literally everything in the basement. Saturday I have a group of 8 or so local friends and family come and we hauled literally everything except my couch (and damaged shelves that the demo crew will remove for me) out of the basement - it's empty. Frankly, I'm in shock that we pulled it off.

So the hard work (for me) is done. Now it's demo, disinfect/clean, and then rebuild. 

I'm trying to look at this in a positive manner and consider improvements I can make when it's all fixed up. 

My mental health is a lot better than it was a week ago. With all the packing and moving done, I feel like a weight is lifted, and I can get back to my normal life. I started back at work today, and can begin a normal routine. I appreciate everyone who's read this while I vented and shared your support.

Although it doesn't FEEL like it, I know I'm lucky in that very little of my actual collection was damaged. Overall, less than 30 items total were damaged, the rest of the damage was in the floors and walls. 

I'll probably use this thread to update progress when it occurs just for the sake of interest.

[a3quit4s | 4,106]

It actually doesn’t look bad down there for being covered in literal shit! I feel your pain, I packed up my entire game room by myself when we moved from MD to NY and moved it to a storage unit and back into my new house once the game room was done. Wouldn’t want to do that ever again. 
 

Hopefully insurance did you right and you get an even nicer space out of it to rebuild. I wish I was local I would have helped!

Probably just demo that fake half kitchen right out of there for a neat little gaming nook!

Edited August 21, 2023 by a3quit4s

[CodysGameRoom | 2,008]

1 hour ago, a3quit4s said:

Probably just demo that fake half kitchen right out of there for a neat little gaming nook!

Yea I never liked that. I believe they were actually used for PC Gaming, as those cabinets had vents on the side and outlets in them, lol. I'm definitely good with removing all that for more display space.