suggestions as how to proceed
For the last couple of weeks Ive noticed water in the basement. Most of it was not alot and i attributed it to melting snow and precipitation then the last couple of days it grew to most of the basement and was about 5 inches deep at the deepest part. I pumped it out to…
For the last couple of weeks Ive noticed water in the basement. Most of it was not alot and i attributed it to melting snow and precipitation then the last couple of days it grew to most of the basement and was about 5 inches deep at the deepest part. I pumped it out to find it come back. After bringing in a plumber he suggested that i get the people involved from next door as it appeared to be seeping in. Turns out there was a broken pipe next door in the house that noone lives in ( estate home). Today they came in and i was able to kill the water to the house and pump out about fifteen inches of water in their basement. Ive never had to deal with this kind of thing before so my question is they are calling in their insurance carrier. What kind of things should i be demanding that they look at and compensate me for. I have minimal damage to things in the basement as most5 things are raised up off the floor save some holiday decorations and some wood.. Should i be looking to have any kind of engineer in for the foundation? The houses in question are fully attached brick houses that were built around 1890. I should also note that the house on the other side of me had some seepage too that they were pumping out for the last two weeks but not near as bad as mine
My aunt went through this same experience… hers was a more serious leak from next door (about 2 feet of water when found, unknown to anyone over the course of 2 weeks) but i would suspect the process is similar.
Once everything was pumped out – she had to have an inspector and engineer come and they prodded the walls, supports, and etc… also did sound-imaging along the foundation side where the water was seeping in.
Originally they weren’t going to check anything – but my dad insisted (it was his sister, and she lived there alone)
The result of this was they had to replace some masonry, grouting, and some cement work – but it was deemed sound.
In her case – the boiler had to be replaced (water fouled oil-supply line and rusted the underplate of the boiler… all old stuff. They pro-rated towards the cost of a new unit, but she still had to come out of pocket – didn’t want to fight harder on the issue – but you shouldn’t let them try to explain away anything as “oh it’ll be fine”