Clean-up of dirt basement after sewer leak

We believe that the dirt floor is advantageous, what with the natural drainage and composting of the mess. But we would like to hire someone reputable to cart out a layer of earth and do whatever spraying/sanitizing of walls that makes sense. My tenant is understandably apprehensive, being right o.n top of the basement.

We also have some old metal boiler-type things that we have been meaning to remove from the basement and now would be the perfect time.

We are looking for someone who could do both jobs and would appreciate any recommendations. Thank you.

BTW, FIgliolia fixed our sewer. They had the best price and did the work neatly and quickly. I highly recommend them.

cleancutmovers

in General Discussion 4 years and 1 month ago

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andriywww1990 | 4 years and 1 month ago

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so i know you are looking for a company but:

if you wish to do something before bringing them in, you can do this: take a garden sprayer and put a solution of bleach and water in it and spray things you might have to touch. or the walls. i am not sure of the ratio of water to bleach, but i worked in a restaurant during college and had to spray the food surfaces with bleach and water which we mixed and that was supposed to kill everything. after college i took care of a swimming pool and chlorine (i think the same chemical as bleach; a tad less diluted i think) was used in the pools and when i was talking to the health inspector (it was a commercial pool) about the chemical treatment he told me it “would kill anything”.

when i first arrived in NYC in the ’90’s we had an issue with spilled sewage on a concrete surface (in a basement). i suppose someone tried to bleach it as that would be the obvious way to go but there was a persistent odor. so i called a company called Neutron Industries and ordered a product from them that we mixed and sprayed on the s urface and it ate the smelly bacteria. (it was a bacteria itself and once we did that we had to stop putting bleach over it as it would kill the bacteria we spent money on). we ended up using that product in ejector pumps and everything to keep eating as much of this stuff up. i am not sure if it would work on soil and i am not sure how far down it would go in soil but if you called Neutron, i think they are in Arizona (and i recall my salesmen’s name, it was Duke but i think i heard he went the way of the other Duke). i had thought of this the other day and wanted to relay it here but it took me a few days to pull the name of the company and the products and how they worked together – its been a while. i just looked at the Neurton website and you may wish to as well. too many products for me to process with no direct need.

cleancutmovers | 4 years and 1 month ago

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Thanks for your thoughtful reply. My inquiry is whether or not anyone here has a junk removal company they could recommend. We’re going to stay with a dirt basement. It drains fast, so in many ways, we find it better. A few years ago when a water main broke, the water in our basement went down while other people had bigger problems. It is all nearly dry down there now that the pipe has been replaced. Our reference to compost is borne out of lots of years dealing with composting toilets the country. We are going to remove the top layer of soil. I think, now that you mention it, that we will likely test the soil that remains. The junk we’ve been storing down there has to go. Thanks again.

helen40

in General Discussion 4 years and 1 month ago

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I think you and your tenant should be concerned about the raw sewage that was in your basement. You can treat like a remediation, and get the soil tested and then remove and properly dispose of that. If the metal thing is an old oil tank, you will have to have that looked at and possibly remediated, too. There are lots of companies that do this kind of work.

We had a dirt basement floor before our renovation and I could not be happier that we removed. We excavated down to make greater headroom, added an impermeable membrane to keep the termites out (which have a direct access to the wood components of your house through that dirt floor), and sloped for drainage to the new dry well that was dug. If you dont install some waterproof layer, every time there is a sewer or water leak it will drain through your dirt floor, and if its sewage, you have the same issue all over again.

Can you explain the compost comment? I am confused.

hkapstein | 4 years and 1 month ago

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How much leaked and for how long?

cleancutmovers | 4 years and 1 month ago

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It was a sewer leaking into our basement. You can imagine.

greenworks | 4 years and 1 month ago

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Ok, we are big believers in composting and do it like crazy, but in our garden with veggies, grass, and food scraps. Very curious as to what mess one would compost in their basement?

cleancutmovers | 4 years and 1 month ago

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Also, the City signed off on the work Figliolia did.