Help Please - Wet Basement

[ambgoph]

Spent the last 2 days getting rid of water in the basement. Keeping my fingers crossed that the water table doesn't rise again or we'll be back at square one. The concrete is now "damp". Does anyone have any tips for getting rid of the dampness. How can we keep mildew down? Thanks for your help!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Oh I live this every spring!

How did you get the water out? Shop vac or sump pump?

Once the water is down I shop vac (with a wet/dry vac) the floor as best as I can. I then put on a carpet dryer (we have cement floors) and move it around as the floor dries.
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

we also placed big damp rid buckets out, we run a dehimidifier and to combat mold that pops up we use a spray bottle with bleach and water in it.

 

[crz4mm2]

Dehumidifier.

 

[ambgoph]

Thanks for the suggestions. We just put a dehumidifier on and opened a damp rid bucket. I'll look into a carpet dryer (any suggestions?)

We did a combo of a portable pump and shop vac to get rid of the water. This is the first time in 10 years living here that we have had to deal with this. UGH!!!

 

[Magic Mom]

Once you get the water under control, look into getting a sump pump.

 

[Pumbaa_]

Our new sump pump was installed Thursday

Best $1100 ever!!

 

[swkmom]

I can definitely sympathize with the wet basement. After years of dealing with a wet basement we had a drainage system with sump pump installed. The company we used made a type of gutter system under the concrete that the drains out into the sump pump. We were able to completely redo our den that was ruined and have never had a problem with water since. We are now on our 3rd or 4th year with the system in place. It was definitely worth the money.

 

[Phil'sFrontier]

I believe there is a special valve that a plumber can install in a floor drain. It has a float inside and when the water table rises the drain is closed.
As for getting rid of the water I would recommend using heaters and opening a few windows a bit(or better yet turing on a mechanical ventilation system like an hrv/erv).
But at least raise the room temp up to where it is real warm. Then the moisture will be drawn out of the floor.