Before I get into the good stuff… I just want to say… I WANT A WEEKEND DO-OVER!!!
It was setting up to be a pretty good, if busy weekend. Friday’s weather was horrible with a near-constant heavy downpour. Still, after work, we’d picked up Dory from the body shop and left Dave’s Buick there for some much needed work. We ran some errands, got home late and crashed to the sound of a pretty intense thunderstorm.
But Saturday, we awoke to sunshine. I got outside around 10 am, thinking of doing some garden cleaning, and almost as soon as I got out there, the skies started to cloud. I think I got about 20 minutes before it started to rain again.
No biggie… I could always go sew. I packed up my tools and headed in. Dave met me at the door and I knew it was bad. He said five words no woman wants to hear.
“There’s water in the basement.”
We discovered not long after we took possession of the house that the foundation wasn’t quite as solid as we’d first thought. About a month after we’d officially moved in, we got one of those “100-year storms”, and we discovered several leaks in the walls. Dave had the wet basement guys in and they quoted us several thousand dollars for a fix. Which we didn’t have at the time.
Dave did some research, and he came up with a solution he could do and would cost less than 1/4 of what the basement guys wanted (not that their price was high for the work they suggested). We decided it was worth a shot. If it didn’t work, we could always save up for the basement guys and would only be out a few hundred dollars and some hard work.
So Dave went to work. And we watched and waited. Every time it rained, Dave went down to check. No leaks. I fully expected a small leak here or there during the following spring thaw (having previously lived in a house with a leaky basement, I know who notoriously hard they are to plug). But we had nothing. We were high and dry. Spring, summer, fall, winter 2022… and then this year came and it was all good.
Until this weekend. But it wasn’t coming from the walls. Dave’s repairs were holding. No… the water (as it does) had moved along to find another weak spot…. this time the floors! Several spots. The floors can’t be repaired the same way the walls were. So… the basement guys are coming back for another quote sometime this week.
And if that wasn’t enough…. while Dave was down there, counting all the leaks in the floor, he hit his head off the light (it’s a very low ceiling – I’m 5’7″ and I can only stand up in certain spots).. and the fixture shorted out… followed by the switch that controls it.
Thankfully, Sam’s husband Michael helped up troubleshoot it via text, and Dave had enough electrical knowledge to repair it. It did involve a trip to the hardware store but it was fixed in a couple hours. (And while we were out, we got a good idea of just how much rain we’d gotten, and were still getting at the time)
This is the best pic I could find online. But every stream, river, creek has majorly overflowed its banks. We drove by several houses with almost their whole yards under water.
Like the 100-year storm we got back in summer 2021, this one dumped a hell of a lot of rain in a very short period of time. So we know our basement will hold up against all but the most intense, prolonged rains… but we still need a better solution.
So Sunday, while Dave hauled everything up from the basement in prep for the basement guys… I went and sewed. (He needed time to stew by himself.)
I worked on a couple projects, one of which was adding two more blocks to the red quilt.
Working with those pretty fabrics certainly lifted my mood!
And now that I have four done, you can get and idea of how I’m going to lay them out, alternating lights and darks. There are 16 blocks in total (each at 16″), so I have 12 left to do.
But I’m in no real hurry to finish this one. It’s nice to take my time and just bask in those beautiful prints.
Wandering Cat Studio 
Oh Valerie, so sorry about the water in your basement. When Chuck and I were first married we lived in a home built in the 1920’s. Came to discover the basement leaked. Tall shelves were built and everything went up there. It ended up being the neighbours downspout was pouring right against our foundation. When that was moved that solved probably 90% of the leaking. I can relate to the low ceilings. I am only 5’4” and I continually whacked my head on the furnace ductwork. Your red quilt is gorgeous. 😍
Take care.❤️
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Love that red quilt. Wow! That’s a lot of rain. We’ve had water in our basement (multiple times), so I know what you are dealing with. It’s not fun!
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That sure is a LOT of water! I hope the leak gets fixed without too much problem ….
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Oh, man! What a headache to have to deal with a wet basement! Welcome to home-owning! The quilt blocks are beautiful and I’m glad you had some down time!
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When we moved in here we had the same problem. We dug out around the whole foundation and put in gravel then tarred the foundation itself and stuck plastic all around it. We put in some of that black drain tubes too and then planted lots of bushes on top of it. The driveway people the former owners had hired had run the asphalt straight towards the house and every time it rained we leaked. We need to have the driveway done again soon and I am hoping we won’t have the same mess to deal with. We had to rip out all the inside drywall from the mold that had grown behind it before we knew what was happening. No fun at all.
I do love those blocks. That’s going to be one gorgeous quilt.
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Water in the basement is not a good way to start the weekend. Sure hope you get good news (not too many $$$) from the basement guys. Those blocks are beautiful and sewing them would have impr0ved my mood.
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Weather-related problems are so unpredictable. I hope the basement floor leaks can be quickly repaired and that the repair cost is reasonable. The blocks are pretty.
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Wet basements, ugh! Been there, done that. In our case, re-routing the downspout took care of it. 100 year old houses need TLC…
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Thank GOD for our craft projects when troubles hit.
I really expected basement issues here, but so far we’ve been lucky. Only one time has water seeped up through weak spots in the floor.
Hope your estimate from the “dry-guys” isn’t heart stopping.
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Oh dear!
Our Victorian-era basement is made of red brick in most places, and we had waterproofing done, which caused the water sitting inside those bricks to drain…and boy oh boy, did it stink for awhile!
Hope your soon-to-be-dry basement travails are less smelly.
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Hope the solution to the water problem is affordable. That is a lot of rain ! Your blocks are very pretty!
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Now that is a LOT of rain. I’m so sorry about having to deal with leaks just when you thought you had it water-proofed. Our first house was over 100 years old when we bought it. We never had a leaky basement, but boy, it sure had other issues. Like no electricity in the bathroom. Hello! A girl needs to dry her hair. 🙂 Luckily I have a very handy husband that did a ton of electrical work in the Air Force. He rain wires and put in circuit breakers instead of fuses and I not only had two outlets in the bathroom but more in each room of the house. That was 45 years ago and the house is still standing. I just drove by it a few days ago.
Love those quilt blocks too. That quilt is going to be beautiful.
Blessings and hugs,
Betsy
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