Need your help

[Jessie]

We have been hit storm after storm this past week and have had terrible flooding, our basement got flooded out, and although we managed to get the eight inches out of the basement it is still damp down there and has a terrible musty smell that I can now smell upstairs we are expecting more storms and flooding over the weekend also We do not have a dehumidifier as of yet and we have been leaving the screen door to the basement open day and night to try to help air it out, and suggestions on how to help dry it up and get rid of that musty smell? Thanks

[Missy]

Yikes!

I will do some searching and see what I can come up with, hang in there, if not me, I am sure someone will know something that can be done.

[Julia Kimber]

I can't be much help here Jessie but I hope that you will get this awful problem fixed soon!
Julia

[SewCrafty]

Do you have a fan?? That might help dry it up some. I would move it around every couple of hours to hit a new spot.

Good luck, my parents have had the same problem the entire 40 years in thier home. Dad put in a sump pump to take care of it, but you're right, it takes a very long time to dry it out.

[slowtypinwoman]

We have a de-humidifier that we run 24-7. It helps tremendously and I'd suggest that be the next thing on your list to get.

[dz_blonde_girl]

Have you tried the fans? That should circulate the air help dry it out faster. Our basement always has water in it so I know what you mean about the musy smell. Dh has lime in the pit around the pump and that helps tremendously. I don't know what you could do about the smell until it dries out though, sorry.

[Missy]

I have been wondering, would vinegar help the smell?

[guest2]

Praying for you!

[Jessie]

Thanks ladies I have been using a fan to try to help and I placed two open bags of kitty litter down there (heard that helps absorb some of the moisture?) and a couple of bowls of vinegar to help with the smell. The vinegar does seem to be helping some We have never had any problems with water in the basement before, but we have seen the worst rains/flooding in this area in more than 13 years so just about eveyones basement has alittle water in it, it also hasn't helped that it has basically been damp and rainy and stormy outside all week also It was a bad winter with snow and it looks like a bad spring with the rains. Although trying to look on the brighter sides of things, we have been in a terrible drought for the past four years and if these past 6 months haven't gotten us out of it, I don't think anything will

[Darlene]

Found this online, hope it helps.
If ventilation does not remove odors:
~Mop concrete floor and walls with a bleach solution (3/4 cups of household bleach to a gallon of water).
Rinse and dry after 5 minutes.
Open windows when applying the bleach solution.

~Place a lump of dry charcoal in an open tin/metal container to absorb odors.

[Jessie]

Thanks Darlene, will try it

[dmvezina]

This has happened to us 3 times since we've lived here. First off, we have a pump that will hopefully keep the water from flooding. But, when we did have the floods we used a wet/dry vac to get out as much moisture as we could (our basement is carpeted), run a dehumidifier. That's a big help. The smell we had a really hard time getting rid of, but the quicker you can get it dried up, the better chance you have of getting rid of the smell. We used fans also and heat. We just cranked the heat up.