# I have a huge problem



## Phatboy (Feb 1, 2008)

Well as most of you know, I am currently right smack in the middle of a total renovation.  Thread titled ''General Overhual''  Yesterday we ran into a HUGE problem. 

You see it came 7inches of rain in about 14 hours.  Thats alot for our area.  The water in the back yard, came within 2 inches of coming over the slab and under the sill plate.  

The problem with this is all the drainage ditches were full, and it appears that the land slopes down toward the house.  The workshop had about 3inches of water inside it, and the water was flowing through it.

Normally we would gather our money and have a company come out and raise the house 12inches, but this house is on a concrete slab.  

We are about 5grand into this remodel, and countless hours of our valuable time.  We are 25/24 years old, and only make around 60grand  a year together before taxes. 

Can you even raise a house on a slab?  Is it possible.  And even if it is, I dont know how we are going to afford the 50k + bill for doing it.

Looks like we may have to flip it and lay this problem onto someone else who makes more money than us.

Any ideas?  There is no plumbing, gas, or sewer lines that are built into the slab, its just a big concrete block.  

Im really concerned about this and I dont know what to do.  Please help.


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## guyod (Feb 1, 2008)

Get flood insurance and let the insurance company worry about it... that last 2 inches could take another foot or more of rain. unless you have a river or creek that could flood.. it is really hard for water too come up past a certain point..


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## glennjanie (Feb 1, 2008)

Hey Logan and Kimberly:
Yours is a common problem in Lousiana; its all pretty much low country. You could keep some sand bags handy to block the doors when there is a huge rain predicted. It is almost impossible to raise the concrete slab but, if there is any place to send the water, you could install an outdoor sump with a pump. That would give you lots of relief.
Glenn


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## guyod (Feb 1, 2008)

An Outdoor sump pump reminds me of something.. you can build a hump of dirt around the house  then cover it with mulch and flowers to make it look nice. Then have a high flow pump suck the water out of the space between the house and hump. keep some sand bags for the break in the hump for your walk ways. .  .
   You would be surprise how much a water you can hold back doing this.. I lived along the Delaware river and seen a restaurant owner put up a plywood wall to stop the river. It held back 2 feet of water


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## guyod (Feb 1, 2008)

One more thing you might want to put a cinderblock wall around the house first then cover it with dirt to make it look nicer... we all remember the videos of the leeves washing away in New Orleans..


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## Phatboy (Feb 1, 2008)

All good suggestions guys, I think we have about decided to finish it up with the remodel, and clean the land up alot, plant some flowers, new gravel in the drive, and flip this sucker.

We have already been told by the appraiser that with a little work his appraisal can go from 95thou to 125thou, and with alot of work on the land, and some repair on the house it could easily go for 140+.

It would be nice to get 50thou or so out of it when the market goes up.  Then we could buy what we really want.

But for now, we are gonna have to do a temp fix like you all suggest.


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## Cheapliquid (Apr 23, 2008)

make a moat.. dig a big hole and frame it out for the water to run, and make a moat.. yes i know im crazy, must be the painkillers for my leg. lol


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## hondadrv24 (Apr 23, 2008)

I looked at the pictures of the flood from before in your overhaul thread.  Is there any way that you could make the ditches you have deeper, or build a new one so that the water goes around the house.  I like everyone's idea for a flood mound, possibly you could dig the dirt for the mound right outside of it and make a ditch that would route the water around your house and toward the back of the property missing the shop as well.  

If you make it out a ways from the house I think that you could make the ditch and the mound not looks so blunt by just making it gently rolling and possibly make your sidewalk so that it goes up and down with the terrain, or put a little foot bridge above the ditch.  Good luck, I'm sure you will get over this problem in no time at all.


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## joecaption (Jan 29, 2011)

A moat is just not going to work, loose power and it forms a pond.
Digging ditches or building mounds is going to be a big tip off this house floods when you go to sell.
This happens all the time, people cheap out and build a slab foundation instead of a full foundation or at least  Form the area for the slab with a footing and at least a row of block higher then the grade then pore the slab.
That why the bottom of your walls were rotted out, the house was just built to close to the ground.
One trick we have done is replace the bottom plates with pressure treated lumber and use advantec subflooring to replace the old rotted sheathing. It will hold up when it gets wet unlike OSB or plywood.


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## nealtw (Feb 23, 2011)

You see it came 7inches of rain in about 14 hours. Thats alot for our area. The water in the back yard, came within 2 inches of coming over the slab and under the sill plate. 

If this is extreme rain fall for your area, I would say the house passed the test.


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## JoeD (Feb 26, 2011)

You guys are responding to a 3 year old post. How do you find these old posts?


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## nealtw (Feb 27, 2011)

It shows up in latest threads and I did't check date!!


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