Making Lemonade Out Of Lemons!

REHEM · #1 05/08/2007, 06:34 PM

I live in Central Oklahoma (1 block North of Tornado Alley!) and I don't know if you've been watching the weather or not lately, but it's been pouring down rain here on and off for at least 9 days! Well, my house flooded (AGAIN) today...

It was minor, but enough to have to do some extensive clean-up. I came home around lunch time, walked in the hallway, and "SQUISH, SQUISH"! The carpet was soaking wet. My first thought of course, "My tank!", but nope...just a minor house flood! (Luckily most of the water had come in through my roommate's room!

)

* First, I would have to empty the furniture out of her room.
* Second, I would have to pull up the carpet and the pad underneath, and put as many fans on it as I could.
* Third, I would spend the rest of the day sucking up swamp water, that was for sure.

As I was cussing and breaking out the good old wet-vac, a crazy thought dawned on me. Since I would be going through all of that anyway, why not just turn this room into a Fish Room/Bedroom? Let my roommate have my room, leave the carpet out of this one, and move my few bedroom belongings in here! (I think I actually heard Heavenly, Angelic music when I made this decision!)

I know that this sounds ludicrous, but it will actually solve quite a few of my personal issues:

1) All of the equipment that I have will be in this room, eliminating all noise from the main living area where I have had the tank. It will also free up a significant amount of space in this original area.
2) I'm not upgrading a single thing (yeah right!), but this will allow me to redesign some of my plumbing that I have had space issues with. It will also allow me to add a couple of extra features that I have never previously had the room to incorporate. I actually have most everything I will need from past tank scraps believe it or not!
3) I have recently come down with a bout of recurring insomnia (for many different reasons, I'm sure), so this will give me something else to do during the twilight hours! I think that I am the most excited about this part of the entire project!

This is not a BIG tank, nor a BIG system, but I kind of like that aspect of this new thread. It will be a good "Average Joe" thread for some of my fellow Reef newbies to follow. I will have to do some basic wall construction to frame the tank, I will eventually have to transfer all of the contents of the main aquarium, and I will have to re-plumb everything plus add on a few new goodies!

I have never been so happy about a house flood! I better get started

AFTER PULLING OUT THE CARPET, ETC.

FUTURE FRAMED TANK WALL IN LIVING AREA (OPPOSITE FISH ROOM)

The first thing that has to go is the yellow! (Incomprehensible to me, but that's the color that she wanted!) It's going to be a loooooong night. Wish me luck...

TriniStylez · #2 05/08/2007, 06:40 PM

Sounds like you really turned a "bad" situation into a great one! Now if only my place could flood and I could use that excuse..."Honey, our house flooded, so...Im gonna need to build a fish room. Why? Uhhh, cause the house flooded..."

Ritten · #3 05/08/2007, 07:00 PM

Sorry for all of the work, but that really was a great idea!

Icefire · #4 05/08/2007, 07:13 PM

fix the roof 1st!

REHEM · #5 05/08/2007, 07:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Icefire
fix the roof 1st!

The flooding is actually a combination of several contributing factors, but the main thing is the @#$!& rain! I don't think you understand how much rain water I'm talking here. Torrential for days! At one point, there was at least 5-7 inches of water in my backyard standing against the house.

I was able to get that room cleared out and dried fairly quickly this afternoon, but the water went all the way into that living area and into the hallway. I have only been at it for a couple of hours, and I have extracted well over 30 gallons out of the carpet so far! This sucks/This is great!?! I can't decide which at this point!

And, this was only another small break in the rain. They say the worst is possibly coming tonight!

REHEM · #6 05/08/2007, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by TriniStylez
Now if only my place could flood and I could use that excuse..."Honey, our house flooded, so...Im gonna need to build a fish room. Why? Uhhh, cause the house flooded..."

I guess that's one advantage of being a devout bachelor! I just had to run it by my 2 cats, and they didn't seem to have a problem with it.

I think that they would have agreed to about anything just to get that water off of the carpet! They haven't walked on it in that area since this all happened!

salty joe · #7 05/08/2007, 09:08 PM

Good for you!

Icefire · #8 05/08/2007, 10:32 PM

Torrential or not, water should not get in.
We have 3 feets of snow in the spring melting and we get high rain each years, a good roof, sealed windows and good fondation won't leak on ya.

Where did the water got in?

REHEM · #9 05/08/2007, 11:24 PM

Like I said, there are several contributing factors to the water getting in. I will lay them out now, to get that part out of the way, and then I will proceed with the room build from there. I'm trying to forget about the flooding right now because that's the sour LEMON part!

1) First of all, I have just reached the one year mark in the house, and this has never happened until about 6 weeks ago. We were going through another week of solid rain, and that was the first and last time water came in. That time I just went through the water extraction ritual and dried everything out. This house was one of those cheap fixer-uppers, and I just so happen to love fixing them up!
2) The neighbor to the East of me has no guttering on his house, and it sits less than 20 feet next to mine. When it rains like this, the sheets of rain pour straight off of his roof and property, and come flowing like a river through my backyard. I plan on putting in a french drain system around the house because the neighbor will not put on guttering.
3) When the flooding is this bad, the water is deep and sits against the exterior of the brick/slab foundation. The foundation has either settled and the slab has cracked allowing water to enter, or it is just finding its way in through cracked mortar, etc.
4) There is also some metal flashing on the chimney where it meets the roof that looks like it has been worked on before. The water may be finding its way down there, through the wall, and onto the interior floor.

There are many things to investigate here, in terms of the leaky house, and I will. But as for now, I am going to try not to think about all of that---thus the partial reason for this thread. I just spent the last 9 hours extracting water and temporarily fixing the situation, and now the thunder is rolling in again.

We'll see what happens...

snuggle2me · #10 05/09/2007, 12:32 AM

when you pull up the carpet are you going to lay it back down. If flooding is going to be a common thing you might want to go with ceramic tile instead of carpet. Me personally i like the tile look and its easier to keep clean.

KyleO · #11 05/09/2007, 12:38 AM

I have heard that same angelic music on a few occasions!!!

just dave · #12 05/09/2007, 02:38 AM

I see you have cats. Spoiled cats at that. Or the previous occupants did.

REHEM · #13 05/09/2007, 05:14 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by KyleO
I have heard that same angelic music on a few occasions!!!

REHEM · #14 05/09/2007, 05:23 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by just dave
I see you have cats. Spoiled cats at that. Or the previous occupants did.

Really spoiled actually---I have these carpeted ramps going all over the place! They love them! That's Newt up there on top in that picture, and her sister is Waffle below:

REHEM · #15 05/09/2007, 05:29 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by snuggle2me
when you pull up the carpet are you going to lay it back down. If flooding is going to be a common thing you might want to go with ceramic tile instead of carpet. Me personally i like the tile look and its easier to keep clean.

I think that I'm just going to leave it bare and stain the concrete. I'll put down a cheap area rug or something for those cold winter mornings! This way, if I ever decide to sell the place, I can re-carpet that room without having to bust up any tile.

And hopefully the flooding will not be a common thing. Everything stayed dry overnight, despite the continued rain. I guess that small break in the storm allowed the ground to soak most of it up.

REHEM · #16 05/09/2007, 10:45 PM

I'm exhausted, but I managed to get quite a bit of work done today. Here was the first cut in the drywall from the Fish Room side. I had previously checked to make sure that there were no electric or cable lines in the wall before making any cuts. Fortunately, I ended up avoiding them altogether so I didn't have to relocate any:

Then I cut out the studs and reinforced the surrounding studs with more 2x4 supports. I added insulation to reduce noise on the living room side, and then roughly framed it in. I made sure that it was level and that I had a little play room when it comes time for tank placement. I also painted that one wall on both sides (The 2 holes up top were already there for my cats):

Living room area.

In between coats of paint, and in between flood clean-up detail, I also managed to set the glass baffle supports for my new sump. I have been wanting a better design than my current sump has, and I had an old 75 gallon AllGlass out in the garage. I also had extra pieces of glass left over from my last sump build, and plenty of support strips:

Well that's it for tonight, I'm pooped! See ya...

Dtking · #17 05/10/2007, 02:07 AM

Just wanted to let you know, I am subscribing to the thread... I AM WATCHING YOU!!!! *LOL* I will be in Edmond tomorow... I should be at Aquariums by 4 or 5.... maybe I will see you there?!

Later,
-Dustin

REHEM · #18 05/10/2007, 06:05 AM

I do need to run up there today. I'll try to be up there between 4 & 5 if I can.

Thanks for tagging along, Dustin. The flooding stinks (literally

), but I'm trying to make the best of it.

See ya later, hopefully.

salty joe · #19 05/10/2007, 06:10 AM

Hey, that looks good.
Did you make sure that is not a bearing wall? Is the room with the fish tank going to be your bedroom?

Joe

NanoGurl · #20 05/10/2007, 06:11 AM

Awwww Waffle is SO cute! Tagging along for sure

REHEM · #21 05/10/2007, 06:30 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by salty joe
Hey, that looks good.
Did you make sure that is not a bearing wall? Is the room with the fish tank going to be your bedroom?

Joe

It's not a load bearing wall for sure. It was actually eerily flemsy for a wall!

And "Yes" that room will be my bedroom---at least temporarily. My roommate will be moving out at the end of July, so I can snatch it back from her then. In the meantime, I'll be bunking with my fish! Now that's dedication to the hobby if I've ever heard it!

REHEM · #22 05/10/2007, 06:39 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by NanoGurl
Awwww Waffle is SO cute! Tagging along for sure

Thanks NanoGurl! I love my cats. I've had them since they were about 3 weeks old:

(My 8 year old son's shoe for size comparison)

(Terrible mobile phone pics.)
They're incredibly spoiled, but I guess I am too at times...
Glad you're tagging along!

REHEM · #23 05/10/2007, 06:46 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Dtking
Just wanted to let you know, I am subscribing to the thread... I AM WATCHING YOU!!!! *LOL* I will be in Edmond tomorow... I should be at Aquariums by 4 or 5.... maybe I will see you there?!

Later,
-Dustin

P.S. If you do go up to AQUARIUMS later, look for my Tube Anemone. I'm not going to move it or my Lemonpeel Angelfish over to the main tank, and I am breaking down the 30, so I took them up there yesterday for some store credit.

The Tube Anemone was at least 12 inches long when I pulled it out of my sandbed! It has doubled in size from the time that I bought it, and I had no clue its trunk had grown so much.

NanoGurl · #24 05/10/2007, 06:46 AM

Awww

My cat will be 22 this december.

Cool thread! Can't wait to see more updates. Sorry to hear about your flooding.

Spoiled is my middle name

NSG? lol

REHEM · #25 05/10/2007, 06:56 AM

22!!!

Holy crap!