Whoa! What was THAT? I’m not gonna point any fingers on who incurred God’s wrath this week, causing the heavens to open up. But I think we can safely narrow it down to one particular sinner among the 58,764 residents of St Peters, where 12” of rain was recorded. Your humble correspondent knows not the ways of God, but personally I think Sauget, Illinois might have been a better choice.
But, let’s keep some perspective on this. We got deluged for — what? — maybe two days and one night? Still a far cry from the 40 day and 40 night-pounding Noah had to put up with. We’re still WELL WITHIN the margin in which Fix St Louis can help you keep the water out of your home. So let’s get started.
Doors, Windows & Outside Walls
Sometimes water will enter a house from doors, windows, and outside walls. Fix St Louis can fix, replace, or thoroughly caulk wherever water is finding its way in — weatherstripping, door thresholds, door sweeps, window ledges, exterior trim, brickwork, or siding. While it’s too complicated to explain here, we can even restore deteriorated or missing “flashing,” keeping in mind the meaning of that word changes COMPLETELY when you cross the river into Sauget, Illinois.
Gutters & Downspouts
Rain that hits your roof can’t simply soak into the ground below it because your house is in the way. And if that water is simply directed toward the edges of your roof, it will form puddles against your house, and find a way into your basement. So you need gutters to catch that water, downspouts to bring it to ground level, then either drain pipes to direct the flow someplace away from the house, or landscaping that ushers that water onto a downward slope.
Fix St Louis can help if there are hang-ups in this system. We can clear clogs in gutters and downspouts, install gutter guards to keep debris out, fix gutter leaks, secure detaching gutters, adjust gutter slopes to restore the proper flow of water, and extend drain pipes from the base of downspouts. Now if you want to completely REPLACE your gutters, you’ll want to call one of those specialized companies who run ads that pester you daily. Or are those the companies who sell gutter guards? Same, same.
Sump Pumps
For those unfamiliar, a sump pump system consists of an invisible channel that runs beneath a basement floor’s perimeter, a hole in one corner of the floor, a motorized pump in that hole, and drain pipes leading from that pump to the outside. That channel collects ground water, directs it to the pump, which shoots it out of the house through the drain pipes. Not every house has a sump pump system. Not every house needs one. It depends upon whether ground water tends to collect around your house.
If your house has a built-in system like this and water is STILL coming in into your basement through cracks in the floor or from where the walls meet the floor, you might want to call Fix St Louis. We can help if your sump pump is broken or missing, or no one ever thought to put an electric outlet in that corner with the hole in the floor, or there are problems with the drain pipes. If you don’t have a sump pump system but need one, call a foundation company for this fairly big job of digging that channel around the basement perimeter.
Foundation Cracks
If you have water coming into your house through cracks on your basement walls, you should first call a specialized foundation company to stop the leak. But after that, you’ll probably want to call Fix St Louis to restore the water damage. We can replace water-damaged framing, drywall, baseboards, and flooring.
Now, handling MAJOR flooding requires another type of company that does things to dry-out your basement, like bringing-in those big, noisy fans that keep you up at night so you can worry even more about your basement. But usually these companies do not do the restoration work that Fix St Louis does, so you’ll still need us.
Roof Leaks
Similar to foundation cracks, you’ll need a roofing specialist to find and fix the leak, and THEN call Fix St Louis to fix the water damage. Actually, you should be grateful for those stained and deteriorated ceilings that we fix. How ELSE would you have known your roof was leaking?
So, let’s not panic. I realize I’m just an old handyman, not a prophet. But still, I suspect it’s not yet time to run to Home Depot to buy lumber for an ark, or invite into your home every unique binary-gendered animal that wanders by.
Until then, let’s pray that the guilty party in St Peters repents, and has learned that living in a suburb named after one of the most revered religious figures offers no particular protection. Oh, and also call Fix St Louis. We can help you keep water out of your home, at least up until the time it reaches Biblical proportions.
Dr Steve
Fix St Louis