and the rain rain rain came down down down

[gement]

It comes to my attention from other people's journals that we really are experiencing more rain than usual (1.88" instead of the average 0.85" so far this year, according to marginalia), which explains the FLOODING. (My sympathies to lunar__angel whose basement was also discovered full of water this morning. Tis the season.)

I don't think I announced it the first time, but my poor Jason, who bravely moved out of his sanctified single-bedroom apartment to try communal living, has the one room that floods. Not that he's been sleeping in it anyway, but it's psychologically jarring, for obvious reasons.

October 1, immediately after he'd gotten around to moving an empty bookshelf into the room to claim the space, there was a heavy rain and ten gallons of water entered the room. Two inches deep in the middle, it was. It turned out to be coming from the garage-adjoined wall, which does not actually join to the floor! There's a gutter between the rooms, and it filled with water. There is also water bleeding from the cracks in the garage floor.

The Oct 1 problem was resolved by routing out the sewer line, which was root-clogged. Issues identified at that time: Water through cement floor of basement, 4' section of sewer line consisting only of roots, sump pump flushes water into back yard (6' from the basement steps), buried PVC pipe with open end by Jason's window is some kind of sewer overflow line that sprays poo into the windowwell when it's backed up.

We left the room empty until Oct 15 to make sure it didn't flood at the next heavy rain. Then we moved everything in. No further problems observed until New Year's Day, 2006 (which is why I didn't make it to Ivo's party). Not the ten gallon madness of last time, but enough water to wet the rug and laundry on the rug, and to warp the base of his OED which was sitting neatly by the bookshelf.

Soooooo we moved all the important books out of the room and made sure anything damageable was up off the floor and put the dictionary under several other heavy books to straighten it out and wrote an immediate note to the landlord. The garage floor is bleeding water again, by the way.

This morning, the new puddle: 6" wide, the length of the room. The landlord's coming over to look tomorrow afternoon.

So the really pertinent question at this point is, what are tenant rights in this situation? The landlord's a good guy, and I know that he'll try to fix this, but Jason has so far been pretty shafted in terms of being able to live happily in his room or safely put his things in there or otherwise treat it like a bedroom.

What are the rules on a room being considered "unlivable," and when it's one bedroom in a four bedroom house is there a recognized size of rent cut? I tried researching online and have come up SUCK. Library answer services don't provide legal advice, though I'll ask them anyway. I am mostly wailing for emotional support, but if there are any answers out there too, they'd be appreciated.

Comments

[marginalia.livejournal.com]

that -sucks-. i have no actual answers, but man, it -seems- like there should be some sort of a rent cut for that.

i woke up this morning to a puddle of water on the floor of the kitchen. yay for living on the top floor. this will be especially fun to deal with as i'm subletting. at least the landlords know i'm there. and at least it's wee leakage and not flooding.

[littlemystories.livejournal.com]

I hear rumor that there is somewhere at UW where students can get legal advice for free. Is there a law library or something like that?

Turns out our problems (multiple!) are that the crack in the floor (from the earthquake) is burbling water, apparently because of hypostatic pressure under the foundation. We need to drill in and install a sump pump. We're told that patching the holes instead of pumping the water out continually can cause a foundation and house to actually lift up. Also, the entire street side is leaking water through the basement wall--from the looks of the carpet pad, this has been happening for years. We never knew, but the previous owners might have, in which case we can sue them!

[ilmarinen.livejournal.com]

Such lawsuits are very difficult to win (some teammates just went through that on a house they just bought--they should have won, but their lawyers were idiots and didn't keep on top of things).

Yes, it is basically impossible to seal a basement from the inside if the water table is above the basement floor around it. At best, sealing the basement will retard water vapor and maybe capillary water, but not standing water. Best solution is to put a "french drain" or underdrain/trench system at foundation level around the basement. There are some good resources out on the web on the problem--don't have the links handy, but one was through a Midwest University.

-B.

[xmurf.livejournal.com]

Student Legal Services (http://www.washington.edu/students/handbook/legal.html). I've found them very helpful; give them a call.

[littlemystories.livejournal.com]

Typo: Hydrostatic pressure. And since water is coming in from everywhere, apparently the sump pump guy says the expanded job would be big, huge, and expensive. Basically digging a moat is the gist of it.

[mrukpyr.livejournal.com]

Funny you should post about the rain. I was reading the news online and saw an article about the rain and immediately thought of you. I sincerely feel for you.

If you still have Rick's email, give him a shout as he keeps pretty up to date on what a tenant can and cannot do.

If you don't, shoot me an email (ukpyr@earthlink.net) and I'll give it to you.

Heck, shoot me an email anyway so I have your current one.

ps: good luck with the icky sore.

A series of unfortunate plumbing

[loree.livejournal.com]

You have my empathy. Our xmas eve started with a flooded basement which has remained damp ever since. A rivulet of rainwater slowly seeps across the floor from one end of the basement to the trench where the sump empties. But, luckily, no poo, yet. That'll come eventually, once the crumbling sewer main collapses.