water standing in storm cellar

Texasmark1 · Jan 15, 2021

Keep my "tractor" tires that aren't being used in a concrete storm cellar. Just went out to get something out and there is some water standing on the floor and lots of things mildewed, not grossed out but mildew is present.. There is the conventional poured concrete stairway with double doors facing up and 2 ea 3" vents, one on each end of the 8x16' room.

How do you attempt to clean up a mess like that, in particular how do you breathe? Does a filtered painter's mask with replaceable paper disc cartridges ample to keep the bad guys out of your lungs, or do you need a respirator? I thought about sticking a leaf blower in one of the vent pipes with the doors open and blowing fresh air in there.....good bad idea?

How about Clorox brand spray cleaner in the green spray bottle on the shelf in Dollar General to name one mildew killer? Go in there and give everything a good dose of that...then back with the leaf blower to blow the fumes out and go down there with a mop and bucket and clean up the mess?????

Comments appreciated.
Mark

old · Jan 15, 2021

Adding a fan to one of the vents can help and also adding heat to help get rid if the water or a dehumidifier

glennster · Jan 15, 2021

use a good respirator with an n95 rating. here is a link fromm3m
poke here

showcrop · Jan 15, 2021

I don't follow your mask terminology. If you search for painter's mask you get an N95 with replaceable cartridges. That is what I would use. I am sure you know that all that bad stuff grows better when it is warm so avoid heat. How did the water get in?

MSD · Jan 15, 2021

Get a hand pump sprayer and mix a 50-50 mix of Clorox bleach up. Spray it down good and it will kill it.

paul · Jan 15, 2021

N95 mask.

How much water, wet dry vac, sponge mop for deep or just covering, dehumidifier to clear up the air.

Hard to relate in a cold minnesota winter, but in summer up here the heavy humidity in summer will keep a basement wet all summer, must have a dehumidifier. The more wet summer air you blow in, the more it condenses in a cold basement and creates water, never airs it out. Don’t know how that fits your conditions.

Bleach will help kill things down.

What to do for the future, get drainage under, or a sump pump in a corner? And a dehumidifier on a long term basis for the wet times.

Texasmark1 · Jan 15, 2021

The entrance is/was above ground level....i noticed today that leaves piled up against the concrete perimeter of the entrance allowing 1-2% grade runoff
water to move across the top rather than be diverted around. That will get fixed tomorrow.

I have spent much of this PM looking at masks and what vermin they block. Seems the cloth nnalert-19 type face masks on Amazon to name one source,
have removable carbon filtered inserts that might work.......and pros or cons from anybody on this. Seems they have at least 2 sizes, female running
around 8 bucks and male picture was at 16. Home Depot has half face rubber masks with $10 apiece carbon laced replaceable "modules" (2 per mask)
for lack of another term. Mask is about 20 bucks and a pair of replacement filters is also 20 bucks.

My question on these types of masks is do you have to worry about bacteria growing in them when you use them more than once....or can you spray
them with the household aerosol that kills viruses....open for pros or cons on this.

Thanks to you and other repliers if I don't get you answered individually.

Texasmark1 · Jan 15, 2021

That and a day or so of running the leaf blower down one of the vent tubes with the doors open just might do the trick. Was thinking clorox (Chlorine) would have to be involved to do the killing......just didn't want my lungs burnt from the fumes....course these masks I have been looking at trap such molecules.

Texasmark1 · Jan 15, 2021

Its 42 years old and was poured in one piece....quite a experience for the workers that went in to remove the steel bolted together panels that made the inner forms (dirt of the hole the outer). They could only stay in there for a couple of minutes and would come out ringing wet. What a way to make a living........

Back to the story....never had a problem with condensation in all these years.....inside stayed dry and a comfortable 55ish degrees........Just the rain water getting in this fall after all the leaves fell and I saw leaves in the area when I was cleaning up leaves but didn't think about what I found when I found this.

DoubleO7 · Jan 15, 2021

Might want to do some earth work. After 40 years the grade has changed not for the better.

Is there power outlets inside?
If yes,
Might want to install a full time dehumidifier.
Could even use a small window a/c unit.
Might also look into a humidistat controlled exhaust fan.
The amount of venting might be marginal.

Is the interior finished or is the concrete painted or raw?
Might paint with some anti mold paint.

First treat interior with one cup of bleach per gallon of water.
If raw concrete, you will want to spray it three or four times.
You can add some dish soap to make the water "wetter" to soak into concrete better.

linthead · Jan 15, 2021

I have some experience with masks, the making of the material in them. I would suggest replacing the mask, if disposable, or the filter after wearing it for a day when mold is present. If possible, allow the basement to air out a day or two before going in to work. You might also want to put some fans in the basement with the doors open to try to dry it out a bit and reduce the mold in the air.

Steve@Advance · Jan 15, 2021

If this is something new, something must have changed.

Is there a nearby water or sewer line? Possibly a leak is saturating the ground.

Texasmark1 · Jan 16, 2021

I can fix the grade tomorrow.

Interior was painted when built, kind unknown, probably white oil base...never paid it any attention.

Had a circuit to cellar but one of my earth moving adventures put an accidental stop to that. Could run an extension cord down one of the vent pipes.

On the bleach a yes. On several coats, probably a good idea. I use a bleach mix to spray the North side of my buildings where algae likes to grow if you
don't power wash the affected wall. You start out with it being green and treat it and it turns grey over a few days but stays gray. Give it a week or two
and it is back to its normal color. Soooo several coats surely wouldn't hurt.

Soap sounds like a good idea, like using a surfactant with plant spraying herbicide one would think.

I have some boxes of papers that surely will be a mess to get out. "Gonna be a dreary" day, or two, or week......... as the song goes.

Thanks.

showcrop · Jan 16, 2021

(quoted from post at 19:14:35 01/15/21) The entrance is/was above ground level....i noticed today that leaves piled up against the concrete perimeter of the entrance allowing 1-2% grade runoff
water to move across the top rather than be diverted around. That will get fixed tomorrow.

I have spent much of this PM looking at masks and what vermin they block. Seems the cloth nnalert-19 type face masks on Amazon to name one source,
have removable carbon filtered inserts that might work.......and pros or cons from anybody on this. Seems they have at least 2 sizes, female running
around 8 bucks and male picture was at 16. Home Depot has half face rubber masks with $10 apiece carbon laced replaceable

"modules" (2 per mask)
for lack of another term. Mask is about 20 bucks and a pair of replacement filters is also 20 bucks.

My question on these types of masks is do you have to worry about bacteria growing in them when you use them more than once....or can you spray
them with the household aerosol that kills viruses....open for pros or cons on this.

Thanks to you and other repliers if I don't get you answered individually.

Mark, I would be totally confident with submersing the mask in 50PPM bleach solution for 5 min. I set our Fire Dept. up with washing and sanitizing air pack masks. We use Quat-Amonium because bleach is corrosive, but the air packs cost $5,000 each and need to last for 15-20 years. So far as killing the spores in the cellar bleach will be effective but a little (1oz to the gal) dish detergent will help to enable the bleach to penetrate and make the kill.

Texasmark1 · Jan 16, 2021

Thanks for the tip.

WAYNE-N-TEXAS · Jan 16, 2021

My dad built the pump house below ground level to protect the pump from freezing. They had to get in there and dip the water out that come in. After dad died I installed an automatic sump pump. Mother didn't have to remove the water after that.

This is just in case water gets in there anymore, if this was the first time, forget what I said.

Texasmark1 · Jan 17, 2021

Update: Things went well yesterday. I used the hand pump multiuse sprayer and Pine-sol idea. Got out my old partial face mask I used for painting years ago. Found my box of sealed, new filters I had for it. Cleaned the mask real good, installed new filters and the filter problem was solved. Didn't smell any Pine-sol while down there so it must have been working ok. Put on my rubber boots and rain coat and went down there and wet everything down good including ceiling and walls. Came out, left the doors open and dug a good trench around the entrance while I was waiting for things to dry somewhat.

Got a scoop, like you'd use to scoop bulk corn or oats out of a bin and a 5 gallon bucket. Went back down and got up most of the water....about 5 gallons which was most of it. it took awhile since the water wasn't very deep, but the scoop worked great considering you couldn't pick up but about a cup full of water per scoop...push a scoop of water against the wall and when it came back at you, hit it with the scoop again, picking it up and dumped it in the bucket.

Next it was hook up the 10+ year old Black and Decker electric leaf blower.....pulled the cap off one of the vent pipes and stuck the nozzle in the pipe and turned it on, doors still open. It ran continuously most of the day.....speaks well for B&D's reliability....it'll get to do it again today. By supper time things had dried up pretty well and the floor was drying really fast too........With bright sunlight and a Dew Point of 17*F yesterday (talk about timing......), good North wind blowing, it really helped in getting fast drying. Will repeat today and then button down the hatches as rain is forecast for most of the rest of the week.

So thanks for your help. Like everything else you do, make your plan, work your plan, job done. I like to remember buildings are built one brick at a time....problems are solved one step at a time. Keep your head down, working your plan and when you get to the end of the plan, the job will be done. Wink!

showcrop · Jan 17, 2021

(quoted from post at 04:26:06 01/17/21) Update: Things went well yesterday. I used the hand pump multiuse sprayer and Pine-sol idea. Got out my old partial face mask I used for painting years ago. Found my box of sealed, new filters I had for it. Cleaned the mask real good, installed new filters and the filter problem was solved. Didn't smell any Pine-sol while down there so it must have been working ok. Put on my rubber boots and rain coat and went down there and wet everything down good including ceiling and walls. Came out, left the doors open and dug a good trench around the entrance while I was waiting for things to dry somewhat.

Got a scoop, like you'd use to scoop bulk corn or oats out of a bin and a 5 gallon bucket. Went back down and got up most of the water....about 5 gallons which was most of it. it took awhile since the water wasn't very deep, but the scoop worked great considering you couldn't pick up but about a cup full of water per scoop...push a scoop of water against the wall and when it came back at you, hit it with the scoop again, picking it up and dumped it in the bucket.

Next it was hook up the 10+ year old Black and Decker electric leaf blower.....pulled the cap off one of the vent pipes and stuck the nozzle in the pipe and turned it on, doors still open. It ran continuously most of the day.....speaks well for B&D's reliability....it'll get to do it again today. By supper time things had dried up pretty well and the floor was drying really fast too........With bright sunlight and a Dew Point of 17*F yesterday (talk about timing......), good North wind blowing, it really helped in getting fast drying. Will repeat today and then button down the hatches as rain is forecast for most of the rest of the week.

So thanks for your help. Like everything else you do, make your plan, work your plan, job done. I like to remember buildings are built one brick at a time....problems are solved one step at a time. Keep your head down, working your plan and when you get to the end of the plan, the job will be done. Wink!

Good deal! Thanks for posting back.

water standing in storm cellar

Texasmark1

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old

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glennster

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showcrop

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MSD

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paul

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Texasmark1

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