The short answer
Get the wet material out first, dry the space second, replace third. Everything you delay gets heavier, smellier and more expensive.
Prices: carpet removal $71 per room, rolled carpet $68, large area rug $68, sofa $126, futon $111, queen mattress $103, particleboard bookcase $100, storage cabinet $74, box of books $45, bag of clothes $35, contractor bag $41. By volume: quarter truckload $241, half $431, full $732.
Bagged wet debris prices on its own ladder: 10 bags $132, 15 bags $196, 20 bags $259, 25 bags $322, 30 bags $385.
How Columbus basements flood
Four ways, and most houses here have seen at least one.
Summer storm volume. Central Ohio gets thunderstorms that drop a month of rain in an hour. Gutters overflow, the grade around the foundation sheds water back toward the wall, and it comes in through the block.
Sump pump failure during a power cut. The classic. The same storm that produces the water knocks the power out, the pump stops, and the crock overflows. This is the most common single cause in Franklin County and the reason battery backups sell here.
Floor drain backup. In the older neighborhoods with legacy sewer arrangements, a hard rain can push water back up a basement floor drain. The city has spent years on sewer work in exactly those areas, but an older house with an old lateral is still exposed.
Frozen pipes. The winter version. A cold snap, an uninsulated line along an exterior basement wall, and a burst that runs until somebody notices.
Geography matters too. Houses near the Olentangy, the Scioto, Alum Creek, Big Walnut and Blacklick Creek, and the ones in the Clintonville streets that run down toward the ravines, take water more often than a ranch on flat ground in Hilliard.
What the water ruins
More than the things that are obviously wet.
- Carpet and pad. The pad is a sponge and it does not recover. Both go.
- Particleboard and MDF. Flat-pack bookcases, cheap desks, cabinet bases. They wick water up the legs, swell, and lose structure. Nothing saves them.
- Upholstered furniture. A basement sofa that sat in water is a mold problem in a fabric skin.
- Cardboard. Every box on the floor, and the contents of most of them.
- Mattresses. Anything stored down there is gone.
- Drywall. Wicks well above the waterline. This is a contractor's cut, not a hauler's, but the offcuts go on our truck.
- Books and paper. Fast, and unrecoverably.
What usually survives: metal shelving, plastic bins that were closed, solid wood if it is dried quickly, and appliances if the water stayed below the motor.
Do this in the first 48 hours
- Power off to the basement at the panel before you go down. Standing water and outlets do not mix.
- Photograph everything before anything moves, room by room, for insurance.
- Get the water out, then get the wet material out. Removing the sofa and the carpet is what actually stops the smell; a dehumidifier running in a room full of wet foam is fighting the wrong battle.
- Separate what is drying from what is going. Anything you are unsure about, put it in the go pile. In a humid central Ohio July it will not dry in a basement anyway.
- Book the haul early. After a regional storm event, every trade in Franklin County is booked within a day.
A worked cleanout
A finished basement family room in a Clintonville century home after a storm-night sump failure: carpet across two rooms, a sofa, a futon, two particleboard bookcases, a desk, and twenty bags of soaked cardboard and paper.
| Item | Flat price |
|---|---|
| Carpet removal, per room | $71 |
| Sofa | $126 |
| Futon | $111 |
| Bookcase, particleboard / flat-pack | $100 |
| Desk (standard) | $83 |
| 20 bags of debris | $259 |
Two rooms of carpet is 2 x $71 = $142. Add $126 + $111 + (2 x $100 = $200) + $83 + $259 and the total is $142 + $126 + $111 + $200 + $83 + $259 = $921. A full truckload is $732, so on a job this size book the truckload.
Appliances that were down there
Most Columbus laundry is in the basement, which means the flood took the appliances into the conversation.
Washer $133, dryer $128, stacked combo $189, water heater (tank) $131, chest freezer $146, upright freezer $149, standard refrigerator $164, dehumidifier $77.
Two honest notes. If the water reached the motor or the burner, do not try to run it; have the appliance checked or replaced. And if the furnace or the water heater was submerged, that is a licensed trade's decision, not a guess. We will take the old unit out at the published price once somebody qualified has condemned it.
Mold, and where we stop
Removing wet material fast is the best mold prevention available, and that is what we do. What we do not do is remediation. If there is visible growth across framing or on the underside of the subfloor, or if the water was sewage, you need a remediation contractor before anything else happens.
Say so when you book and you will get a straight answer rather than a crew that turns up and leaves. In a central Ohio summer, a wet basement goes from damp to actively growing in a few days, so the honest advice is to move on it.
Afterwards
Once the basement is empty, you can see the things that caused it: the grade against the foundation, the downspout that discharges two feet from the wall, the sump crock without a backup, the lateral that backs up in a hard rain. That is the moment to fix them, while the floor is bare.
And when you refinish, store off the floor. Metal shelving, sealed bins, nothing cardboard below knee height. In this city that is not pessimism, it is the local building code of common sense.
Frequently asked questions
How fast do I need to clear a flooded basement?
Within a couple of days. Wet carpet, foam and cardboard start growing mold quickly in a central Ohio summer, and every day they sit they get heavier and harder to carry up the stairs.
How much does it cost?
Carpet removal is $71 per room, rolled carpet is $68, and a half truckload is $431 with a full load at $732. Bagged wet debris runs $132 for 10 bags up to $385 for 30.
Do you do mold remediation?
No. We remove the wet material, which is the best prevention there is. Visible growth on framing or any sewage contamination needs a remediation contractor first.
Can I save a basement sofa that got wet?
Almost never. Upholstery holds water in the foam and it does not dry out in a basement. The same goes for anything made of particleboard, which swells from the legs up.
Will you carry it all up the basement stairs?
Yes, at the same price. Wet carpet is one of the heaviest things in this line of work, and carry-up from any floor is inside the flat rate.