Any tips for restoring a flooded basement, DIY style?

Non-sewage drainage backed up into my basement (I live in downtown Louisville) to the tune of 5+ feet of water at its peak.  The sump pump is removing the water as I type this, but other than calling someone like ServPro, what are my options?

My insurance has a $10k limit on water damages such as this, so the more work I can do myself the more I can use toward new A/C, water heater, and refrigerator (Which were all completely submerged).  

I was thinking a pressure washer on a low setting?  The walls of the basement are some kind of porous stone (limestone, I think).  Maybe a mild bleach solution to head off any mold or mildew.  

Anybody have an experience with these sorts of things?

Bleach for sure.

What the limit on fire damage?  Just sayin...

Dehumidifier !!!!

Well, I'd start with at least a medium duty dehumidifier.


Set it at it's lowest % setting, turn the fan to high, and let it run full time. Make sure to attach the hose to drain into the sump.





That will dry it out very well, but beyond that I don't know. I guess the question becomes "Is there any growth?"


If there isn't then there isn't, and by removing the moisture  condition I would think that there wouldn't be.


Hit the walls with Lysol perhaps? Or "seal" them with a DryLok paint or similar.





You can wash the floor and walls, but bear in mind that you're going to make it wet again and also may remove mortar and shit like that.


A rubber floor squeegee to get the water to the sump is also necessary IMO.





And I'm not sure running bleach through a pressure washer would be conducive to it's longevity.


Not sure, but bleach is corrosive and seals don't tend to like it much.





 

don't use bleach go to home depot and get pool chlorine it comes in bleach bottles but is more chlorine and it shouldn't hurt a pressure washer just run some clean water through before you put it up my dad uses that method all the time.



although for you you could get that chlorine and do half and half and spray it around with a pump up bug sprayer. then dehumidify for a while then paint and seal the walls and floor.



 

I like this whole idea very much. +1



 

This first.

Don't even bother with bleach. Even the manufacturers claim it won't work on anything but hard surfaces.
Any porous building material i.e. wood or concrete will continue to harbor the "roots" of the mold. As the
bleach becomes inert due to its evaporation the mold would come back.

No Drylok on concrete, as mentioned earlier, either. The damage it causes in some cases have condemned homes.
Another thing to know about Drylock is that it has a shelf life of 2 years on your walls. So in 2 years, while the thick
paint coating will still be there, the chemical components that make it effective will have worn off. This isn't something
that you should even be considering as you don't have a leaky basement, just a line flood.

Remove the loose/easy water via pumps/shop vac/etc.
Air movement/fans along with dehumidifiers (industrial/commercial).
Depending on your basement configuration would dictate if I called a mitigation company.

If you want to go over this PM me your phone number.
I run the Emergency Services department for a small restoration company.

72 hours (approx) with the right conditions and you could be facing a mold problem.

Take care.

We went through this in April: ServPro. They came in and gutted the basement in one day. Their high powered fans had to run for several days to dry everything out.

Once they remove the water, drywall, and carpet, then you could certainly take over from there. But the mitigation was totally worth it. In our case the insurance covered it all so we were only out our deductible (which was made up in what we got for lost items).