Flooded basement / Chin safety

[EMSChins]

Two nights ago our basement flooded due to a malfunctioned sump pump.

We had about 2 inches of water when I went to check on the chins before going to bed (no evidence of flooding when I fed them 2 1/2 hours prior). Luckily they are way up off of the floor as are all of their supplies.

Unfortunately we had lots of furniture as well as lots of boxes of household goods sitting on the floor, all boxed up in anticipation of selling our house.

I spent all night sucking up water and re-boxing things, the plumber arrived at 3 am to fix the sump pump. We have spent the last two days with about 8 huge fans and two large de-humidifiers going 24 hours a day. Needless to say the chins are a little distressed with all of the noise and activity.

I am managing to keep the chin area between 64 and 68 degrees but the rest of the basement is about 70-74 degrees. The next step after everything is dry is to spray the basement with a product to prevent the formation of mold/fungus/bacteria. So far I have managed to limit the chins exposure to the basement cleanup but am very worried about spraying the basement as their room is not that separated from the rest of the basement.

Has anyone had this issue before and if so do you know if any sprays are okay to use around the chins.

I have over 50 chins now and moving them to a different part of the house is not really an option. I would rather not spray than to move them. Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[AZChins]

I'm so sorry! I've never had this happen before so I don't know if it is safe. It would probably be pretty difficult to bring all the chins upstairs.. I hope that you didn't lose too much with that flood.

All I really know is that most sprays that prevent fungus or bacteria are usually toxic. You could use something that isn't as toxic, but it probably won't work as well. What is the product that you are going to use?

 

[Kalandra]

Do you know what the product is called? You may want to ask the company who is going to spray it to see the msds sheet. I'd also google the products name to see if there are any warnings for other pet species.

 

[EMSChins]

The company that brought in the fans/blowers and dehumidifiers is supposed to be back this afternoon to check the moisture level remaining in the basement so I will get the name of the product then. I figured that I could look up the MSDS sheet fairly easily (have done this many times as a nurse) but that it wouldn't necessarily indicate if it were harmful to rodents/chinchillas.

 

[Kalandra]

It won't indicate toxicity to rodents, but should give you an idea of the chemicals it contains. So you can base your research on them, and not just a product name. There seems to be a variety of stuff that they use out there. If you don't find anyone here that has used it or is familiar with it, definitely search google for dogs, cats and birds. I figure dogs/cats because they lick their feet, and birds because they are so sensitive to everything.

 

[EMSChins]

Thanks for your help. Will let you know but right now I am inclined not to spray - will just mean throwing a few more things away. I have already taken up all of the vinyl flooring we just laid in the chin room about a month ago as that was saturated. We are back down to concrete in there. Everything else in that room was either up on wheeled wooden carts (the cages), steel shelving units or cinder block so I think that area will be okay without being sprayed.

 

[Brittany]

I don't know how bad your damage is, but it seems like if you don't spray you'll be at risk for mold, mildew, etc... I think you mentioned before that your family may be moving in the near future? Having worked in a real-estate office I know that they do test for those things during home inspections. If there is a problem they could require that you fix it, or ask that you take the cost of repairs out of the overall price. Either way you lose money.

I suppose the first step is to determine if the spray is toxic, then pick the lesser of the two evils. Don't spray and take your chances, or go through the headache of re-locating the chins for awhile in order to take care of this problem now rather than later.

My concern with not spraying would be that if a problem develops such as mold, you run the risk of health problems to your herd/family. Sorry this has happened :-(

 

[Mandy]

We JUST went through this last week with our sump pump going out.
All we could do was pull the little bit of carpet up, then mop the floors with a mix of pine soil and water. (Unfinished basement, so all concrete.)
Took all week for the humidity to go down from 70%, though.
It all dried pretty quick after that and the chins are doing fine down there now.

Hope you can figure this out pretty soon!

 

[EMSChins]

Hi Brittany - thanks for your advice but anything that the water damaged can be removed, at some cost to us but I would rather throw it all away that risk either the chins health or mold/mildew. As stated luckily the basement was unfinished although we did have quite a bit stored down there. Anything that is not removed should just be concrete and that is a porous surface that absorbs and releases moisture anyway - really no way to water proof it from ground water. The wood sills supporting the stairwell are constructed of specailly treated lumbar that repels moisture so they are okay.

The water remediation company was just out and tested every area with a moisture sensor and stated that everything is now dry and the humidity level in the basement is down to 10% as opposed to 65% the other night. He stated that if it was his house, he wouldn't bother spraying due to the chins and the very low possibility of mold/mildew growing on anything remaining in the basement.

All in all not bad news - just will end up throwing some stuff away. I have lived without it since March when we put our house on the market so I guess I didn't need it anyway!

 

[EMSChins]

BTW - for anyone wondering or in a similar predicament, the product that this company routinely uses is called Milgo Plus and the MSDS sheet is:

http://lpmsupply.com/msds/misc/DE MilgoPlus.pdf

Which is why I decided against it. Will be throwing out anything we can't move upstairs and clean.

 

[Spoof]

My barn has flooded a couple of times and I deal with high humidity year round.

I highly recommend getting a 50lb salt block and sticking it in a bucket in the corner of your basement. It absorbs moisture better than any dehumidifier I've tried and is cheap. On average it keeps the moisture 10-20 percent lower and the wet on the floor dries up faster. It's quite bizarre, but it works and doesn't cost anything beyond the initial purchase.

 

[Mandy]

Spoof that's really interesting!
Would you need to change it at a certain point?

 

[EMSChins]

Interesting idea for future humidity issues- thanks!

 

[bailey45121]

Sorry to hear about your basement flooding... Specially right before the Holidays... Hope the clean up goes well as well as fast... Take care.

Jody