Epic Flooding Disaster – Podcast #130

LeahDay

Leah Day has been teaching online since 2009. She's the creator of the Free Motion Quilting Project, a blog filled with thousands of quilting tutorial videos. Leah has written several books including 365 Free Motion Quilting Designs, Explore Walking Foot Quilting with Leah Day, and Mally the Maker and the Queen in the Quilt.

10 Responses

  1. QuiltShopGal says:

    Oh I’m so very sorry. I had no idea there was flooding in your area. I will happily help, in any way I can. And, your plans for a Dream Big (workshop ?) sounds really exciting. Wish I lived closer as I’d honestly be happy to come help with flood cleanup and getting you back in the driver’s seat. Big hug, positive thoughts and wishes being sent your way.

    • LeahDay says:

      Thank you so much! We’re doing more of a Dream Big mini quilt along. I’m going to begin sharing videos on that around March 13th with new designs every Friday until the quilt is filled. That is assuming I can get back to filming sometime soon! LOL! We really appreciate your support.

  2. Pat Salvant says:

    Sorry for your flood woes. Just a not about basements, We had one when we lived in Va. It was a walkout basement, front below ground and a back walk out. We also lived on a hill, and behind us was a community lake. In 4 years there was never a problem THEN the previous lean water years was reversed and we developed HYDROSTATIC pressure. Only it was 5 years of many floods, water vacuums, digging out to the foundation and coating the front below grade wall before the problem was correctly identified. The water literally was pushed UP the concrete/brick veneer wall and the descended to FLOOD the 2000 sq ft basement (laundry, rec room, and design studio (I am a retired Interior designer) one sons bedroom and garage) . We finally resolved the problem with a dry well AND a sump pump. Only problem then was when we lost electricity, which in a rural area can be too many times. So we purchased a generator, and managed to live somewhat normally till we sold the home about 7 years later. Oh yest the septic lines were in the front of the house because of the Lake, so whenever we got a drenching we also had to have the septic tank pumped out. I mention this because we finally just had it pumped out every February, (after snows and before spring rains.
    The point to this story is MAKE SURE the problem s correctly identified and not going to be an ongoing problem. My heart goes out to you, I will do what I can, although I own your books, and have watched all your videos when Blueprint used to be Craftsy. I dont know if you get paid per viewing or what, but I would run them every day if that would help.
    Chin up, yes it could be worse, but it is not what you want to be going through when trying to run a business. When we moved to Louisiana and eventually Florida, we swore NO MORE BASEMENTS, and NO more water any where close by. (we are now 8 miles from the ocean and only have to deal with the annual hurricanes.) I also retired 5 years ago.
    God Bless you and thanks for all you share with the quilting community. I am administrator of a facebook group, Quilting As You Go Over The Top and I will post your dilemma on our group, (almost 4000 members), hopefully it may help.
    You are welcome to join but we do have a no ad policy, however I can post!

    • LeahDay says:

      Thank you so much for sharing Pat! I agree, figuring out the issue, or multiple issues behind this flood is the key. I think it’s an issue of landscaping combined with our gutters not being big enough for the heaviest rains. Time to pull on my mud boots and get mucky! Thank you for sharing and helping in any way you can!

  3. Franni says:

    I’m sure I already have this workshop, but I can’t find it, so happy to buy again as a contribution to The Great Flood Clearup fund. I hope you’re able to fix everything so it’s better and brighter, and that you’ll be able to keep smiling through the chaos of rebuilding

  4. Dora mather says:

    Our house bathroom flooded one year while my husband was out of town. The water ran from the bathroom to the kitchen & the living room and also a bedroom next to the bathroom. It was a mess for months had to stay in a hotel for a week because the floors were being worked on, stain, buff, sand etc. The carpets were removed and we have cement floors so my husband decided to seal the floors with the sealer used on shower pans. Then we laid down wood floors. You might want to address some type of sealer on the wall or area where the water came in.

    • LeahDay says:

      Thank you for sharing Dora. I’m planning to rebuild with steel studs and PVC wall board and leave gaps between the brick and wall. That way we can keep an eye on the walls and no longer have any surprises.

  5. Gail Wilson says:

    Good luck with your renovations.I understand your frustration! Our basement flooded the same day and my sewing/quilting room, husbands weaving room and his wood working shop are in the basement. Like you, we live on a hill and have a walkout basement but the deluge of rain seeped in through the wall at the floor level in three different places. We spent 24 hours with shop vacs dehumidifiers, fans mops and towels. All my machines (2 sergers, two embroidery machines, two regular sewing machines and a long arm thankfully were high enough off the floor and were not damaged. His looms also were not damaged because we were able to move them before the water damaged them. However boxes of books, fabric, patterns, ect that were on the floor did not fair as well. Floors were tile and they survived as well. Only have to replace a few that lifted because the water got underneath them. Everything is dry and no smell. Now to find a contractor to help figure out what to do to keep this from happening again!

    • LeahDay says:

      Thank you for sharing Gail. We’ve learned that the answer – how to stop this from happening – is both expensive, messy, and going to be a lot more work than we expected. Contact Dry Pro if that is available in your area. We just had an inspection and had a great experience with them. *Sigh* I’m feeling pretty tired of all this chaos now, but I know when we get it all put back, it will be much better than before. I’m so glad you didn’t lose any more machines or looms. Books and patterns are thankfully easy to replace and I have found I can do a lot more with a lot less and have been steadily purging out my collections.

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