Under House Flood.... with extras!

[allanmartin]

Hello

Really hope that someone can help me! I have no idea how long for, but my drain from my kitchen sink which runs under my house has burst. All the water from the sink and the dishwasher has been running onto the earth under my house. We also have a waste disposal unit, so there was a lot of micro food particles. I have cleaned up as much as possible from under there, but it is very difficult to get everything. I spoke to a drain company, and they suggested bleaching everything. Done that twice. Spoke to another person who said put fans down to try and replace the air as much as possible. Done!... for 2 weeks now.

Its getting better and better, but I'm fearing that I'm just getting used to it. When I leave the house and come back, the damp smell really hits me when I get back.

Does anyone have a really good idea how to make this smell go away quicker? Also, should I be worried about anything else this problem might have caused?

Many many thanks.

 

[wotan]

A strong disinfectant, Jeyes fluid, it should be pretty effective in this situation.
I use it when outside drain blocks and overflows, it has a smell, but it's not unpleasent.

Wotan

 

[ColJack]

bucket and shovel..
get under there and start digging the contaminated dirt out..

it's likely that it's not "damp" that you can smell, rather the food waste getting de-composed..

 

[plugwash]

What would worry me about the bucket and shovel technique is that the contamination could go some distance into the soil and digging out too much soil could affect the stability of the foundations. Particularly if they are say old fassioned stepped brick.

 

[ColJack]

do it like underpinning.. dig it out in 1m pits.. spaced 2m appart and then fill in one with hardcore and dirt before moving over to the next one....