Wet Basement Bonding

I met a couple of new friends this weekend.  We chatted about the struggles of moving to a new city and fessed up about how we interfere in our children's lives. (Yes, toddler, you will like Carmen, and you will play with her, because we like Carmen's parents, and we will drink beer with them while you play).  And then we bonded, really bonded, about moisture in the basement.  "Jay" (he's a new friend, and doesn't know he's about to star in a blog) said that he and his wife used to have a waterfall in the basement. The gushing water was a troubling indication of problems with the foundation that had been missed during inspection. "But we fixed it," Jay said. I nodded and asked how in a surprisingly un-bored voice.  "We built a moat." he said. "And put rubber duckies in it," his wife chimed in.

I should let you know that for the most part, when I meet new people and one of us turns out to be a little weird, that person is usually me. But rubber duckies in a moat in the basement? "That way, we know that the water is moving just by peeking down the stairs," Jay explained. "And that's a good thing."  All of sudden I felt okay about our basement woes. Sure, it was a very special kind of water in our basement (sewage, to be specific) but we had someone come and take it out.  We didn't decorate it and give it a name.

I've recently learned that most people experience water in the basement at one time or another. But, like your mother used to say, "Just because everybody is doing it doesn't mean it's a good idea...."  In fact, moisture in the basement, attic or anywhere in your house can lead to mold, and mold ("mould" here in Canada)  can lead to you and your family getting sick.  Really sick. Just by breathing the air in your house.

So maybe we should extend our manipulative and controlling parenting beyond the play date with a kid who pulls our kids' hair, but has funny parents, and start manipulating our living environment. Environment Canada says Canadians spend up to 90% of their lives indoors. Ouch. And the air we're breathing in here... is worse than anything we'd find outside.