It’s becoming more likely Hurricane Irma will at least affect U.S., if not make landfall

[loves2read]

My daughter who is in Sarasota at friends' house near BeeRidge is going to bed...
She said their area had no problems with down trees or flooded streets

Glad to hear others are ok

Re the flooding in that converted space...
I think your landlord likely has a house with a conversion that was not permitted--which is illegal and likely to be unsafe. If you made it through the hurricane you were lucky
If it had come through as a 3 you might not...I hope the night is uneventful...
re the flooding
Your landlord has a legal responsibility to give you house that does not leak...it does it when the water table gets too high and it passes through the line where the foundation and the CB construction/exterior wall meet. We have CB house built in late 70s. Was likely a "good" neighborhood in the 70s even if it does not have the new bldg codes.We discovered we had water passing through the foundation line when Imstepped in puddle of water while ironing in master bedroom. Water can be silent as a cobra and strike as swiftly...we thought it was broken sprinkler my husband found when we went outside andd saw it spraying up into,the soffit. But it was raining and had been raining off and on a few days.
He fixed sprinkler...later on it happened after some heavy rains lasted for a week.
We added some sprinkler extenders to,move water away from the landscaping beds w/gravel. But it would still,happen at times...
This summer wear the house painted and asked the painter if he would water proof the foundation under the ground and also,part,of the CB above foundation...
They pulled dirt away from foundation and primed foundation along w/CB. They did the water proofing with special masonry sealer and then painted.

Our daughter went over to the housea couple of weeks ago,when there was heavy rain and checked the beach towel we keep along the baseboard to sop it up,when it starts and she said it was dry...no damp at all...so that is what I,would suggest...
I am sure a gutter might help or a French drain to capture the water and move it away
But doubt your landlady will,pay for,that...

As for her comment about renter's insurance
Renter's insurance never covers damage by rising water---that is what you are dealing with.
So even if you HAD it, renter's does not cover any damage by flood. My son was flooded out of his Dallas apt in June due to landscaping drain outside his first floor apt being booked during very heavy intense rain. When there was a break the landscaping guys cleared drain and water drained...but rain started up, they left, and it reblocked and flooded.
No flood policy and while they had renter's ins it did them no good...

DO NOT let your landlady claim its your responsibility to clean any thing damaged. And understand that mold can grow in circumstances like yours...mold is NOT good for your health.

[AnotherTouchOfWhimsy]

Wondermint, you would never be responsible for damage caused by a hurricane unless you opened all the doors and windows or something equally negligent. Your landlady has to pay to get the water removed and any mold treated.

We had no damage to our home in North Port. It was gusty and a little whistly, but not terrible at all. I had read a terrifying description of what it sounds like and feels like to experience a cat 4 hurricane and I was trying to mentally prepare for the worst. I'm so thankful that it missed us, for the most part.

[loves2read]

Hope the water has drained by now
If you can get some gas (our daughter in Nokomis never really had that much trouble finding some) and get to the store--buy 20 Mule Team Borax and mix with water--
Clean any areas that took on water and let dry
Borax--FEMA and others who investigate mold have results that show Borax because of its pH value is better than bleach---bleach can kill the outward "bloom" of mold but not always the roots...Borax goes deeper to get its roots...

I am not impressed with your landlady's commitment to upgrade your living quarters
But I know that rent in Venice area can be $
And it's not really my business
But living in house that has issue with water passing into the living space on fairly regular occurrences is not good for you...
Our water issue happened fairly rarely and we are seasonal so not there 24/7..
Hope you are drained if not dry and can get back to normal ASAP

[loves2read]

Originally Posted by AnotherTouchOfWhimsy

Wondermint, you would never be responsible for damage caused by a hurricane unless you opened all the doors and windows or something equally negligent. Your landlady has to pay to get the water removed and any mold treated.

We had no damage to our home in North Port. It was gusty and a little whistly, but not terrible at all. I had read a terrifying description of what it sounds like and feels like to experience a cat 4 hurricane and I was trying to mentally prepare for the worst. I'm so thankful that it missed us, for the most part.

Of the three families who are friends of our daughter, living in North Port/Port Charlotte area
Two of them got lot of water in their yards from a creek in area--before the storm surge was supposed to happen
Luckily their homes didn't take any inside...one had damage to soffits around house but nothing really bad--pool cages intact
Don't know about the 3...but likely oK

[wondermint2]

Originally Posted by loves2read

Hope the water has drained by now
If you can get some gas (our daughter in Nokomis never really had that much trouble finding some) and get to the store--buy 20 Mule Team Borax and mix with water--
Clean any areas that took on water and let dry
Borax--FEMA and others who investigate mold have results that show Borax because of its pH value is better than bleach---bleach can kill the outward "bloom" of mold but not always the roots...Borax goes deeper to get its roots...

I am not impressed with your landlady's commitment to upgrade your living quarters
But I know that rent in Venice area can be $
And it's not really my business
But living in house that has issue with water passing into the living space on fairly regular occurrences is not good for you...
Our water issue happened fairly rarely and we are seasonal so not there 24/7..
Hope you are drained if not dry and can get back to normal ASAP

Just got my internet back on this evening (Comcast)- it went down Sunday evening. One of the Comcast reps told me the outage was due to a server being down in Palmer Ranch - because service here in Nokomis is dependent on that server. I wonder if Palmer Ranch had a power outage? Maybe that's why it took so long to fix.

My landlord is coming over on Saturday and she said she has a way to fix the water leak. We'll see. Everything is dried out now - I've been running a high speed fan over the throw carpet so it dried faster. I don't see any mold but I sprayed some cleaner with bleach over the carpet just to be sure.

Something rather alarming has sprung up since Tuesday. I'm having double vision. It's the kind that goes away if one eye is closed - and only happens if both eyes are open at the same time. It's the "vertical" kind and only happens when viewing things at certain angles and distances.

Haven't gone to see a doctor yet because I need to get gas and I wanted to wait until the gas panic subsides - and also I'll see if the double vision goes away on it's own within a couple of days. I had a bad headache and felt like I had the flu a few days ago. Feeling better now except for the double vision. Kind of strange that my double vision occurred right after the hurricane and the minor house flooding - could just be a coincidence though. I'm hoping it was caused by stress and tiredness. Do you think it could be caused by the water that leaked in? One other thing is that I get bit by a lot of bugs - so maybe this could be related to a tick bite and lyme disease?

[loves2read]

Could be optical migraine--
Often times caused by stress
My daughter has had them and my husband and friend of ours in Houston
Stress can bring them on
Too much time on computer screen (both girls are teachers and spend lot of time working on lesson plans and stuff for work)
But optical migraines don't have to have a "headache"
They can just show up...
If you had tick bite/Lyme disease you would have a red ring around the bite--like bad acne/poison ivy type rash so if you aren't seeing that you likely don't have Lyme disease

Good luck
Borax better for mold than bleach
20 mule team at Walmart in box...
Mop/wipe with that in some hot water