Major Water Damage in the Basement

On Monday 12/1/2009 we noticed water coming into the basement from the wall next to the elevator door. We immediately shut down the water but since the water continued coming in we determined that it was coming from outside.

The water was concentrating into the elevator shaft and filled it up. As of 11pm on 12/1/2009 the water had filled up the elevator shaft and continued flooding other areas of the basement. About 1-2 inches of water accumulated in various areas of the basement.

We placed 6 calls to 311 non-emergency and 312-744-4420 Water Department of the City of Chicago. A crew came in at midnight and dispatched a morning crew to come out first thing Tuesday. A City crew came at 8am and turned off the "B Box" which is the valve that connects the City's water supply to the building. They had to excavate the sidewalk in order to fully close the valve.

At 11am on Tuesday the water stopped coming in and the water supply to the building has been turned off until further notice.

Monday night State Farm insurance was informed about the claim and the morning an adjustor was in contact with us to get further details.

ServPro was contracted to dry the basement. The cost will be $1,000 to cover th einsurance deductable. Colley Elevator was contacted to inspect the elevator and offer a quote for repairs.

The basement drying, elevator repairs and basement rebuilding will be claimed on the insurance claim.

Fixing the Pipe
After being inspected by 3 plumbers, two of the plumbers offered good solutions. Lakeshore Plumbing offered a solution of going in through the 1st floor hallway down to the basement to locate the pipe joint that is loose. Green and Blue Plumbing offered a better solution which is to bust through the concrete wall in the basement and locate the joint immediately behind it. They tend to believe that the leak is coming from a 90-degree joint directly behind the wall.

Water Outage
Water will remain out of service for at least 48 hours if not more. Goal is to turn the water service back on. For the time being all residents mst supply themselves with drinking, washing, and cooking water. Alternatively, those that have other living arrangements should start thinking about other accomodations with family or friends for the next few days until this is corrected.

We anticipate this situation to have a cost of around $10,000 to our Association, which is ehat we currently have in our reserves.

If you have any questions call Niko at 847-980-7799.