Wolf_22

Thank god for people like you, silversky, because you give me hope. Seriously. I mean, talking about it helps with the anxiety, ya know? It's been a major problem in my life lately and I'm trying to find a way to make things work on my end. My hope is that, through a combination of internal drainage, a good dehumidifier that I'm planning on buying this month, and some pump contingency systems for backup when the power goes out, I'll be able to stomach this for another 12-15 years. It's not going to be easy but I do believe that the structure of the home is now fine and that once I get the internal drainage installed, I think it will make things a little easier to deal with. But I sometimes cry over this, especially when I know we're going to get hammered with another big rain. It's become such a neurotic thing for me that I sometimes fight myself when feeling compelled to look at online forecasts and each time I get ready to look at them, I feel my heart rate increase and anxiety buildup to the point that I almost begin to feel my hands shake. Anymore, the forecasts almost determine how good my day is going to be but once I see the big rain icon for some day ahead of the current, I just feel defeated and it determines the rest of the week... I hate that I'm like this.

But I'll remember what you said about the disclosure. You and my older sister said similar things. I've spoken to her about this because she's got a lot more experience than I do with home ownership. I think she's had about 5 or 6 different homes in her life and she's told me that every older home has issues like this. She felt the walls were perfectly fine and not going anywhere anytime soon, which makes me feel good. It's just the water that's more so irritating than anything to actually worry about. She told me about how once she came across a home that had an actual "mote" around the basement. (I think it was a home a realtor was showing her.) She told me that when she asked about it, the realtor acted like it was "normal." When I asked her if she was just talking about a French drain system that she saw (which actually is normal), she said, "No, it was an actual mote. It wasn't connected to a single pump. It was just a literal mote in their basement that collected water." Makes you think about things.

I know a lot of my anxiety about all of this comes from my inexperience with home ownership, especially where older homes are concerned. I always thought I'd be able to handle most things and for the most part, I've done okay, but I never thought my first home would be something like this. I guess I shouldn't complain too much when many people in the world don't even have a shelter each night to stay in. But it's just a hard experience to reconcile. I've also had many people tell me that having a dry home in the Midwest is a myth. I think a lot of them say those things to try to comfort me, but part of me hopes they're right because this is just such a hopeless feeling I've been battling for awhile since my basement project wrapped up back in November. I was 100% convinced it would bring better results than it did and after seeing it not meet those expectations (despite things being better than they were), it just feels like a castle of cards crumbling down. Hopefully one of the contractors I'm meeting with soon will have some workable solutions.

But seriously, silversky, thank you so much for the reply. It means way more than you might realize. Just having someone somewhere provide some hope for me is invaluable.