Sacha wrote in :

On 2012-05-01 15:34:03 +0100, Baz said:

We have had very hard rain for weeks (North Lincs.) and it became so
servere the other day that our insurance company strongly advised us
to put our belongings upstairs and get out.

Well I have had a look today at home and it doesn't seem too bad.

The garden is very wet, but at least not got too much standing water.
No plants to salvage I think.

The ground floor of the house is damp and peeling back carpets
reveals seeminly damp floors. Rub a cloth over the floors and they
are wet.

The footings of the house are what worries me most. Getting them wet
then dry can cause susidance.

I think the link below might be relevent.

http://tinyurl.com/d455lwm

A surveyor who was appointed to our case via the insurance company is
sure that it is sewage and he has cases where the sewage is not
odourous because it has been filtered through soil and agregates on
its way to where it will pool. Shifting the blame?

See you later
Baz

It sounds depressing for you, Baz and I'm sorry to read your report.
But give it a week or two and let's hope things start to look better.
Sounds as if residents might need to band together to get a few things
sorted out!

Thankyou Sacha.
I live a couple of miles away from the link I gave, but the sewage(if it
is sewage) did reach us. It has been dry and quite warm today considering
how it has been the last month or so. There is a bit of a smell now.

We were going to replace the ground floor carpets anyway so it is unfair
to claim for them.

All I want from the insurance is to make sure the integrity of the
footings when they eventually get back to normal moisture. Scary. The
builing company I work for has probes into the footings also, just in
case!

If it stays fine and not raining, we could be back in 2 weeks. We are at
the moment staying at my sons house, UP the hill while the de-humidifiers
do their dehumidifying. to dry the interiours.

The insurance people were going to put us into a hotel!

Such is life. To coin a phrase...it stinks.(as in sewage) :-)
Baz