Smells Better

The sewer catastrophe remained a problem a week later. The house still smelled and appeared to actually be reverting to the original sewer smell over the Simple Green.

Something had to be done.

The first step was to shovel off the top layer of dirt (why we have dirt in our basement is still another post). Here’s where I hit another one of those “city problems”. Back in PA, I’d just fill the wheelbarrow and find a distant corner in the yard for the stuff. Here, I don’t have that kind of yard. All I have is a trash can and there’s limits to how heavy it can be each week. The solution, was to fill trash bags to a certain point, then stage them out over the coming weeks in the trash. It’s cold now, so leaving the bags in the back yard until they’re ready to go shouldn’t be a problem.

Step two was to cover the area with lime.

Between these two steps, it appears we’ve made a significant improvement in the condition of the basement and our house.

If I were to do a third thing, it would be to get some charcoal and place it throughout the house to soak up an additional odor.

The other concern (as terrible as it sounds) is that we’ve gotten used to the smell, and really don’t know if it’s gone. It’s definitely better than it was yesterday, but I’m not sure I can tell if it’s entirely gone. We might have to invite our neighbor over to do sniff tests for us. The last thing we want is to have a play-date or some new friends come over and wonder what the hell’s wrong with us (beyond the normal concerns of course).

Stay tuned.

– b