Sewer backed-up and preps-advice needed

Bishop and Uncle Morgan have covered the BB and pellet gun and ammo issue. Heat and ventilation are your friend in preventng corrosion. I had never thought about the future contamination issue when they are used on small game for food. Washing them is a good idea. The BB's will dry and be fine, but the pellets may have their lubricant washed off and cause barrel leading. I've had great success with JPW (Johnson's Paste Wax) as a bullet lube for rimfire and air rifle bullets. Relubricating them would be as simple a applying some JPW to the inside of a small cardboard box and rolling the pellets around in it.

The BB guns will need generous rust prevention once dried. Ballistol is my go-to for this, but anything (...but WD40) is better than nothing.

I'm saddened to hear that this has happened to you. I'm always more concerned about my stuff getting smashed against trees by waves, and we've had neighbors prove that small containers survive that better than buckets. Every time I think of a basement with a sump pump I wonder why there isn't a back-up. ...Yup, same reason we don't have a second heat pump, water heater or washing machine.

 

Thank you all, you have given me hope. We removed the area rug so the smell is better in the house and I have things organized as to what needs to be cleaned/ wiped down, what needs to be tossed and there is a questionable pile that will eventually be thrown out. It is a lot of work but I feel better that it will not be a total loss. The owners of the duplex have stepped up. They will be having a pet and child friendly company come in and deal with the floors and walls. The cleaning company said they would wipe down everything of question (my food buckets etc) charging by the hour but I declined because if I can do it myself and save a shred of my OPSEC I would rather do that.

I am thrilled there may be a chance to save the pellet/BB guns. Those were an investment that I didn't want to lose. I threw out all of our arrows and will need to get the bow restrung but I think I can salvage the bow. I usually do not keep all those things on the floor but I had been working down there.

The dollar store is a wonderful place. I bought packages of disposable gloves, rags and masks. I went there for those supplies because I want to keep my med bag gloves and good masks for other use. Someone suggested that I get a dehumidifier because this basement does not have windows, just a cement hole in the ground. Lots of work but I have a 4 day weekend so this has kept me busy. My plan is to buy my forever home in 12 months but for now the landlord said he will be installing shelving, his side received was damage also. Sadly they had all their stuff in boxes not totes plus they had wood flooring not cement like I do.

Thank you again. Great advice that will help me salvage what I thought was a loss.
PS- while gone also there was a small fire and I am happy to report that smoke wipes off the walls and ceiling nicely. Since the owner is so focused on the flood issue he hasn't approached me about the carpet damage. When it rains it pours. Advice: choose your house/pet sitters wisely.

 

last thing put an alarm in your basement sump so it will activate when it gets wet, also have a couple of sump pumps with a float on different circuits or one even a solar / battery setup so your basement will alarm you or pump itself out before it overflows the sump.

 

Motormom34 sorry to hear about this major problem, Hopefully you will be able to save most of your preps.

 

This was a good lesson on how to better store your preps. Better learning now and fixing it, than lose those preps when the ol' balloon goes up.

 

I found that keeping some canned goods in milk crates inside of a decent weight plastic garbage bag in case a can goes bad it's easy to toss the bad one clean up the others I always print the date and name of contents on the lid if they get long in the tooth the still good cans I open and feed to the chickens of course I smell test them.. Look at evrything as a resource canned corn soured is a great catfish attractant fresh on a hook good bait for crappie and perch or feed it to animals that can tolerate that vegetable use it in traps old oxidized peanut butter may not taste good to us but coons, squirrels possums and rodentia. It may not be your first choice to eat or you may think to get rid of it but it is a resource !

more things to stock are live traps foot hold traps and trap making stuff like crimp on knocks or brass ferrules 1/8 in cable and wire look for all these in garage sales auctions I love dealing with garage door installers for hinges cable and handles. old doors that are still straight can make walls with 4x4's I have used them for roofs tar them stick on 3 tab shingles and buy those from building supply stores from broken bundles and miss matched colors it's a storage building not the Taj Mahal. there is plenty of free or reduced price stuff you need to scrounge and haggle like a Arab trader.