Flooding

[fender1punk]

Help! my basement flooded with most of my guitars down there. I rescued them all, but they were down there a while before i found out. What should i look for as far as water damage? Asking about not only my SE's, but my Fenders and Gibsons as well. I know my ZM was in the water, because the gig bag was soaked. Most were on the stand, but my American Standard Tele, and my SG were both in the standing water with the ZM. Also, who the hell repairs the return line of a heating system with RUBBER couplings?

 

[11top]

Help! my basement flooded with most of my guitars down there. I rescued them all, but they were down there a while before i found out. What should i look for as far as water damage? Asking about not only my SE's, but my Fenders and Gibsons as well. I know my ZM was in the water, because the gig bag was soaked. Most were on the stand, but my American Standard Tele, and my SG were both in the standing water with the ZM. Also, who the hell repairs the return line of a heating system with RUBBER couplings?

At least if the water came from your heating system, your homeowners insurance will take care of them (subject to deductible). It it had been a surface water flood, then no.

 

[fender1punk]

I'm just glad my high end stuff was in the living room, helping me to demo some new additions to the rig.

 

[gush]

Oh man that sucks.

 

[toothace]

DOH!! Hope there's no real damage!!

 

[Lister]

Call your insurance company and get a restoration or water damage company in there ASAP.

 

[fender1punk]

Still assessing the damage. So far the guitars seem to be okay, but a few gig bags are goners. Possibly some pedals as well.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Yikes!!!

 

[Bill SAS 513]

Damn...I actually shiver at that thought...Very sorry to hear about it. When my wife and I were house hunting, she had two pages of wishes, mine was a single line...on top of, or on a hill where outside water (flood/rain, melting snow, etc...) cannot cause damage. With it being internal pipes, definitely insurance issue STAT!!! Good luck.

 

[watelessness]

Ouch. I've had a couple of water events in my life. I've learned to put all my amps on moving dollies, my drum kits on platforms, my guitars on the wall, assorted gear in plastic bins, and everything that I'm storing is on shelves or at least sitting on 2x4's so that it's not sitting directly on the floor. Not that this helps you yesterday but it might help tomorrow

 

[bodia]

Man, that blows. Hope you get things sorted, with a minimum of loss.

 

[László]

Basement flooding is the worst. I had water damage to an area of the basement in my old house due to a burst pipe in subzero temperature one winter. Fortunately, it didn’t reach my studio, but that’s when I started keeping my guitars upstairs. The other stuff, unfortunately, has to remain downstairs, but everything’s on stands, tables and racks away from the floor, though the guitar cabs are still at risk.

After reading your post, I’m going to put the amp cabs back on their caster boards or gramma platforms that I haven’t been using lately!

 

[fender1punk]

I've noticed that my ZM has started developing a cloudy appearance in the finish from getting wet. Is this something that can be polished out, or should I start to worry?

 

[Guitpicky]

I'd be more worried about saving my **** than posting about it on a forum

Best of luck getting it all sorted

 

[grausch]

Here is a link with a good explanation of what may be the cause - https://forums.prsguitars.com/threads/help-me-ptc-youre-my-only-hope-finish-issues.1070/#post-114184

I have never tried the aforementioned method to see if I could remove cloudiness, therefore, proceed with caution.

 

[CVS]

Really sorry to hear about the flooding. I hope things work out for you and the guitars. I guess one silver lining of living in the area that I live in is that we don't have basements here as a general rule in houses. You don't get much for your dollar in Southern California....

 

[László]

I've noticed that my ZM has started developing a cloudy appearance in the finish from getting wet. Is this something that can be polished out, or should I start to worry?

It might be due to the wetness; if the guitar swelled from the moisture, and then shrank as it dried, the clear coat can lift. It’d appear cloudy. If the finish lifted it can’t be polished out.

But it might be something else.

 

[LaPanthere]

Oh my good! In a similar case I would take them to a specialist to really check them up - if you have clouds in the finish you might as well have corroded contacts or such.

Anyway there is never a 100% protection unless you keep your stuff unplayed in a bank safe or bunker unfortunately. I lost my complete collection back in 1994 when a fire started (for unknown reasons) in a heating-oil-storage room close to our rehearsal room in an industrial building - what a luck I had at least my 2 main guitars at home - but a dozen of rare and unique guitars were lost. Never started collecting again especially as the insurance refused to cover up (even I made an expensive insurance especially for that place by reommendation of my insurance agent).

Best of luck!