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Show 8B . Lakeside Review North, Wednesday, April 11,1 984 Afterwards: Cleaning the Easement , After a flood, one of the worst hit places in the house will be the basement. But before you enter a flooded you should follow some precautions. 1) Turn off the electricity at the meter. , 2) Check outside cellar walls for evidence of structural damage or other hazards. 3) Turn off gas or fuel service valves. 4) Open doors and windows or use blowers to force fresh air into the basement. Do not use an electric pump powered by your own electrical system. Use a pump or one connected to an outside line. Fire departments in some communities may help with such services. More damage may be done by pumping water from the basement too soon or too quickly, than from letting the floodwater remain. Water in the basement helps brace the walls against the d extra pressure of soil outside. If water is pumped out too soon, walls may be pushed in, or floors pushed up. To help prevent such structur--a- l damage, pump the water from - ed 0 water-logge- the basement in stages. Remove about a third of the water each day. Watch walls for signs of failing. If the outside water level rises again after the days pumping, start with a new water line. The soil may be very slow to drain, but do not hurry the pumping. Whatever is submerged in the flooded basement will not be damaged further by delaying the pumping; serious structural damage may be prevented. After water has been pumped from the basement, shovel out the mud and debris while it is still moist. Hose down walls to remove as much silt as possible before it dries. Scrub walls and floors with one of these sanitizing solutions: 1) Chloride of lime (25 percent available chlorine). Dissolve a can in two gallons of ' water. test 2) High hypochlorite (65 percent available chlorine). Stir five ounces into two gallons of walls, settled walls or heaved floors. 1) Buckled walls are evidenced by horizontal cracking and walls moving out of plumb. When this condition is minor, you need not repair the wall immediately. However, any noticeably buck- led wall will eventually collapse from normal ground pressures and Check supporting columns, beams, walls, and floors. Structural damage to flooded basements usually includes buckled temperature changes. When buckling has seriously weakened the wall, rebuild the damaged parts immediately. Build pilasters into walls over 5 feet long for reinforcement. Pilaster spacing should be 12 to 15 1 feet. 2) Settled walls and footings are indicated by vertical cracks either in small areas or through- out the structure. Repairs are ce water. seasonal difficult without special equipment. Contact a reliable contractor for this work. 3) Heaved floors are those that have not .returned to their original level, or have cracked badly. You may need to construct a new floor: a) Remove old, broken concrete. b) Place 6 inches of gravel fill on the basement floor surface. : . 3) Cover area with a polyethylene vapor barrier. concrete floor d) Lay a ch with mastic joints between the floor and the walls. The floor should be reinforced with steel. Welded wire reinforcement in the slab 'placed at is a minimum reinforcement. If a floor is badly cracked, but has returned to its original level, and if there is sufficient head-rooplace a new floor over the old one. Add a vapor barrier between the two floors. The new floor should be at least two inches thick. In houses without basements the area below the floor may be completely filled with mud. Re- -. move the mud as soon as possible to avoid rotting joists or foundation wood. Jack up the house, if necessary, to make sure all mud is removed. mid-heig- ht . Help Property losses from natural disaster are tax deductible. Such deductions, which are allowed for partial or total loss of personal or business property, could greatly reduce the amount of federal income taxes owed for the year the disaster occurred. If you claim a theft or casualty loss resulting from a disaster you may be asked to show: a) The kind of disaster and when it occurred b) That the damage was a direct result of the disaster c) That you were the owner of the property d) The cost of the property plus the cost of any improve- ments e) Depreciation allowed or allowable, if any f) Fair market value before and after the disaster g) Any insurance benefits or other compensation received in- eluding free repairs, restoration and cleanup from any disaster relief agencies. . Before and after photographs, receipts, cancelled checks, deeds, purchase contracts, and professional appraisals are good supporting evidence for casualty claims. If either personal or business property has been damaged ex- tensively, you should have the property appraised as soon as possible following the disaster. A professional estimate of value will serve as evidence for casualty loss claims. The fee charged is also a deductible item. If you itemize your tax deductions, you may deduct casuality losses from fire, storm," theft or property destroyed by 'some sud; den external force. Such losses must be reduced by any salvage value or insurance award plus $100 on personal losses. The deduction is limited to the cost basis or the fair market value at the time of the disaster, whichever is less. The rules for figuring deducitions on business or ness property same. If a business or income-producin- g property is completely destroyed by a casualty, special rules apply. In such cases the full adjusted cost basis,', h taxable gain results. For more details contact your local tax representative for advice on figuring these tax loss deductions. Or consult the publication, Tax Information on Disasters, Casualty Losses and Thefts. Printed by the Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service. Ask for publiavailable at cation 547(7-72- ) any Internal Revenue office. . . non-bus- ? 4tii-'Cc. losses are the - 0 ' w ... V.V.V - ' .. . " ' .;asss44MVSV.v awa- |