Barbara Feldman:

WOW, we just had the same thing happen 2-3 weeks ago. The overflow tube wasn't doing its job. We are still getting estimates on replacing ALL of the carpet in the house. Only the kitchen, 1 bedroom, and the master bathroom did not get wet. The worse thing was we didn't realize that the insurance company raised our deductible when our policy re-newed.

Good luck to you. I hope everything works out.

I experienced a "rainstorm malfunction" a couple of years ago, we had just got back from holiday and entered the house, when it started raining so hard that the water and sewage from the lines was pushed back into my basement. At that time we did not have that special valve to stop the reflux from outside and were busy the whole night cleaning up. And the stench...
The next day, although terribly tired and feeling like another holiday, we installed the valve.

My son was in the basement one day and threw a boot. It hit the water main that brings in water to my rural home and broke the line above the shut-off valve. We had a geyser going in our basement. My husband had to crawl in the outside pit and shut off the water to the entire farm. My son learned a valuable lesson that day! What a mess!

LAST CHRISTMAS IT WAS ABOUT 7:00 A.M AND MY SISTER FLUSHED A TAMPON DOWN THE TOILET AND IT STARTED GUSHING OUT WATER. LUCKILY MY DAD WAS A PLUMBER AND HE FIXED IT IN 1 HOUR. BUT IMAGINE STARTING YOUR CHRISTMAS OFF LIKE THAT?????

Been there and scrubbed like crazy..Then you get to really watch for unwanted bugs that come in all forms of germs. One of those..pay later problems that sometimes hang around.
Good Luck
P.J.

Around here we hae a terrible problem with tree roots growing into the sewer lines. So we had our own "major toilet malfunction" last week. Thank God my mother, who lives next door, has a shop vac for water. That helped considerably but we have used up a lot of "Oust" in the last week! I keep thinking, we can clone animals and we have deciphered the human DNA but we can't make a toilet that doesn't overflow at 2 a.m.?
Where are our priorities? LOL! Such is life!

I can empathize with you ... I had six rooms "flooded" on Mother's Day a couple of years ago. It is a hard way to get your house remodeled! Just get a good general contractor if you have very much to replace!