I lost some of MY gaming history

[Stark]

So I woke up Saturday morning to find that my basement was full of water. 3 inches in spots due to massive rain which blew out the pump etc. Well this never happened before so I had some boxes of stuff on the floor. Box + water = sponge action. I lost some cool stuff some of which will never be replaced. Not all gaming related but I'll share it with u disaster loving freaks anyways:

A few hundred Playboy mags of which I had a complete collection- Haven't gone through them all yet but the 1950"s issues were not damaged thank Jesus!
@ 300 mostly common Magic The Gathering cards
I had 1 long box of comics on the floor but since they were all in plastic I only lost 4 of them.
A large part of my old Baseball Card collection- don't know how bad yet but the valuable cards were not damaged as far as I can tell.
4 Star Trek figures not worth anything
A few military books from my collection- Will not replace
Now on to gaming stuff:

I lost a large box full of classic beautiful complete PC games including these
originals and in minty shape. Of course all in their cardboard boxes with documents:

X-com 3.5" version and the sequel TFTD- destroyed
Elder Scrolls Arena and Daggerfall- both with the special Codex guides- gone
A few Ultima games/ Panzer General 2
And the 1 I hated to see dead- Master Of Magic with a specail mail- In disc. Man that will be a bear to find again!

Total of 15 PC games all destroyed.

Now I have a ton of video games and no room for a "Room Of Doom" so I have most in the basement. Out of all my video games/hardware etc (1000+ games down there from all eras but mostly the classic stuff as my newer crap is in my closet) I lost a total of......1 video game!!

PS1 Star Ocean was destroyed- case and manual soaked and smelly but I kept the 2 discs (haven't checked 'em yet).

And finally All of my old DP guides were ok including my all time favorite spiral guide.

[Ed Oscuro]

Shit...that's bad to hear. Good to hear you had some important stuff in plastic bags already! If I ever move into flood country, you can bet I'd put all my stuff in watertight boxes, too.

Losing the Elven Scrolls games blows. Awesome games right there. The Ultima titles were just the more common PC ones, right (i.e. no Apple // Ultima 1 )?

[thetoxicone]

I always keep things in the basement in those plastic tubs and if there is anything in boxes it goes on top of the tubs.

[VACRMH]

Ugh, welcome to the club

I lost alot of old comics due to floods in the basement here years ago.

Once a flood damaged my large game shelf and almost got to my games, we installed a ... french drain I believe.

And yeah, plastic tubs are a must have.

[Flack]

This is an all too common topic -- I know I've read about several others who have lots things in basement floods as well.

Like thetoxicone said, I recommend that everyone store stuff in those plastic containers. At Big Lots, 30 gallon tubs with lids are just under $3 and they hold a LOT! All my stuff in the garage is in them now. They're a lot easier to stack/move/sort in those tubs, and would be resistant to water damage.

All in all, it doesn't sound like the damage was *too* bad. Of course, even losing one thing is one thing too many!

[Blendo75]

A few Ultima games

Oh man that really sucks.

[captain nintendo]

Sorry to hear about the losses.

Sounds like it could have been worse. Not that you will feel any comfort in that

[kainemaxwell]

That sucks about your losses.

[Crush Crawfish]

Sorry for your losses....but look on the bright side. It could have been much worse.

[hu6800]

Ugh, welcome to the club

I lost alot of old comics due to floods in the basement here years ago.

Once a flood damaged my large game shelf and almost got to my games, we installed a ... french drain I believe.

And yeah, plastic tubs are a must have.

I lost a 1973 P-Bass and my amp to a flooded basement , i remember my jaw dropping to the floor when we all showed up for band practice and seeing 2 DWI drumsets full of water along with the PA and my bass.

[Funk Buddy]

Yeah, that was a bad rain storm through here on Friday night. People around the metro area had water coming up through the floor drains like geyser. If this happens to you, have someone install a one way valve in the floor drain.

Sorry for you loss, but that'll teach you to leave items on the floor. All my junk is up at least 6" off the floor in my basement, but all my good stuff is upstairs out of harms way (knock on wood).

[-hellvin-]

Sorry to hear about this man. I've always had a fear of something like this happening to all my stuff, luckily it never rains here, lol. Although I am always fighting off dust. Every morning my systems are completely caked in dust.

[tholly]

yea, like everyone said...sorry for the loss....but, at least you said you only lost a small ammount of stuff which is good...

[Ninja Blacksox]

Yikes, man.

I've been there. I lost some guitar pedals in a basement flood some time ago.

My brother recently lost an entire longbox full of old X-Men comics after his water heater exploded.

Maybe someone should start a companion thread to DigitalPress' "I HATE AIR!" thread.

"FUCK YOU, WATER!"

After that, we can take care of the rest of the kids in Captain Planet's crew.

I've got dibs on the "Heart" kid.

"Heart." Seriously. What a pussy.

-A Boy

[Kid Ice]

I just had my first basement water problem, but it's very minor compared to yours. Someone overflowed the first floor toilet, and the water came through a hole in the bathroom floor, through ceiling tiles, and right on to one of my emulator set ups. Nothing too bad lost though...a couple ceiling tiles wasted, an old monitor and keyboard done in, a nice trak ball and Sidewinder probably done in...the PC itself and the USB drive with the ROMs and stuff seem to be OK

I don't have anything directly on the floor, but there is a lot of stuff I will be moving to a higher place.

[The_EniGma]

Im sorry man but if you live in the UK go to a placecalled IKEA and buy some white plastic tubs. That should make sure ure stuff stays ok should this happen again

[Chronic]

Im sorry man but if you live in the UK go to a placecalled IKEA and buy some white plastic tubs. That should make sure ure stuff stays ok should this happen again

They have these in the US and Stark if you live by Chicago they have one of those...

[rbudrick]

That sucks so badly, man. Sorry to hear it. I am seriously reconsidering putting my room of doom in my basement once I get a house. How do some folks get awesome furnished basements with no problems? How does one make sure no moisture or flooding happens? Is there something special you have to do to the foundation? Is it luck? Is there things you can do to a house to improve the chances of never getting a flood or water damage?

It would be good to prepare any house I get for this purpose if I ever get a basement RofD....any experts on this kind of thing?

-Rob

[RetroYoungen]

I'm so sorry to hear about your lost stuff.

[junglehunter]

I, too had a basement flood a few months back. Some of the things that were badly damaged were:

- hockey cards (nothing major)
- Colecovision ADAM (complete) - This was so badly damaged that I just ended up throwing it out.
- some furniture/clothes/misc stuff

So I got out pretty lucky compared to others on this board. I mostly keep my older games/hookups in the basement and my more valuable systems/games stay in my bedroom or my spare room.