• 
• CLASS
• JOBS
• AUTO
• HOMES

A dry basement, a happy home, finally

Photo

Photo by Dan Lassiter

Dale Everett of Everett Construction of Cambridge uses a troweling machine to finish off a new concrete floor pour in the basement of Rich and Kay Deeney's home.

Photo

Photo by Dan Lassiter

Mitch Blanchar, right, and Josh Wampfler of A+ Environmental of Fort Atkinson apply a skim coat of mortar to the concrete blocks at Rich and Kay Deeney's home on Putnam Ave in Janesville.

JANESVILLE — Finally, some help.

Since January 2008, Rich and Kay Deeney have been running a sump pump 24 hours a day, seven days a week in their Putnam Street home.

They didn’t have a choice: Unprecedented flooding in 2008 had raised the ground water so high that they couldn’t keep it out of their basement.

Kay spent a lot of time cleaning the walls and floors with bleach to keep the mold in check.

Because they didn’t have actual floodwater in their basement, however, they didn’t qualify for help from the city or FEMA.

They worried they would lose their home.

Earlier this year, the Wisconsin Conference of the United Methodist Church stepped in. The church, with help from a variety of local organizations, has made the Deeneys’ home habitable again.

“It’s unbelievable,” Kay Deeney said. “I thought, ‘I’ll believe it when I see it,’ and now I see it.”

Here’s how it happened:

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services picked the Wisconsin Conference to oversee the 2008 Flood Recovery Program, which is funded by a federal social services block grant. The conference was working in partnership with Wisconsin Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters.

Kristine Moser, a caseworker from the conference, came and assessed the situation at the Deeneys’ little home.

Water had damaged the furnace and water heater for the second time.

The Deeneys were on their fourth—or was it their fifth?—sump pump.

The utility bills were killing them.

And they certainly couldn’t afford the $32,000 it would cost to fix the basement: Kay is on disability due to a reoccurrence of cancer, and Rich works at the John Deere warehouse.

Moser helped the Deeneys work through the process.

She helped them get the federal money to fix the water problem.

A+ Environmental of Fort Atkinson was hired to raise the house about “two cement blocks.” Then, a gravel floor was put in, along with a new sump pit lined with a special plastic.

A new cement floor followed.

“We’ll have new stairs going down into the basement, and they fixed the plumbing,” Rich said. “They put in a whole new I-beam, too.”

Habitant for Humanity will build new steps for the back of the home, a small porch and stairs for the front. The United Way worked with the South Central Wisconsin Builders Association to replace the furnace.

The chimney was taken off the side of the house because the new, energy-efficient furnace vents to the outside.

Mike Foerster of A+ Environmental praised Moser for her hard work on the project.

So did the Deeneys.

“She’s really knowledgeable. She’s more like an advocate for you,” Rich said. “She’s the backbone of the whole deal for us.”

Rich also praised Foerster for his over-the-top concern for both him and his wife.

As for Moser, in a message left at the Gazette, she credited the community for helping a couple at the end of their options.

“They are a good story because it’s a lot of people coming together to help them,” Moser said.