Earthworms in basement?

[formerfalcon]

Hey everyone, I was just wondering if anyone else out there has ever experienced this and what it could mean.

Over the years in my home every once in a while I will find an earthworm or two in my basement on the cement floor near the laundry area.  Most of the times that I have found them they are already dead but there is no mistaking what they are.  I found one half dead already this morning and I am thinking it has something to do with when it rains pretty good as it did overnight.  Now I dont find them every time it rains, usually it is months and months between the times I find them.  Now I know that this is not the worst problem one could have.  I don't even know if it is a problem.  It certainly is odd.  And over the years when I have found them I just cant help but wonder - where the hell are they coming from?  Dont earthworms live in the soil and I have no soil in my basement.  Anyone out there with any thoughts on this.  I am completely perplexed.  Thanks.

[berwyn senator]

I remember experiencing this when I was a child living in North Berwyn in the old bungalow,and in several of my friends homes.They usually appeared in the spring after a rain we figured the rain brought them out,probably wrong assumption. Live in south Berwyn and will find them occasionally down the outside basement stairs.

[watcher]

Over the years in my home every once in a while I will find an earthworm or two in my basement on the cement floor near the laundry area.  Most of the times that I have found them they are already dead but there is no mistaking what they are.  I found one half dead already this morning and I am thinking it has something to do with when it rains pretty good as it did overnight.  Now I dont find them every time it rains, usually it is months and months between the times I find them.  Now I know that this is not the worst problem one could have.  I don't even know if it is a problem.  It certainly is odd.  And over the years when I have found them I just cant help but wonder - where the hell are they coming from?  Dont earthworms live in the soil and I have no soil in my basement.  Anyone out there with any thoughts on this.  I am completely perplexed.  Thanks.

I think there's old folklore about finding worms being some kind of omen, but don't remember if it's good or bad. <g>

You have soil around and beneath your basement. 90 year old houses typically have what's known as "map cracking" of basement floors. Foundation walls, joints and thresholds have settled, shifted, cracked over time. Tree roots have infiltrated plumbing runs and other subsidence processes have taken place. Any one of these things makes the appearance of a worm or two understandable/explainable.
*If you have children, there are other, simpler, explanations as well.

Talk to a few plumbers. I'm sure you'll find more than a few, more than willing, to cut/break through your floors to install brand new pipes,  drains, sealants, sumps and perimeter drainage. Last year's rains gave many homeowners a crash course in "hydrostatic pressure" and a practicum in the effects. Backflow preventers, standpipes and sump pumps were the hot ticket items at hardware/building supply stores.

This year's rains will give homeowners who didn't have seepage, flooding issues -last year- a crash course in the domino effect. When the neighbor(s) attempt to remove their interior space from the water retention system, the water WILL find new places to pool. Because water can make a decision.

Sorry to blather on here...

One thing you can do to evaluate your risk is to "sound" your basement slab. This involves thumping the floor with a heavy object and noting the return. (The sound of the thump) Across the spans, you may notice subtle to large differences in the return. Some spots may actually echo or sound hollow. If you get a hollow return, sound it out to determine how big it is.

Think of your basement floor like a large piece of flagstone in your yard. If you lift the flagstone you'll notice channels,  voids and obvious excavation sites in the soil underneath.

You may think your slab is thick and solid, but beneath it, you can have the same types of voids. Some can be semi-cavernous. If a drain pipe is leaking it can wash out the soil beneath your slab and create an aquifer or mini- lake, stream.  Short of breaking up the floor, you can call in experts to help you devise a solution.

Now is the time to check your exterior perimeter grading. If you have puddles along your foundation, you should grade the area to slope away from the house. If allowed to pool, the water will find its way, eventually, into your basement.

Now is also the time to have your sewer lines rodded to remove any tree roots and/or expose areas where your drain tiles have broken/shifted/collapsed. Having a clear, unobstructed run to the city sewer line is mostly a good thing. Having that same run fitted with
backflow preventers is even better.

Hooray, hooray, it's almost the first of May!

[berwynson]

Far worse than the worms were those god-damned huge gray centipedes which came out of hiding at night, and woe be it to you if you chose to sleep in the basement in summertime (the only "cool" place in no-A/C bungalows) and one of them bit you!

Stated from experience! Pics of those things can be found somewhere in "Reminisce" if you care to look. Sickenly ugly things they were, no offense intended to those members who supported their existence in our domiciles.  berwynson

[berwyn senator]

What were those black bugs that used to come up from the sewers in the basement at night? we used to call them water bugs.Nothing seemed to kill them,one of our friends bungalow was loaded with them.As kids we would wait until dark,then quietly go down stairs hit the light switch an swat them with brooms as they tried to get back to the drains.

[berwynson]

What were those black bugs that used to come up from the sewers in the basement at night? we used to call them water bugs.Nothing seemed to kill them,one of our friends bungalow was loaded with them.As kids we would wait until dark,then quietly go down stairs hit the light switch an swat them with brooms as they tried to get back to the drains.

I don't recall those at all.....sounds like the giant cockroaches that abound out west. A newscast in Phoenix once showed a street crew open up a manhole sewer, shined in a light, and the walls of the hole were covered with them, absolutely covered. The guy said they figure several hundred-thousand in that one sewer alone!

Side story: When I worked Maintenance for Sears Roebuck, up on a 12-foot high ladder, lifted up a ceiling tile, and one of those roaches, at least 2 inches long, slid off towards my face, almost went down my shirt-front! Could have easily fallen off the ladder......   berwynson

[berwyn senator]

A friend of mine an electrician was replacing a light fixture in a home in Oak Brook,found a whole nest roaches inside the old fixture.He almost fell off the ladder as they fell all over him,he left and did not finish the job.The owner was upset he left,over a few roaches.Imagine how many more there were in that house.

[maclively]

Far worse than the worms were those god-damned huge gray centipedes which came out of hiding at night, and woe be it to you if you chose to sleep in the basement in summertime (the only "cool" place in no-A/C bungalows) and one of them bit you!

Stated from experience! Pics of those things can be found somewhere in "Reminisce" if you care to look. Sickenly ugly things they were, no offense intended to those members who supported their existence in our domiciles.  berwynson

Hate these things. They are disgusting. We have them in our basement. Is there anything that will get rid of them? We're considering hiring an exterminator...

[berwynson]

Far worse than the worms were those god-damned huge gray centipedes which came out of hiding at night, and woe be it to you if you chose to sleep in the basement in summertime (the only "cool" place in no-A/C bungalows) and one of them bit you!

Stated from experience! Pics of those things can be found somewhere in "Reminisce" if you care to look. Sickenly ugly things they were, no offense intended to those members who supported their existence in our domiciles.  berwynson

Hate these things. They are disgusting. We have them in our basement. Is there anything that will get rid of them? We're considering hiring an exterminator...

After being bitten by one while asleep, I bought a "bug bomb" which you light and it fills the room with poisonous smoke; did this in the basement, the directions said stay OUT for a certain time, like 24 hours....I went back in, found fuzzy-looking yellow dust all over everything, and in a few days got sick as hell.....took several days for it to get out of my system, I guess. Maybe they don't sell such dangerous stuff anymore, this was a long time ago. So far, no lasting effects, that  know of, like cancer, etc.

Regarding what can be done about the centipedes: my Dad told of their first bungalow in Cicero, a portion of the basement floor was still wooden; underneath that floor, when he tore it out were hundreds of those damn things, he was killing them with a hammer! The Berwyn bungalow, when they bought it, about 1941, also had a portion of floor wooden, which he ripped out, and poured in concrete in it's place. If you still have any wood floor left in the basement, good bet those centipedes are under it! We still found them in the later years, and occasionally, one would be seen on a bedroom wall upstairs at night. Creepy! No doubt an exterminator can get rid of them, if you feel it doesn't place you & yours at risk, too (poison).  berwynson