Tick Tock…Waiting for the Rebuild to Begin

It’s 3 weeks today since our flood and today was a good day as I received information from my insurance adjuster that the rebuilding process is getting closer!  Woot!

I will say that living in a construction zone can be challenging at times.  Sometimes I’m good, other times I’m overwhelmed by the plywood floors, gaping hole in the ceiling and never ending dust.  Hannah is ready to not need to wear shoes or slippers all the time to avoid getting slivers.  She’s also been a trooper as we’ve tried to look at this as an adventure.  Here she was using one of the industrial fans to dry her nail polish.

There has been some progress made since my last post which I need to look at when living in our home is frustrating.

1.  With Nana’s help Hannah and I were able to go out and order a new couch that should arrive 4-6 weeks.  As much as I wish it were sooner I’m happy it won’t be here for the dust or the rebuilding.  I was excited to upgrade us to a recliner sofa which is something I didn’t think I’d be able to do for a number of years.  Yay!  Here is the sofa we chose and the fabric we I selected.

We need a couch with longevity as we keep furniture for a long time and I want to be able to live in our home without feeling I need to watch everything which is why I chose a darker fabric.  Hannah had hoped for lighter but mama made this decision.

Our old couch that they removed we now refer to as the Big Blue Sponge!!

2.  In the drying process we had one minor situation that happened accidentally.  When the fans were plugged in to dry the basement unfortunately the freezer was unplugged and I didn’t notice this until mid-morning the following day.  Uh no! 

I am thankful to say the company who is handling the cleanup (and will be organizing the rebuild too) were quick to inventory and remove the contents and dropped off a $500 replacement cheque today.  Very thankful for this.

3.  Although there was A LOT of water that passed through our home, very few ‘things’ were damaged beyond repair.  It could have been so much worse should the water have gone anywhere else!  Check out this picture of our (messy) basement.  The water fell in the only open area of the entire basement and not near the piano studio!!!  I’m thankful God allowed the water to run where it did!  In the end only 40 things were removed due to water damage (in addition to the flooring, ceiling, etc.) and I have already been able to replace those items that I need for our day to day lives.  The rest I have up to 2 years to replace or I can accept the depreciated amount should I choose not to replace an item.   This job was made so easy as the cleanup company took a picture of each item and I compiled a cost and approx. date of purchase list.

4.  The water did land in my laundry sorting area as well as on (then in) the washing machine.  All the items that were removed for cleaning were cleaned and returned to our home within 24 hours!  WOW!  I didn’t expect that and was shocked when I went into our home that first Friday to find 2 boxes of our belongings all cleaned!

5. The one part of the house that the insurance company would not cover was the source of the flood which in our case was the toilet.  The plumber I hired came over and quickly determined that both of my toilets had been running high in the tank for a couple of years and I had been none the wiser as my water is part of my common fees and I don’t pay it individually.  You can see from this pic how the water from the tank (that I’d added food colouring to) was leaking into the bowl.  Normally that water would just go down the pipe but when the pipe was clogged the water went up and over the top of the bowl for 10 hours.  He replaced the insides of both toilets as well as the water supply lines.

6. Something this flood has identified now that flooring has been removed is a couple of holes from our second floor that were hidden by the flooring.  Not sure if these should have been here but I’m thankful the builder left them this way as it gave an easy path for the water to take down to the basement and out through the drain.

7.  Our floors in the entire house have squeaked from within weeks of moving into our home 20 years. ago.  This mama is taking advantage of the subfloors being revealed and I’m screwing down all that are visible due the carpet and flooring being removed.  Hannah likes that she gets to jump around and help me ensure all the squeaks are gone!

8.  This one is just for laughs!    We have a lock box on the front door and for the first week or so people were coming and going every day.  We’d play the game of ‘I wonder who has been in our house today?’ on the way home from work/daycare each day.  One day I asked Hannah if she thought anyone had been there and rather than going down the hall the check she turned around, opened the bathroom door and announced, ‘The seat is up!  The men have been here!’  LOL!!!  Too funny!!!

Although this has been a challenge and not something I would wish on anyone, I am excited to move forward with selecting new flooring, etc. and to have the rebuilding process begin!

And the Drying Process Began…

The day after our flood, insurance confirmed our coverage shortly before 1:00 and by 2:15 I’d received an email from Arron that his team was already in the house and beginning their initial assessment of the damage.  They were revealing the subfloors so that the drying process could begin.

I can’t express what a weird feeling it was driving home not knowing what state our home would be in!  I walked in with butterflies in my stomach wondering if I’d see many changes. 

It was easy to see that in a short amount of time they had done A LOT of work!!  (They had done all of this in just 2.5 hours as they were out of my home by 4:30 to allow me to teach piano that evening.)

The first indication of changes was the rolled up rug in the garage with water leaking out of it.

Inside the house I noticed the missing carpeting in the hall

and the family room

oh yes…and the fact that our ceiling in the family room and 1/2 of the kitchen was umm….missing!! 

Now, let’s talk about fans and dehumidifiers!  NOTE:  We need to speak LOUDLY because, take my word for it, 9 industrial fans and dehumidifiers in our tiny home sounded a bit like a small airplane was landing inside!

Upstairs a bit of the vinyl had been removed in the bathroom and more fans were blowing.  This is the toilet that had over flowed so I kept the water to it turned off.  Hannah added a cute sign to ensure nobody used it.  (If you look closely you can also see a small hole behind the toilet.  Much of the water went down there and into the family room ceiling.)

Some of the carpeting from Hannah’s room and much of the upstairs hallway had been removed to reveal subfloors for drying.

My final place to check out was the basement.  A fan and a dehumidifier were also humming away downstairs.  This fact will become more important in my next post.

So, other than our home sounding a bit like an airport

we were doing just fine!  (Video is dark as we had to wait for an electrician to check the wiring in the ceiling before we could use any of those fixtures due to the amount of water that had poured through them.)

I am thankful though that even with 9 industrial sized fans and dehumidifiers running in our home, we were able to close the bedroom door at night and sleep quite peacefully. 

Splish! Splash! Sploosh!

These are not sounds you want to hear in your home but they are exactly what I heard when I entered our home 1 week ago today!

When I first went in it was dark and I honestly could not figure out for a moment what was happening.  Thankfully I had not flipped the normal light switch as I’m not sure what would have happened.

I quickly realized the sound was not some kind of critter but the sound of water splashing onto my couch.  Oh no!!! 

I turned on the light over the stove, away from the couch and it quickly became apparent that what I had hoped might be a little leak was anything but!  There was water streaming from 2 different holes in the ceiling plus a 3rd location through the ceiling fan….thus why I’m thankful I hadn’t flipped that switch.

Realizing the water was coming from the second floor I ran upstairs to find the water was pouring out of the bowl of our toilet!  Suspecting it was plugged I quickly grabbed the plunger, cleared a clog and stopped the water flow.   I’ll admit at this point I think I was in a bit of shock!

I went back downstairs to asses the damage and called my parents.  They offered to come right over but I knew this was more than any of us could handle.  (Can I say that Hannah was a trooper through this all!  When we first went into the house she waited in the front hall for a bit then went into my room upstairs to watch TV while I tried to make heads or tails of what was happening.)

When I first entered the house I did what any normal person does when they find water streaming from their ceiling, I put bowls under the main drips.  (The bigger one in the lower part of the picture filled up in about 3 mins!)

LOL!!!  If I’d taken even a moment to put my hand on the couch I would have realized that the bowls were pointless as the couch was already a huge 7’ sponge!!

This video was taken after clog had been removed and the water to the house was turned off.  It gives you a bit of an idea what we were facing.

I called my friend Carol who helped me with contacting my insurance company while at the same time her husband hurried over and helped me assess the damage.   In between this time I called the emergency number on our insurance policy, a claim was started and I was ensured I would be contacted soon by the next person who could help me.

It was safe to say the carpet in the family room was SOAKED!!

The picture above makes me giggle as the face cloth was Hannah’s help as she threw it on the floor and stepped on it to help me soak up some of the water.  Thank you sweetie!

My dad had recommended that I put food colouring in the back of the toilet to see if it leaked out.  Sure enough it did which helped me realize that the initial problem had been caused by ‘the perfect storm!’

1.  The toilet was flushed just before we left home in the morning but unbeknownst to us the toilet got plugged.

2.  The toilet water was running high in the tank which normally caused the excess to go down the pipe in tank and then down the pipe in the floor.  The clog stopped this from happening so the water had no where to go but up and over the toilet bowl!

3.  We were gone from the house for a little over 10 hours!  10 hours for the water to run and run….and  run!

David and I walked through the house assessing where it was wet and where it was not.  There was water (a lot of water) on all 3 levels of our home yet it was also contained in specific places.

Around the toilet on the second floor plus in Hannah’s room and in the hallway.

The family room spoke for itself in that the carpet water squished up the sides of my shoes as I walked on it.

The water was also pooled in a few different locations in the kitchen. 

In the basement the laundry sorting area was wet as water again was streaming onto the floor in a couple of places and also onto the washer and dryer. 

I cannot imagine the amount of water that went through my house that day but I will say that my little drain did it’s job and whisked away as much of the water as it could!  There had been a few clothes in the bottom of the washing machine but no water Wednesday morning.  When I arrived home Wednesday night there was at least 6” of water in the bottom of the washing machine!

David encouraged me, helped me calm down a bit then headed out.  Thank you so much friends for all your help!!!

Somewhere in the midst of all this I called Nana.  Papa to the rescue as he brought supper over for Hannah who enjoyed it picnic style in my room.  Thank you Papa!

By this time less than 2 hours had passed and yet the insurance company had started my claim, assigned it to an emergency clean-up company and a representative from that company was in our home!  Arron came in and together we walked through the house.  He calmly answered my questions, helped me to learn what would happen next and provided me with his email and phone number so that I could contact him any time I needed.

Since all of this had happened after business hours he could not confirm that I had insurance coverage so we needed to wait for Thursday morning to take next steps.    I decided to sign off on paperwork that would grant he and his company permission to begin the cleanup process as soon as insurance coverage was confirmed.  We also placed a lock box on the front door as I knew there would be a ton of people coming and going from our home and there was no way I could be home each time they were there.

Arron left at 10pm, I finally put my little trooper to bed…and then began final prep for an interview I had at 10am the next morning!  It never rains but it pours….literally this time!

To be continued….

Gymnastics Graduation

Hannah enjoys attending a recreational gymnastics class at a local gym.  I enjoy watching her and seeing her progress.  She may never be an Olympian but that’s fine with me, I’m just happy to see her active and pursing improving her skills!

She looks like an Olympian, doesn’t she?!!

Hannah with Coach Sammy.

Congrats Hannah!  Mommy is proud of you!

Happy 8th Birthday Hannah!!!

Earlier this week we celebrated Hannah’s 8th birthday and she had been looking forward to it for days!!

Our very first celebration of her special day was a few weeks ago on our cruise.

Last Sunday was a day of parties.  It started with a celebratory lunch with Nana and Papa.

Pretty excited to receive some new shoes she quickly labeled her bubble gum shoes.

She also received new shoes and treated us to a fashion show.  Oh my!!  How grown up she looks in this pic!  Too grown up!!!

After a trip home and a quick change it was time to head to Grandma and Grandpa’s for her family birthday.

In our family we have 3 birthdays within 12 days and this year was the year of the 8’s.  Hannah turned 8, Bec 18 and Grandpa 78.  Happy Birthday to all!!

Monday was Hannah’s actual birthday and she woke to our traditional balloons in her room!

I am extremely blessed to be able to help out in Hannah’s class every 3rd Monday when I am off work.  It was extra special that this was her birthday and her classmates sang to her!

Hannah had a chiro appt with Uncle Scott.  Auntie Deb had sent along a special birthday treat for Hannah.  Thanks Auntie Deb and Uncle Scott!

Although it was a busy day with Hannah going back to gymnastics in the evening, we made time to celebrate at home with Chinese food (Hannah’s birthday dinner choice) and her gifts.  She was one happy girl!

Happy happy8th  birthday Hannah!!!  Mommy loves you sooooooo much!!!  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo