Finally Complete! Flood Reconstruction Done

This post has taken me a while to write as the rebuild was completed in late May, 11 weeks after the flood, and I’m finally finding the time to write it.  I can’t express the relief that we felt once all of the rebuild was complete and our lives could get back to normal.

Our challenges all started March 8th when I walked into our home to find water streaming from the second floor down into the first then down from there into the basement.

I will say that once the rebuild started it moved at a great pace.  The delay to start was mainly caused by waiting for budget approval and then from there for flooring to arrive and once it was ready.  I hired the the company who did the cleanup to do the rebuild as they’d been so amazing with the first part!  They moved everything along at a great pace!

The first big fix was to repair the huge hole in the first floor ceiling.  About 6 weeks after the flood it went from this

to this one day 1

to this on day 2 as it was still drying.

When the ceiling was being sprayed little bits of it bled down onto the walls

which meant an unexpected surprise that the entire main floor would be repainted!  Woot!!  I chose to keep it neutral and just lightened it up a bit.

Once the painting was done it was time to install the flooring.  In order to do this everything needed to be packed up and I have to sing the praises of the restoration company as they came in and packed up everything in our entire 2 upper floors.  What a blessing it was to have this done for me and not need to do it myself!  Each evening Hannah and I would come home and guess what our house looked like.  There were only 2 nights that we needed to stay with my parents which was pretty amazing considering absolutely everything we owned was packed away.

Living Room

Kitchen and eating area

Hannah’s room when it was being used for storage.  (LOL – yes, she made a game of making her way into the rooms each evening when we checked out the changes.)

Then the following day as they were laying the carpeting in her room.  I can’t imagine how many people it must have taken to pack and move everything and it was all seamless to me.  I’d leave for work and it would look one way and I’d return to a completely new home.  All of this was coordinated by the restoration company and I am SO grateful!!

Friday night I was just hoping that we would be able to stay in our home for the weekend.  You can imagine my excitement and awe when we walked into THIS!  Yes….I cried!  Even the beds were made!  I was so relieved that after 11 long weeks our lives were finally going to be back to normal!

Playroom as a storage room

The playroom

Mommy’s Room stuffed to the gills!  This was what it looked like Friday morning when I left for work…

And this was what I came home to 9 hours later!!!  EVERYTHING was back in it’s place!!! There were more tears when I walked into my room.  (I’ll admit there were even tears the first night when I woke up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, just being able to FINALLY put my feet on the floor without having to find shoes or slippers first.)

The final room to be renovated was the washroom where the flood started.  The renovation company had hoped to keep a functioning bathroom in our house each night but the night I arrived home to this and I realized that that hadn’t happened!  This is what I saw when I opened my garage door.   LOL – of course this was also the night that my piano students were coming to my house for lessons!  Oops! I sent out some quick texts to let them know that the house would be without facilities.   Then ran to a local McD’s to use their facilities as it would be an option for the next 3 1/2 hours!!

Because the bathroom vanity sat in water for over 24 hours the insurance company replaced it and what a treat it was to move from the 4 door cabinet

to a new one with drawers!  Such a treat and I’m so happy with this new piece of furniture!

The very last step was to have the new couch delivered that had been sitting in storage for almost 2 months.  Our former couch (aka: the Big Blue Sponge) was old;

the filler love seat was tiny;

but oh…the new couch (with recliners!!) is wonderful! 

It was a LONG, somewhat challenging few months as we recovered from the flood but now that all is said and done and it is behind us, it was a blessing in disguise.  I would not wish this on anyone but now our 20 year old home is fresh again and we couldn’t be happier!!

A big shout out to so many who helped us through this!!  There are too many to name (and I know I’d accidentally forget someone!) but, you know who you are and please know from the depths of our hearts, how thankful Hannah and I are!!

Flood Repairs–It’s Almost Time and We’re Ready!!

It’s been 7 weeks since our flood and finally it’s almost time for the repairs to be started.  Hannah and I couldn’t be more ready!

2 weeks ago they repaired the missing ceiling and I will say it made a much bigger difference then I realized it would and it was a welcome change.  We’d been living with a gaping hole in the living room and kitchen for 5 weeks when the repair took place.

I was surprised how much every day noise went from floor to floor but I guess it makes sense when all that was separating the 2 floors was a sheet of plywood.  It did make it easy to call her for dinner though.

It was such a treat to drive home and see a repair truck in the driveway.

A work in progress

Taped and mudded.  I’d considered leaving the ceiling flat but it would be an additional cost to do so and in these days of finding extra $’s here and there it was an easy decision to have them put the popcorn ceiling back up.

It was still wet here thus the variety of colours. 

One of the things that happened in a number of locations that I hadn’t anticipated was that the ceiling paint bled onto the walls. 

I will say that I noticed it but just figured it was normal.  I was pleasantly surprised when I found out they will probably be repainting the main floor because of it.  What a treat!!  A fresh coat of paint make such a difference!  I’m going to go with a similar colour to what I have as everything has been chosen with the current colour in mind but will just be lightening it up a bit.

I received information from the contractor that the rest of the repairs should be completed next week and the week after.  Woot!!  We’ve been on hold waiting for the carpet to arrive but it should be in by Friday and the repairs can start next Monday.  Yay!

In the meantime, Hannah and Auntie Deb gave me these beautiful flowers to brighten our home and what a treat they are!! 

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.