Tuesday, September 12, 2017

work begins


Saturday, the water had receded to the point that we could get to the house in my sister's car and we drove over there in the morning to get the rest of the dry goods groceries and stuff and to pick up our car which you might remember I had parked over at the shop the day the flood happened as it was the highest ground I could get to. Fortunately the water there only rose about 6” and the car was undamaged. 

the butterfly garden

the water lily pond is under there somewhere

the front flower bed

Drove back to Pam's and picked up Marc and we headed back to the house to start emptying the two rooms and getting ready for demolition removing the paneling in my in-house studio and the sheetrock and wet insulation from the walls in the back bedroom and small bathroom about four feet up, vinyl flooring hauled out and floor tiles scraped up. Over the course of the three day Labor Day holiday our son, daughter and son-in-law and grandson, and friends Gene and Brian came out to help us. We still had about an inch of water in the house so we started sweeping it out and moving out the stuff that was up high and savable and dragging out all the stuff that was damaged. Oh, and the smell was just horrible.


all my art books..muerta

my design research books..same same






It's been 10 days of continuous hard physical labor though about halfway through I did take a day off. We're living at my sister's house, generally get to our house about 10 AM and work til 6 PM and drag our sorry tired butts home to a great dinner ready for us to do it again the next day.

After the holiday, Gene and Brian and their friend Lee came out on Tuesday and hauled stuff over to the shop and worked in the shop all day dragging out the wet carpet there and in general doing as much clean up as they could as the shop got about 6” of water in it and I was finally able to hose out the floors in the house and wiped all the exposed wood down with vinegar. Wednesday another friend came and helped get the garage washed out and the stuff that was savable off the driveway.

Then I spent the next two days emptying the brick planters of stinky river soaked dirt, gravel, and brick pieces that whoever built the house thought was a great idea to build INSIDE the house. The dirt got spread out in the low spot beside the house, the dirty gravel got spread out on the driveway which was in need of it, and the brick pieces got chucked as far into the Wild Space at the back of the property as I could chuck them.




Then some of the floor tiles in the kitchen popped up and we discovered the sub-floor was wet (which is why the wood floors in the upper house are now a bit wavy) so those had to be all scraped up. Friend Wesley loaned us a high powered blower which we are using to help dry the sub-floor from underneath the house. 


Then I noticed the siding shingles were bulging on a corner of the upper house and pulled off a few of those to find some serious damage to the structure of the house and removing the sink and toilet in the little bathroom and the wallboard there also showed some major damage. 


That was last Sunday and this was more than we could deal with. Time to get a professional on board so I walked down to Rocky's house, our neighborhood carpenter/contractor, for an assessment. The siding on the house needed to come off all the way around and the shower had to be taken out before he could know exactly what the damage was and what needed to be repaired. So yesterday and today he and his crew worked on that and discovered another large area on the front of the house where there was a lot of rotten wood and squashed floor joists which is probably why the front door frame is out of square.

that pile of rubble used to be the shower



Marc and our grandson, who drives out nearly every day after he gets off work from his job in Houston, had cleared the yard of all the debris and hauled it over to the burn pile and mowed several days previous. The mosquitoes have been big, black, and fierce. Starting yesterday, I was finally able to address what is left of the flower beds. I'm slowly working my way around the yard raking debris into small piles as I go, discovering what survived and what didn't.

We've about got as far as we can get on the house now until FEMA comes out and inspects the damage and we see what they will offer us . We had no insurance or home owner's insurance. They do provide money grants which is what we are hoping for but probably all we will get is a low interest loan which we will decline. Not interested in borrowing money. Once we can turn our attention to the upper house and get it cleared out of all the stuff that has been moved in there, we can move back in and do the remodel at our leisure. Rocky will go ahead and repair the structural damage before the inspector comes but I will take plenty of pictures for proof, as if the obvious new repair isn't proof enough, and then he will do the minimal demolition over at the shop until such time he gets a breather and can demolish the entire built in part of the shop. He was headed to the lumber yard with a materials list when he left today and I'm waiting to hear from him to find out how much this is going to set us back.

Our street, like so many in the county and town, is a canyon of ruined possessions and construction materials piled high on either side. Many of the homes on my street were built entirely on a slab and they lost everything.

As bad as things are for us it could have been so much worse.



last: blessings in disguise




21 comments:

  1. OMG so much work to be done...I can see you've got plenty of good hands helping though so that is a blessing! Hope FEMA comes through for y'all.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow. What a disaster. So much work to be done. Hard to believe it could have been worse. I am wondering how come the slab owners lost everything? How come pier and beam was better? Also, from watching Irma coverage, I thought if your house was flooded, your electricity would be down. But I see the fan, and electric cords? I am glad you have help, and do hope FEMA serves you well. When I am feeling down, and bored, thinking that I might be in your place will cheer me right up! Wishing you the best.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. houses on a slab are on ground level and so their entire houses flooded. houses on pier and beam are elevated above ground level and were higher than the flood waters or only got an inch or so.

      Delete
  3. Ugh. What a mess. So sorry you've had to cope with all this. Seeing those ruined books just kills me.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Go get some lime that farmers use in their barns and sprinkle everywhere to calm that smell. You really got flooded bad, sorry to see your gardens in shambles.Wish I was there to help

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wiped the walls with vinegar which seemed to do the trick.

      Delete
  5. Oh, Ellen. And here I am, feeling so blue and down and overwhelmed because my house is a mess and dirty and there are so many branches to pick up outside.
    Please don't kill yourself with this work. Please. Take care of yourself, too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. didn't do much yesterday, body rebelled, but I had to be there while Rocky and crew were working. Today is the first day I feel like I don't have to rush and get things done RIGHT NOW. will be going at a slower pace from here on.

      Delete
  6. What a mess, but it does look like you dodged a bullet as far as some others. Having said that, I am surprised you were able to find so much help as others must have had their share of work to do. Must be pretty special people. I don't know if I could have done that much work. And your gardens. I know how much you worked on them. It'll all going to come back.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Jesus, this sucks. This may sound kind of stupid, but what happened to your turtle?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. water didn't get as high as the sides of her stock tank so she is fine and still here with us.

      Delete
  8. Goodness, what a mess. Looks like all of you are working and getting it done. Hope Fema comes through for you all. Sending more juju for strength and endurance. Hang in there, xoxo Oma Linda

    ReplyDelete
  9. Glad Big Mama is ok, and glad you have so much help. But man - what a mess! And after you worked so hard in the yard all summer. Well, you work hard in the yard every summer, so I guess that isn't new...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Glad it wasn't worse, hope FEMA offers something.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I was shocked to learn how little those grants are. Three to five thousand dollars aren't even a drop in a bucket. Sounds like you've got great family that'll help.

    Glad you're in recovery mode. Be well.

    ReplyDelete
  12. It sounds so overwhelming, I'm glad you have such good family and friend help. I hope you get some decent money from FEMA. Take care.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Losing those books makes my heart hurt. It all does, but losing books.... Here's hoping FEMA will be worthwhile.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. those were probably the greatest loss but to tell the truth, I hadn't looked at any of them for years. maybe half a dozen out of all the art books I would like to replace. my glass art books were undamaged as they were on a higher shelf on the bookcase.

      Delete
  14. Wow! That's a lot of damage, but like you said it could be worse. So sorry you had to experience this.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I'm glad your car made it through. That helps. I went through this with Allison, and I remember every detail so clearly. The house was in Timbergrove Manor, just north of I-10, and the waters from White Oak came up in about 15 minutes, according to neighbors. There was three feet of water in the house.

    The worst thing was dealing with the books, photographs, and such. We must have gone through the process of trying to save things a dozen times. We kept trying to pretend that some things could be kept -- but they couldn't. It was interesting to hear a woman on the radio the other day who lost everything in Ike. She had a house on Bolivar that was nothing but a slab when it was over. In this one, she got the water in the house. She said it was easier to have everything just disappear than to have to go through the process of saving this, throwing that. I think I understand her point.

    You're making such good progress, though. I'm glad you're slowing down a bit. It's an enormous challenge, but you will get through it.

    ReplyDelete
  16. The destruction is overwhelming. It's good that you have help and a safe place to stay. Like others, I am sorry you have to go through this....

    ReplyDelete

I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.