Tuesday, September 4, 2018

before and after Harvey


This past holiday weekend marks one year since this little town was flooded to the point of being completely cut off for a few days. One year ago last Friday we got to the house for the first time to find there was still about 6” of water inside and in the yard. A year ago Saturday we emptied the half of the house onto the driveway. 


and the sweeping and hosing out


A year ago Sunday we started the demolition, hauling out wheelbarrow fulls of wet sheetrock and insulation and flooring and paneling and a busted up tile shower and bucketfulls of wet stinky dirt and gravel from the planters inside and the bottom two feet of siding on the outside of the whole house. 


and the spraying of the structure with vinegar and bleach and then waiting while the wood dried out before any kind of restoration could be started.

A year. And it's only been about a month that the inside of the house has been finished and I am lucky at that since my neighbor is a contractor and he focused on helping his neighbors repair their homes.

The change in how it looked to how it looks is amazing. Where before the part of the house that flooded was my least favorite part of the house with its ugly paneling, styrofoam ceiling tiles, linoleum tile or sheet vinyl floors, the tiny bathroom with brown tile and funky wallboard, the back bedroom with the one small window is now my favorite part of the house. The indoor planters and brick wall and hideous paneling in the big room are gone along with the styrofoam ceiling tiles, the room remodeled from ceiling to floor, 

before (can't see the big brick wall on the left or the planters which are behind the plants brought in for the winter)

the water is just starting to come in the house

the new workroom

everything in the tiny bathroom gone except the upper sheetrock and the built-in cabinet above the toilet, 

only 'before' picture I can find which is after the flood but before demolition

after demolition

the new bathroom

end wall of built in shelves in the back bedroom gone as well as the closet that made up the far wall and replaced with some of our etched glass which really opened up that room which before was reminiscent of a cave, cut off from the rest of the house. It had originally been painted a very pale blue/white but grandgirl Jade and I painted it in 2015 so it was better than originally.

before

rebuilding the end wall where the closet was

the new back bedroom 





21 comments:

  1. Wow. The end results are stunning. But what a nightmare to have to go through all that.

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    1. I hope never to have to do it again but most of my choices for the remodel were made with an eye toward it possibly happening again.

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  2. That was a lot of hard work and what fabulous results!

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    1. thanks! it's been stressful. I don't usually make decisions easily or quickly but Rocky forced me to. the only thing I'm not completely happy with is the flooring in the kitchen which I had plenty of time to choose!

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  3. You have had a long hard year but the finished rooms are very, very nice. You and Rocky did a wonderful job.

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    1. thanks! I do really like the way it looks now but we would never have gone ahead with any remodel otherwise.

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  4. Amazing what you've accomplished. I honestly do not think I could have done that. Ellen, you are a hardworking woman and a trouper.

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  5. It looks so wonderful. I know there still be things to do, still some work to be done, but you've come so far, and done such a great job under VERY trying circumstances!

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    1. thanks! the only thing I'm not thrilled with is the flooring I picked for the kitchen. Now if we can just get the house painted and then I'll have to turn my attention to the shop which I have basically ignored beyond cleaning up after the tear out.

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  6. Thank goodness for big girl jeans. Now I hope they can go in the bottom of the bottom drawer! What you did is wonderful!

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    1. well, collapsing on the floor in hysterics wouldn't have accomplished much, but yeah, I'll be glad not to have to put those pants back on.

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  7. This is a fantastic renovation. What a hard thing that was to have to come back from but one step at a time you’ve triumphed.

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    1. that's about it, one step, one day at a time. couldn't look past what had to be done on any particular day

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  8. Well done you, it took us years after the last flood to get it together, there are still loose end! The work looks great that you have done so willingly and cheerfully! Very inviting, invite me...

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    1. I don't know about willingly and not exactly cheerfully just stoically. and you are invited!

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  9. Not having been visiting your blog for long, I had no idea that you had been through a flood and had all that hard work to do in addition to the challenges of day-to-day life. The renovated version is lovely.

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    1. it was an ordeal for sure, months of dirty hard work. had to be rescued by airboat at dark, stayed in a shelter one night and then with my sister for two weeks. we were lucky though, only the part of the house on slab flooded while the part on pier and beam did not. most my neighbors had their whole houses flooded and one just now got moved back in.

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  10. Talk about making lemonade out of lemons! Let's hope it's the only time you have to go through such drastic renovations. You worked miracles with that tiny bathroom!

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  11. OMG, what a difference. I know you must be thrilled, but may it never flood there again.

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  12. It really looks great! I can't wait to see what you end up doing outside.

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