Sunday, September 13, 2009

Flood...One Month Later

Here we are, one month past the date of the flood which submerged the first floor of our house. I started out pretty well in dealing with it. I took the 'oh well. Let's tackle this step by step' approach to the whole thing, knowing there wasn't any other way to deal effectively with things. I made the proper phone calls and work was begun.

There has been some progress. We're dried out and the huge fans and dehumidifiers that hummed loudly for more than a week have gone. The insulation from under the house was piled in the back yard for four or five days has been taken away, and eventually the crew came to install the new fiberglass stuff. The doors and trim which were damaged have been replaced by a neat and knowledgeable elderly man. The hardwood floors that we chose, rather than carpet, was installed to the tune of the top 100 Beatles songs on the radio at full blast, while the electric hammers shot nails into the floor. The underlayment for vinyl was put in, and the vinyls have been laid. (That day the installer's choice of music was 'head banger'...loud, wild guitars playing
repetive chords. I don't call that music, and believe me...I was ready to bang my head against anything by the time they'd left for the day!) The stove is back in place, after a few take-out meals, but the dishwasher is not yet in it's location. The kitchen/dining area is void of furniture, and Mike is joking that we could just play tennis there. (By the way, neither of us plays tennis.)

The sunporch remains jam-packed with furniture, with a path from the kitchen French doors, through the sunporch, to the back door. I have a little 'cubby' hole where I can sit and compute.
Otherwise, it's a shambles. The bedroom has two bureaus, and nothing else. The carpet padding is in, and the new carpet should be here and down tomorrow. The living room still houses the TV, which we've moved from place to place throughout this project. There are two chairs in there so we can watch TV at night.

The work which has been done has been done well and I have no complaints. I have every confidence that what is left to be done, the trim around the baseboards, the painting of the kitchen, the cleaning of the house and the vacuuming of all the ductwork will be done equally as well. We'll still need to paint the living room, baths, laundry room, hall and master bedroom, but that will be done as we can....hopefully before we return the furniture to each room.

I'm so ready to have things back in shape. I'm ready to have my home back, without the constant 'trade parade' of contractors, plumbers, painters, floormen, etc. each day. And I'll be so happy to hear the silence!




the floors look wonderful.