Update on the Water "Event"

As much as this whole situation is not the least bit of fun, we are lucky that the damage apparently isn't too bad. We brought in a contractor Tuesday to begin the estimate process for repairs, and his assessment was that it is definitely repairable and pretty straight forward. We won't have to tear a lot of extra stuff apart, and it is up to us how thorough we want the restoration to be. We learned that once the moisture is out of the floors, the hardwood should basically lay back down. It would certainly be a good idea to get the floors re-sealed, but it is not an absolute must at this point. The cabinet doors under the sink can be fixed and made to match the other cabinet doors. And the trim will get repaired (or re-done) and painted. It will be pretty inconvenient to get the floors re-sealed as it will require we move out of the house for about 3 days. But maybe we can arrange for that to happen while Caiden and I are in AZ. That will make for a little less overall disruption.

Right now we're living with a lot of noise. The insurance company sent out a mitigation company who is responsible for drawing out as much moisture from the floor and ceiling as possible. On Tuesday and part of Wednesday the kitchen was packed full of industrial fans and special moisture wicking mats and a big ol' dehumidifier. On Wednesday afternoon, they changed things up a bit. Took out a few fans, drilled some holes where the baseboards were and swapped out some fans for more heat producing machines. It's pretty much impossible to move around in there right now. And depending how things go, it could be that way for a WEEK. It also has the unfortunate side effects of putting off a lot of extra heat and NOISE. It pretty much sounds/feels like sitting next to the engine on an airplane. It's not so bad upstairs, but definitely an inconvenience. Fortunately we are making progress. The walls are totally dry, the garage is nearly dry, and the hardwoods in the kitchen are making good progress. Whew!

 Wall between half bath and kitchen

 

Looking into kitchen

  

Big fan under the sink

  

Facing dishwasher, kitchen sink

 

The other major noise component is the demolition of the garage ceiling. I thought it would be a bit of sawing and cutting, but no. There is A LOT of hammering and banging. It's so loud that it travels right upstairs to the bedrooms. Definitely makes for a challenge when trying to get Caiden down for a nap.

Once we find out how much the mitigation company is going to bill insurance, we'll know how much we'll have left for the contractor expenses. Unfortunately, we've only got an $8K cap on our "structural limits" portion of our insurance policy and the mitigation folks could easily take anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 of that allotment.  The contractor (who I really like - very honest and forthright kind of guy) said he will make sure the insurance company understands this is more than your average townhouse due to all the upgrades we have. For our marble staircase alone, he estimated those would cost $300 -$500 per STEP!!!! Isn't that insane?! (And no, those weren't damaged at all. This just came up in conversation while he was here.) Overall, he figures we have $15K - $30K worth of upgrades throughout the house. Good to know for when we list the house!!!

I am very anxious for this week to be over. I don't know how people live with major renovation projects! It would drive me nuts!!!