My New Years Eve Disaster!

[Mary Kay]

New years eve we went to St. Cloud to meet a realtor so we can get rid of the house up there.
I walked in the house at 10am and it was flooded! It seems a pipe burst or rotted (copper pipes) serving the toilet in the wall. The well burned out or else it would have still been running!

All our stuff has been moved except a couple of plastic bins and the hoses and hose holder.
The house does have some funiture and VHS cassettes for donation. Most of it will have to be trashed!
We cleaned up a bit and went back to Tampa..the realtor said for us to try to get the insurance people to come check it out (yeah..on New years Eve!)

We got home (Tampa) and called the insurance people..they called the clean up people. The clean up people called us and said to meet at the house at 6pm!


Back we went and took pictures for the insurance co. and waited for the clean up crew..They did an assessment and said that the mold was already starting to spead and most of the walls needed to be cut and replaced..the paneling in the family room were buckled, the popcorn cieling was dropping!
All this in a week since we were last there.
At least our insurance was good and will repair and clean up. Once it's done we will be able to sell.
I hated being on the road on New years Eve..cops galore!

THe blinds looked like they had been sprayed with water and then mildewed! the white part was the exposed..the mildewed part was folded togeather at the top. At first we thought someone has sprayed the house to vandalize it! It was just the humidity. The clean up guy said it was just good it wasn't summer in a closed up house.

The walls are wet and damp.

The paneling over the bay window.

 

[classwife]

OMG!!!!! What a nightmare !!!!!!

 

[Mary Kay]

The only saving grace is that the house is mostly empty. There are two beds with mattresses that we didn't have room for..they are now trash! I was going to give a set to my daughter. The dresser we left there we were trying to make a desision on, it's is part of a 50 year old set I have had all my life. The water just crept up the feet and made the bottom drawer wet. Oh well..life goes on. We wikk have to deal with the house longer then we wanted to. They will fix whatever they tear out and redo the paint and floors..not sure about carpet. They will even pay whatever is over our normal electric bill because the pump ran for so long. The well will have to be fixed too.

 

[sleepy jean]

Holy smoke's you did have a flood, so glad the insurance will cover everything. Just a bright note, after it's all fixed up again, and everything is new, you might get more for the the house when you sell it.

 

[Mary Kay]

I hope so!

 

[hairball]

That's terrible to hear Mary Kay. What a way to bring in the New Year. Hopefully, keeping all toes and fingers crossed, you will get more out of it than you were asking. Don't stress too bad...that's why we pay insurance companies, to do it for us. Today starts a new year and possibly more money in your pocket.

 

[StormFinch]

So sorry to hear you had to deal with this over the holiday MK. Just keep telling yourself that blessings sometimes come in disguise and it will all work out for the better. I'm just glad you have a really good insurance company. Our den (sunken) flooded in one of the houses from a busted toilet pipe. I tried to get hold of the agent for a whole day while I wetvaced the carpet, but he never called me back or answered his phone. I finally gave up, changed insurance, and took care of the work myself.

 

[SudokuGal]

Oh, MK...what a mess. Glad you have insurance that will be taking care of it all.

 

[Fudgey]

MK....what a way to start the new year. I hope they get it cleaned up real soon.

 

[Mary Kay]

We are going back on Monday or Tues. We will see!

 

[Fudgey]

Fingers crossed

 

[Iowa Gal]

Mary Kay - sorry to hear your year started off so rough. It's always something isn't it. Good that your insurance will cover it. In regards to the dresser - maybe try cleaning it with Liquid Gold and let is sit out somewhere to dry good. Hopefully it won't get moldy.

 

[Safira]

Oh MK I'm so sorry, I know in FL mold is very easy to get. I hope they can get the work done quickly, so you can move on. Be carefull when you are inside the home you don't realize how quickly the mold can start to effect you. My mothers house here in IL had a food and mold, I wasn't even in the house,i was outside throwing stuff away and it was making me cough.

 

[Mary Kay]

I agree Safira, I was in the house for little over an hour and I had a throbbing headache. I told Mike I wouldn't go back in until the cleanup crew was done.
We are headed back tomorrow. We are meeting the insurance man and the repair crew. I will take pics of what has happened so far.
The one thing that worries me is the paint. The house was built in the 70's and the clean up guy said lead could be a problem..hopefully not.

 

[Iowa Gal]

Hope all goes well - will be thinking of you

 

[glowgirl]

Oh how awful! Although I hear if the New Year starts out rough it only gets better from there. Lets hope so!

 

[CES]

What a pain MK. I'm glad that the insurance is covering it at least- but there have got to be better ways to spend new year's eve

 

[Mary Kay]

Well all the carpets are gone and the paneling in the family room (good riddance!). The last of the furniture, mattresses and odds and ends were neatly piled in the living room! LOL they could have done us a favor and put them in the dumpster..I won't touch any of it since it's all damp.
The insurance guy was very nice and walked us thru the process. I could tell he was a bit new (other then being a kid) he asked why were thought the water on the floor could be responsible for the popcorn ceiling falling down in big clumps..like it was old damage. He changed his mind when I showed him the back of our front door. It looked like it had been really dirty and then rained on..streaks running down the door. While the clean up people had cleaned and dried it..the mold grew on the door and stained it where the condensation dripped down! He caught on and said...ahh condensation! Ya think?
It's going to be a long drawn out process. The funny thing is that they will replace the well pump, the carpet, the bathroom cabinet and repair the walls, maybe the cleaning and paint..but NOT the the $2.00 pipe or the repair of the toilet! Weird!

 

[Rosco]

Sorry for the mishap MK. For 20 years while living in Calif. I owned a Fire/Water/Smoke Restoration business. Bluntly, we loved jobs like this, even tho I felt terrible for the owners. The great thing was when we were done - you had lots of new everything.
BTW, that $2 pipe and toilet repair could easily be "taken care" of.

Good luck with the sale.

 

[sleepy jean]

HaHaHa, sorry MK, I just had to laugh when you said they would not repair the 2 dollar pipe or the toilet, thats just to ridiculous. Hard to figure that one out.