Water Damage

On Wednesday, February 10th, we had an unexpected, unwanted, experience. We had put the kids to bed and went downstairs to watch TV. Josh had turned on the Jazz game and I had fallen asleep on the couch (as I usually do when a jazz game is on). Josh had heard an odd sound but didn't pay much attention. After about a 1/2 hour he went upstairs to see if he could find out where the noise was coming from. Well, the ice maker had gotten stuck and the water poured out all over the kitchen and dining room floor. Josh spent 3 hours trying to clean it up before he woke me up to go to bed. When I woke I noticed bubbles in the ceiling ... not a good sign.

The next morning at work I was talking to a friend who told me I needed to call the Insurance company if the drywall was soaked or we'd have mold or mildew. It was a stressful morning as we got a hold of the Insurance and they sent a clean up crew to our home. They ripped up everything in the kitchen and cut out drywall from the ceiling and wall in the basement. We had 8 industrial fans and 2 dehumidifiers for 4 days before we were able to get a quote to begin the restoration. You know, it's amazing how when your home is in shambles it's so easy to justify home improvements. I can't count the number of times we said, "While it's out we should replace ..." or "since we have to replace we mine as well upgrade". In the end we ended up with a new flooring in the kitchen/dining room/entry way that I've wanted for years. A new kitchen sink and faucet plus a new dishwasher. It wasn't all flowers and roses, they had to redo the kitchen floor 3 times. The first installation was perfect but then when they installed the dishwasher and sink something scratched the floor and they had to rip it up and do it again. Then it wouldn't stick to the subfloor so they had to rip it up and do it a final time. The company was great to work with and they took full responsibility which we were most grateful for.



The basement was the easiest to restore aside from the fact that all the kids toys are downstairs as well as our TV. We were really limited when we unable to be downstairs during the work. Thanks to family who helped us out by taking in our kids on multiple occasions as well as taking us to dinner so we didn't have to be home fighting the kids. The biggest headache was painting. We decided to paint the entire basement and went through 2 different colors before making a final decision. It looks excellent, Josh did a great job! We also replaced the wall lights and Josh painted the entry hallway because it really needed it! Once the painting was complete it took several days to "de-dust" everything in the basement. They sanded the textured ceiling without using drop cloths ... Brilliant! Everything had an inch worth of dust cover.

We love the outcome from our "forced remodel" but we're also very glad it's over and life can get somewhat back to normal.