Another update (or: Deconstructing our house)
We finally had an insurance adjuster show up this past Monday. She came through our (formerly beautiful) basement and measured, took notes, asked questions, etc., and then she went out to her car and wrote up a partial estimate.
I say *partial* because she stopped her figuring once she was about $2,000 over our maximum coverage for this type of damage per loss. She wrote us a check for our maximum allowed loss and left. We don't know how much the restoration people are going to charge for their services (emergency svcs: spraying against mold and mildew and commercial dryers and dehumidifiers to make sure that everything is completely dry), so we decided to do as much as we could to try to save as much money as possible for the eventual reconstruction (because there is no way that it'll be enough). To that end, we've spent the entire week moving all of our furniture and stuff out of the basement (except for the storage room and laundry room) and in to our garage, removing @850 sq.ft. of carpet and padding, and yesterday came the joy of cutting and removing drywall (three feet off the floor on almost every wall). The drywall is not done, but we've started today and hope to finish.
The restoration people are coming Tuesday. I pretty much can't breathe - I'm not sure if it's the mold, the drywall dust, or the fiberglass insulation that we've had to take out of the interior walls. Coughing and hacking is not fun, and my throat is killing me. Mask thingies don't seem to be doing much good. *sigh*
It all sounds horrible, and it is - I spent the whole week in a cloud of despair, but I'm feeling a little more optimistic now. I've started looking at options for the reconstruction, and with the help of a friend and her many ideas (she is wonderful at this sort of thing), I'm starting to see this as an opportunity to get a fresh start. We'll see. I've found some good flooring options, have some ideas about the walls (instead of fixing all the drywall), I'm thinking about changing to all different and new colors when I paint, and I think that I may, just may, survive. It's going to be a long, hard road. *sigh*
I say *partial* because she stopped her figuring once she was about $2,000 over our maximum coverage for this type of damage per loss. She wrote us a check for our maximum allowed loss and left. We don't know how much the restoration people are going to charge for their services (emergency svcs: spraying against mold and mildew and commercial dryers and dehumidifiers to make sure that everything is completely dry), so we decided to do as much as we could to try to save as much money as possible for the eventual reconstruction (because there is no way that it'll be enough). To that end, we've spent the entire week moving all of our furniture and stuff out of the basement (except for the storage room and laundry room) and in to our garage, removing @850 sq.ft. of carpet and padding, and yesterday came the joy of cutting and removing drywall (three feet off the floor on almost every wall). The drywall is not done, but we've started today and hope to finish.
The restoration people are coming Tuesday. I pretty much can't breathe - I'm not sure if it's the mold, the drywall dust, or the fiberglass insulation that we've had to take out of the interior walls. Coughing and hacking is not fun, and my throat is killing me. Mask thingies don't seem to be doing much good. *sigh*
It all sounds horrible, and it is - I spent the whole week in a cloud of despair, but I'm feeling a little more optimistic now. I've started looking at options for the reconstruction, and with the help of a friend and her many ideas (she is wonderful at this sort of thing), I'm starting to see this as an opportunity to get a fresh start. We'll see. I've found some good flooring options, have some ideas about the walls (instead of fixing all the drywall), I'm thinking about changing to all different and new colors when I paint, and I think that I may, just may, survive. It's going to be a long, hard road. *sigh*