Drying Out - Post Flood Update

Well, we are almost 3 weeks past our Riverboat event. We finished the last of the demolishing during the first week. We tore up all of the finished flooring plus the particle board underlayment. We took out the bottom 2 feet of sheet rock and insulation. Now all the framing wood is exposed and drying out nicely. We suspect we will be able to begin building again in 3-4 weeks. Of course, it will be a slow process as we can only build as we have money to buy the supplies. Luckily, many of Jason's co-workers have offered to lend a hand. And some of them have prior experience in drywalling and building houses.

The car was a total loss, as we suspected. So, Jason's Honda (which he has had since January 2000) is forever gone. All-State is giving us a little over $1700 for it. We were hoping for at least $2000, but apparently 220K miles is a lot. :) No amount can replace the reliability and gas efficiency that that car gave us. It will be hard to replace her. Especially with 1700.

In the wake of our mini disaster, we are a little excited to remodel the downstairs the way WE want it. We had planned on replacing the floors and remodeling the bathroom anyway. Not all at once, but hey we gotta make lemonade out of these lemons. :) We are excited to attend the Home and Garden Show next month and a Remodeling Show next week. Plus, our local Home Depot has some classes on drywalling and flooring coming up. So, we should get some ideas and pointers for our 'project'.

All in all, we are doing alright. Of all the people that have had flooding in their homes in the past couple weeks, we have been pretty fortunate. The water was only in our home for a few hours before it receded. We were not flooded with sewage as some of our neighbors were. We did not lose any possessions, as we had most of our stuff upstairs. (Plus the washer and dryer still work. Yay! And we were able to get our framing wood exposed early, so we don't have a mold or mildew problem.

Granted, when it's all said and done, we will have spent a few thousand dollars to get back to where we were. (Maybe the city will reimburse some of it, since they failed to unclog the culvert.) We are just thankful that no one was hurt and that we have a secure income and friends that are builders to help us get the downstairs back to normal.