Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Through The Roof

My anxiety level is through the roof right now. Last night, for whatever reason, our second bathroom toilet overflowed. This morning, I awoke to a half inch of water covering the bathroom, and wet carpet extending out into the hallway, and into the entrances of two bedrooms. The water had also taken the path of least resistance and traveled downstairs, where I found more wet carpet, and dripping coming from the beautiful crown moulding my husband installed in my front room. There was also a wet spot on the ceiling a few feet away from the dripping.

Amanda and I mopped up the water in the bathroom, and started walking on towels spread over the carpet. I got out my carpet cleaner, and attempted to suck out more water. I dumped and dumped that thing, and the carpet was still absolutely, squishing wet like wet sod. The dripping downstairs stopped.

I won't go into too much detail from here, except to say that we are now dealing with our insurance company to take care of the problem. They sent out a water damage restoration company, who went through my home like a whirlwind, and without much explanation, told me they were going to take out the upstairs bathroom flooring, pull up the carpet, remove the pad and dry everything out. They also said that they wanted to rip out my kitchen floor, the downstairs bathroom floor, rip off the crown moulding, remove sheetrock in various places and pull up the carpet and remove the pad.

I freaked. Four workers stared at me while I sat in a chair, and started my freak show. I couldn't understand why and how this kind of demolition could begin without an adjustor calling me or coming out to assess the damage. How was I to know if, once they tore everything apart, that my insurance company was going to pay me enough to put it all back together?! I made them wait around while I tried to contact insurance people for answers. Of course, I couldn't get a hold of any one right away. I finally got in touch with my agent, after leaving a tearful and distraught message. He said to not let them rip anything up until the adjustor comes. That was my gut feeling anyway, so it was good to have it confirmed. I agreed to the placement of several turbo fans and two dehumidfiers for now, until the adjustor comes tomorrow.

My house is freaking LOUD with all these fans, no one can really talk to each other. It's starting to become very hot. Tonight, my neighbor offered to let us sleep at her house - praise the Lord. Joe is going to stay in our room with our window open, with our dog.

The adjustor said we could stay in a hotel and be reimbursed. Maybe we'll do that on the weekend. Right now, we have too much going on, so the neighbor's house is perfect. Amanda and I are starting classes at the college tomorrow, among other major things.

Like I said, my stress level is through the roof. Joe has been working double shifts the last couple of days, and came home this afternoon. I was in a heap sobbing on my couch. He took tonight off, and is cancelling is other overtime for the week. This sucks, as we really needed that extra money, but I'm SO, SO, glad to know that I will have my husband's help and I won't be trying to do all of this without him. I'm also the kind of person who can visualize a big picture, and determine each step it will take to get there. So, you can imagine what is going on in my brain when I see the amount of demolition and reconstruction that is going to be taking place in my home. I covet your prayers for me. I was already stressing about starting these classes, and now I have this.

Needless to say, I will not be blogging for a little while. The house is so hot, I need to turn off the computer to save it, anyway. PLEASE pray for me. I feel like I'm gonna crack....

5 comments:

The Draper Family said...

Oh my.... we went through this exact same thing in December of last year... (except our upstairs washing machine was the culprit-- we documented it on our blog too). And yes, those fans stink... we all stayed at my parent's house while we were "drying out". I TOTALLY know what you're feeling, but know that God has hidden blessings in this. Our insurance came through HUGE and we have new carpet and flooring in the ENTIRE house. I will be praying for you...

Chelle said...

Will be praying, for your sanity, quick repairs of the house, and for insurance to step up and take care of it 100%!!!!

You will survive girl, you will survive!!!!

Organized Chaos said...

Hang in there, Jodi! Hopefully, like Lyndsey, insurance will cover it above and beyond...which is little comfort now but maybe you'll end up with new floors and carpet and a little in the bank to help compensate for the hassle.

I'll be praying for your sanity and patience!

Lisa (the girls' moma) said...

Thank goodness you went with your gut and made the calls. See? You weren't completely out of it!

Hopefully on your way to classes with Amanda tomorrow you can laugh about all the insanity of today.

L

Ro said...

I've been through something similar. The main water pipe running through the roof of my apartment broke and flooded the place. While it wasn't on my shoulders, it was still a mess! Since you can see the big picture, I'm sure that you can see that one day it will all be a distant memory.

"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7