Monday, July 30, 2007

(yet another) Disaster Striketh

You may recall the Great Flood of '06, or the Well Water/City Water Crisis. Come, gentle reader, and view my guest bedroom, six short days before my parents arrive for a visit:
Oh yes, that is, in fact '70's era wood paneling, and rust/brown carpeting. Pretty, isn't it? Some of you may be hyperventilating, just at the site of the decor, but that is not the problem with this picture (believe it or not). I turn your attention instead to the large jet-powered fans, attempting to dry out the very, very wet carpet, along with portions of the wall. What happened, you ask? Funny story. Part of our sprinkler system in the back yard ruptured, causing massive amounts of water to pool next to the house, and then pour in through the wall in the basement. Right into the guest bedroom. It also went under the wall into the bathroom, into the hall, and just a tiny bit into Steve's office. Today, the "disaster cleanup crew" came by, as well as the insurance inspector guy, who took pictures and lots of notes. Tomorrow they'll drop off a dehumidifier, and with any luck, we'll be all dried out by Friday, at which point I'll quickly throw my guest room back together, in time for my parents arrival on Saturday evening. For a fleeting moment, Steve and I had mad fantasies about a fat insurance check, new carpeting, sheet rock, etc., but alas, we were whipped back into reality by the insurance guy, who explained to us that the first goal was to dry it out, and then retest for moisture and go from there. Not to mention, the ginormous deductible we have to pay. So, a bit of a hiccup in my one-week-before-house guests-arrive-cleaning-frenzy, but what can you do? As for the wood paneling and perfectly-preserved, 30-year old carpet? Our whole house has a bit of a "time warp" feel to it, so it just wouldn't feel right to modernize the basement. Not really, but that's what I'll keep telling myself.

2 comments:

Joy said...

Unfortunatley, I know the squirrel fan too well. Having lived with a basement in a time warped home, too, we have flooded our entire basement too many times to count. Well, not really. We flooded it with inches of water standing everywhere 3 times in the 5 years we lived there and MANY times just portions of the basement.

Sorry you're in the middle of this now but it will be fine come Saturday. Promise.

Lisa said...

Oh Heather, what a DRAG! I'm sure it'll be fine by the time your folks arrive, but what a pain in the TUSHY to have to spend valuable 'get ready for houseguest' time drying out the basement! Better for it to happen BEFORE they arrive instead while they're there though, right?

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