Merry Christmas?

Friday night my sister came home to find water all over the downstairs and coming from the light fixture in the kitchen. My friends husband, Ambiorix and my sister did their best to clean up the water they found, but by the time I got home last night it was clear the situation was bad.

The ceiling was sagging and I could feel that the entire living room carpet was wet, the laminate hardwood flooring was swelling at the seams from my dining room all the way around to my kitchen, there were dark spots on the ceiling that indicated that the spare room also had water damage and there was water, enough that it squished when I walked on it, in the master bedroom in what seems like a 6 foot radius from the bathroom.

This morning I called State Farm to file a claim. State Farm was great, and someone was here within an hour evaluating the damage. They told me that with State Farm they actually do the work to dry everything out and then submit the bill to State Farm, I only had to pay my deductible.
They are removing the ceiling in the kitchen under the bathroom and part of the bedroom. They will also be removing all the flooring downstairs. Upstairs the tile will be removed from the bathroom and the toilet detached. The carpet in the living room and bedrooms will need to be pulled back, the carpet pad removed and they carpet may need to be replaced.

Because of the fact that I have seamless flooring in my downstairs and the ceiling downstairs is one piece, they will need to replace / refinish the entire downstairs and the entire floor will need to be replaced. They have also had to remove all the trim and crown moulding, will need to remove the baseboards upstairs.









I am told it will take approximately 3 to 5 days to dry. Drying involves these huge fans that I am told sound like a jet engine and dehumidifiers and so on. They will be running 24 hours a day and the company will come out to check the progress every day.

Once it is dry, the contractors come in and begin to make estimates and I will need to pick out replacement materials like tile, paint, flooring and possibly carpet. I have no idea how long that will take. Certainly it's going to be a pain, but I do have the option of paying for 'upgrades' like improved flooring, knock down ceilings etc. So even though it will be a major hassle that could last for weeks, it seems that at least I will get something out of it.

The guy that showed up today said that State Farm is the best company they work for. I hope he's right I also need to make an inventory of personal items to be replaced. One of those items may very well be my dining room table. There were some library books on the table that are soaking wet and Martha had some electronics up there that may not be salvageable. Unfortunately I also lost a few irreplaceable items including some Christmas ornaments that were my grandmothers, some I made as a child and several of my 'annual' Christmas ornaments. I'm sad, but it could be worse.

State Farm just called and got the details, I'm supposed to find a like / kind replacement price for my table and they gave me my claim ID# and some contact numbers. I hope this is less painful than I'm worried it will be.

They will still be ripping stuff up for the rest of the day, and as they find more water damage they will let me know what I need to move. We already had to get all the pictures off the wall because the fans are pretty powerful and can blow stuff off the walls. I've also moved all the pottery and other art so that it won't be damaged. They haven't gotten upstairs yet. That will another round of exciting surprises I suppose....