Our Winter Storm Disaster—Water Mitigation

Well, m’peeps.

With the sun shining and the temperatures soaring close to 80 degrees, it’s nearly impossible to believe that merely days ago, our neck of the woods was weathering the worst winter storm in three decades.

And, boy, was a doozy.

While we have so much to be grateful for (water and electricity are restored within the area!), our casa sustained some pretty major damage following a burst pipe, a kitchen ceiling collapse, and flooding of pretty much the entire downstairs.

You can read all about that crazy hoopla, here:

http://delappenings.blogspot.com/2021/02/our-winter-storm-disaster.html?m=1

So. Now. What’s been happening since then???

Well.

We are one week post-disaster, and I am so incredibly thankful to report that the first phase of this restoration undertaking is nearly complete.

And that’s the water mitigation phase.

Although we spent the entire day after the event, laboriously removing all sopping wet insulation, shoveling drywall out of the house and wet vacuuming until there was no standing water left...we obviously needed professionals to come in and assess the true extent of the water damage.

Thankfully, we have been among a very fortunate minority, in that our insurance agency has been on it from the get-go. So the very day of our pipe burst, they directed us toward our local branch of Serve Pro (one of their preferred mitigation specialists), and the owner of that local branch called in his brother—also an employee of Serve Pro, but in San Diego—to serve as another working crew that could get to work as soon as possible. For us, and a myriad of other homes in need locally.

I can’t even begin to describe the combination of relief and anxiety to have that Serve Pro truck show up at our house on Friday—especially after eight more hours of snow the day before.

But mostly, I was filled with awe and gratitude that this two-person team drove all the way from San Diego to start servicing customers here, and that we were lucky enough to have them arrive on site so fast.

One neighbor saw the truck and even asked me if we’d called them out before the storm even hit, ha.

Nope. Definitely not. But the speed with which we had a team on site will forever go down as a major blessing for me.

That said...despite the quick turnaround of just three days after the burst pipe, a lot (a lot) of water damage had set in, and the team (two from San Diego, and two others who joined in locally) have spent the past four days under the directive of ripping out and drying out until they detected no further moisture. 

Now.

Under normal circumstances, the Serve Pro team could theoretically handle all demo involved in our project. But since this was a regional disaster and not a one-off home event, they have just been focused on getting to the bottom of the moisture and then they need to move on. Totally understandable.

So now.

Pics of the water mitigation process so far.

First on the list was kitchen ceiling tear-out. And as it ended up, the whole dang thing had to go, as water damage spread substantially far.

Don’t you just love the new open-air vibe we’ve got going on??? NOT.

Thank heavens the weather has warmed, as we were having major issues trying to heat the house in the bitter cold temps with this gaping ceiling that leads directly to the attic. Oye.



It’s hard to fathom all this ceiling loss, and yet, I felt much more comfortable with the whole ceiling gone than during the time period we had the gaping hole. I think because now I can see everything up in there instead of worrying what’s in there festering!





Of course, one of the toughest parts of this mitigation process is the incessant noise. And I don’t just mean the demolition work during the day. 

I mean the FANS.

The loud as all-get-out, can’t-hear-your-brain-think, industrial-strength fan/de-humidifiers. During the day, there have typically been a handful going in various locations, but at the end of the day, the team sets them ALL up at full blast. And there are about 20 of those suckers. And it is loud.





Fans, fans for everyone! (Also, aren’t the lingering Valentine decorations just a mockery in this situation? Ha.)



Another joyous side effect of this process is the high temp within the house at night, as the mitigation team wants it warm, warm, warm downstairs to help with the drying process. The first night was the worst.

But nothing is as bad as the job this incredibly hard team faces in tackling all of this mess.

As evidenced by this next bucket of mitigation work: drywall tear-out.

After the kitchen ceiling was completely removed, the team had to continue throughout the house, removing drywall from every location that still had a moisture reading. And those areas were plentiful.

One of the worst locations was our master bedroom wall that backs up to the living room. The stone fireplace in the living room sustained a lot of water (and still isn’t drying out), but in an attempt to salvage it, they went into the wall behind it to air things out.

There were two unlucky gentlemen underneath this taped tent, here. Cutting away at drywall while trapped under there to keep the dust to a minimum. I mean...seriously HARD work.





This is the fireplace from behind!



Other areas in the house that required drywall removal:













So...yeah. Lots of drywall areas sustained damage. Booooo.

Now, the third major bucket of mitigation work the team had to tackle was kitchen cabinetry.

Based on their moisture readings, they suspected there was more than just the damage to the foot boards, and they were right.

Upon removing the section in direct line of the greatest flow of water, they reported that the insulation behind it was sopping wet. Again, can I get another booooo.

Buh bye cabinets. UGH.

Additionally, due to moisture readings, the team had to rip out some of the island, as well.



It really is so heartbreaking to see all these materials piling up—particularly because we completely gutted and renovated the house less than two years ago when we moved in (although that’s a whole other story).



So...now what???

Well. The mitigation team and those ever-loving fans still have a tiny bit more to do, related to the moisture itself.

The stone fireplace just isn’t drying out. And it got discolored in the process of this disaster. So tomorrow, they will begin tear-out of the bottom section to see what is really going on under there.

Then at that point, their work will be done, as they will have gotten to the root of the water.

But we’re not at all at the end of the demolition road.

We’re just transitioning now to local vendors.

And in anticipation of that, and all the work that needs to be done...movers arrived yesterday to relocate all of our downstairs furniture to a storage pod that we’re fortunately able to keep in an unobtrusive area, way back from the road on an excess driveway that’s on our property.

So know we can move forward with the following without worrying as much about our furniture, etc.

We know that all flooring downstairs has to go.

We know that all downstairs baseboards have to go.

We know that all kitchen cabinets will eventually have to go.

We know that the kitchen island will have to go.

And we know that some or all of the fireplace will have to go.

Additionally, the insurance company has deemed a total loss on the majority of our kitchen appliances.

So...we’re just going to start tackling all of that day by day.

And the biggest step of that—by far—is the hardwood flooring removal, that began today.

But that’s another post for tomorrow, as it’s an insane process that’s brutal work for these crews.

Basically, I’ll wrap this up by saying if you’re exhausted and in a state of slight disbelief after reading this, join the club.

It’s been a week.

This will likely be a three-month process (cabinets alone will take 8-10 weeks) with a lot of moving parts, but we’re GRATEFUL the work has begun, and we’re doing our best to maintain our sanity.

More tomorrow (hopefully) on the INSANE floor removal process.

And more (tomorrow, or another day) about the lovely tidbits we’re doing to keep a bit of normalcy and our spirits up as much as possible.

Stay healthy, stay sane, peeps.

Over and out.