i thought it was probably time for a quick house update... here's what has been happening:
a few months ago stl had a big storm, and we noticed that our neighborhood had some wind damage - tree branches, power outages, etc. we also noticed some roof debris in our yard, briefly thought about our roof, but quickly moved on because we really didn't think that our flat roof had been damaged by the wind. we had 2 companies out to look at the roof semi-recently, and felt that our roof was in good enough condition to hold up to some wind.
fast forward to christmas - we left stl to spend time in ohio with family, and the first few days in ohio it just rained. and rained. and rained some more. we figured that it had also probably rained at our house, but had no reason to give that any additional thought.
until we drove back home a week later. we arrived late on a saturday night, and i kept noticing an odd smell in our house. i thought it was from the house being shut up for a week, and just went to bed without inspecting things. the next morning, we walked by the guest room and saw this:
well, this without the buckets. apparently the rain the week before had caused water to pour in to our guest room. the ceiling had significant damage, as well as the wood floor, and the exterior wall. the mattress was ruined. the good news - the mattress actually acted like a giant sponge, and as far as we could see, the water did not make its way down to the kitchen below. i couldn't even imagine trying to repair our basically new kitchen...
so guest room, lots of water, and at this point, just assuming we have a hole in the roofing material. you'd think that this would be something that insurance could quickly assist with, and we'd be well on our way to being fully repaired by now. you'd think that, except our initial insurance assessment, which was scheduled a few days after we first called, was then canceled because we had a few inches of snow. while annoying, i understand that the adjuster cannot get on the roof in the snow. so we reschedule, and carefully watched the guest room as the snow melted. the bucket contained the new water, we rescheduled our appointment, no big deal.
and then... stl gets the most amount of snow it has had since '82 (so the locals tell me!). we had over 12" of snow. and a hole in our roof. and a sponge/mattress that we couldn't move until the adjuster came out. but now there was more snow, so no adjuster...
(this photo was in the middle of the snow, we got probably another 6" on top of that. it was crazy, the city shut down, and we were stuck at home for 3 days.)
we waited, hoping that it would warm up slowly, and that the snow would melt over time. we thought we could deal with that.
but guess what? the temperatures went from -11* to 45 overnight. 45 with rain! yay, more water, just what we needed!
that was last friday - upon seeing the forecast in the morning, i put my bucket under the hole in the ceiling, and just prayed that would catch the water. it rained the entire day, i just watched it out my office window, the 12" of snow was melting quickly, and we were getting a lot more rain. i knew it would be bad. and sure enough, as soon as i opened the front door that evening, i could just hear the water pouring in. such a horrible sound inside your home.
the adjuster was finally able to come out yesterday and get up on the roof. apparently the roof membrane above our back porch had been blown back, and was sitting in the middle of our roof, exposing the porch and the roof above the guest room. everything should be covered by insurance (minus the deductible of course), we are just waiting to hear back with their estimate. besides the repairs to the roof/ceiling/floor, we also will have to replace the bed and the mattress, the rug, and everything that was stored under the bed, which includes the leaf for our dining table, an extra box of hardwood flooring, and the crib rail for wesley's crib.
while a pain to have to deal with all of this, we are very thankful that should all be covered by insurance, and that this happen to the guest room and not any of the other rooms in our house.
so that's the current house adventure, i'll keep you posted...
6 Responses to oh yeah, the house...
How awful! We are so sorry to hear about this especially after all of the work you've done. Hope all goes well with insurance and repairs and everything will be as right as rain. Oops!
Holy moly, what a mess!! I'm so glad insurance will cover it all! I hope it all gets done soon. Ugh!
That is a rather precarious disposition indeed. What we wouldn't give to have this current freak weather subside. In any case, that hole in the roof should get patched up quickly, before it accrues into an intractable damage. It's the least we can do.
Lino @ Arrys Roofing
YAY INSURANCE CLAIMS! I'm dealing with that fun now too. Good times.
Ain’t that a bugger? 12” of snow is definitely a pain in the fanny. I’m glad that your insurance is going to cover it, at least that’s one monkey off your back, already. How’s getting the roof fixed going?
Sarai Loftis @ EdmundsGeneralContracting.com
That was tough. I do hope your roof's all patched up now. Those damages do tend to seep through and be a greater hassle in the long run, so it's really necessary to check them up thoroughly in order to apply the appropriate fine-tuned remedies.
Fredda Dangelo @ Accurate Roofing and Siding
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