Moving the tree

The tree trunk couldn't stay where it was so we had Peewee Stillman bring out his bulldozer the other day and he and his guys moved the tree over where we're going to put in a swingset and playground for the kids.  Some day when they're old enough we'll let them climb all over it.

Here are some pictures...

More tree issues

I'm not sure what I've done to piss off mother nature but we just had another storm roll through and a HUGE branch just came off the neighbor's tree here at the rental and narrowly missed hitting the truck.

Progress, of a sort...

Finally work has started on the house.  The general contractor has a couple guys working at the house and they've removed all the debris from where the pantry used to be.  I stopped by yesterday and the kitchen, bathroom and some ceilings were ripped out.  It's good to finally see progress on the house because hopefully that means we're one step closer to getting all this fixed.  Good except for the fact that they threw away our stove and dishwasher.  The really nice dishwasher that we paid an arm and leg for just a few years ago.  The stove I don't care about that much but the dishwasher I was planning to reuse.  I sent a text to the general contractor and followed up with an email and got a call in reply not long after that where he profusely apologized and said he'd take care of it.  I just sent Rich over to the house with a package of post its and a sharpie to label a few other things in rooms where I don't want them to throw things away - a small ceiling fan in the office bathroom, the built in bookcases in the office, a bookcase in the hallway, etc.

Progress is also very slow going on the money part of all of this too.  The first check to pay Service Master for the tree removal and house tarping still has not been returned by the bank and it's been almost two weeks.  It also took a week for me to receive the package of paperwork from the bank that needs to be completed so that we can cash the insurance company checks to actually start paying the general contractor.  At my best estimate, it'll take another 2 to 3 weeks before we actually see any of the money.  The general contractor has started work anyways but in theory he doesn't have to do anything until I get him the first installment of the money.  I'm not sure I understand why any of this is taking so long.

The other piece of this whole mess is the outstanding insurance claim I have that still deals with the damaged belongings that were inside the house.  The insurance adjuster asked for a list of contents that were in the pantry and office that were damaged and I provided that on June 16th before he left town.  The pantry contents were from memory and since I couldn't stand over there all day while they unloaded the pantry to watch and take pictures, I'm sure I've missed things.  I sent a few updates to the list with items to remove because we were able to salvage them and a few items that have later been damaged by mold a couple of days ago in email.  I have not received a response to that email so far.  I'm not sure how long is reasonable to wait, especially because it's been over 5 weeks since the initial claim happened and I've heard nothing about this part of the claim.  I wasn't pushing on this part earlier because I was so concerned with getting the work on the house rolling.  I wonder if I should have been pushing on this part too.

Little things

It's the little things that really get me down.

I was over at the house again last night trying to clean up and move the last of things before work begins hopefully next week.  The house is hot and stuffy and smells from what is draining out of the 26 cubic feet of food and milk rotting in the deep freezer in the pantry.  I took a break and as I sat on the front porch to cool off for a couple of minutes I noticed on the table outside, between other random detritus from the house, a broken wine glass.  I picked it up and realized that it was one of a dozen hand blown wine glasses that were given to us as a wedding present from Rich's aunt.  These particular glasses were in the buffet in the dining room along with the wedding china and managed to not be damaged during the tree falling.   The china and other items from the buffet were packaged by the Service Master people directly after the tree fell and the only thing I can think is that it was damaged then.  I wonder how the rest of the china is faring.  I have no idea how much this particular glass is worth monetarily - my guess is not much - but I started to cry when I saw it because of what it meant sentimentally and how it can't be replaced.  We can't get another set of hand blown glasses from his dead aunt for our wedding.

I know we're very lucky that no one got hurt and the rest of this is just stuff.  I try to keep that in perspective every time I play with my babies or kiss my husband, but it's these little things like the wine glass that make this all suck just that much harder.

Day 26 post tree disaster

I heard from the general contractor and permits have been applied for and he's waiting to hear back from the county.  He said he does not anticipate any issues.  I did not hear back from the insurance adjuster so I called around 3:30 pm to make sure he's received my emails with the scope of work updates/corrections/additions.  He said he had and that he was on his way to another site and that he would look at my emails tonight.  I went on to tell him about the mold issue and he sounded surprised that I didn't already have a temporary power pole set up so we could get the sump pump running again.  The problem is that he sent the preliminary scope of work late Wednesday night. The next day was a holiday. Then it takes the county some amount of time to review the permit and hopefully grant it.  Then it takes some time for an electrician to set the pole and the power company to turn power back on.  While all this time is going on, my house continues to mold.

I've been moving items out of rooms that were not damaged because of the humidity and all of the clothes in my husband's closet will need to be washed in order to salvage them.  Everything smells like mildew.  A pair of his shoes are ruined because they're molding.  One of  my double strollers is covered in mold.  And this is on items that are in rooms that were not initially damaged by the tree.  This is all from moisture coming into the house and from what is coming up from underneath the house.

I also went around the house tonight to look at the foundation and there are multiple places where the block is now cracked all around the foundation.  I have no idea what the extent of the damage is to the block underneath the house or closer to the point of impact.  The preliminary scope of work didn't include anything at all about the foundation.

At this point, even if MetLife does manage to come up with a scope of work and my house gets put back together again I don't know how I'm ever going to feel safe moving my kids back in knowing that there's mold growing up through the walls because of how long the house has been exposed to this moisture and heat.

Videos of the tree

I posted a bunch of videos of the house and tree that I took the first weekend it happened.  I haven't edited the video and it's all likely to be pretty awful but it does show how big the tree was and what it did to the house.

Everything is posted on youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/user/HouseOfMischief/videos

Day 25 post tree disaster

It continues to rain almost every day and even with the house tarped there are leaks in the dining room and office.  The basement is a swimming pool and the furnace and water heater are now ruined.  I'm really worried about the rest of the foundation, especially after the house bouncing from when the tree hit.  We're moving belongings from the rest of the house because almost every room will need to have some work done and with the damp, things are beginning to mold.

I'm incredibly frustrated with how this whole process is going right now.  The engineer's report was to the insurance adjuster on June 28th and when I sent email to the adjuster to find out what the scope of work would be, he was still finishing it up and wrote that he'd have something done by end of day.  End of day came and went and no scope.  I sent email to follow up and he's gone on vacation for the 4th of July holiday and hasn't mentioned anything about it.  If he'd just sent me something at the end of the day saying he wasn't quite done and would be out of work for a few days that would have been different. Instead he left me hanging and then left without letting me know when he would follow up with me again.  I sent more emails, including some to the contact name he left in his out of office reply, and I finally did get a response.  I felt like he was trying to blow me off about the whole thing because he was telling me to pick a general contractor while he finished up.  I'd already picked a general contractor the week before.  This whole process is not held up because I'm not doing what I need to do.

The big issue is that it has been raining almost every day here.  Sometimes it rains multiple times per day.  With no electricity at the house the sump pump isn't running and the basement is completely flooded.  At this point the water heater and furnace are also ruined.  I'm really worried about the water damaging the foundation.  I'm beyond worried about the heat and humidity inside the house causing mold to grow.  The last few car loads of stuff I've carried out of the house has had some items with mold on it from rooms that were not initially affected by the tree damage.  Even though the house is tarped, water is running through the broken rafters and when it rains outside, it rains in the dining room and office as well.  If we can get a temporary power pole set up then we can get the sump pump running and some dehumidifiers set up in the house to try to deal with this humidity problem but we can't get the power pole set up until we get the scope of work.

I finally got a preliminary scope of work last Wednesday night.  That's day 20 post tree disaster.  I looked through it quickly and noticed that some big items, such as the chimney, were completely missing.  I set up an appointment with the general contractor to go through the house with us to review the scope to see what else was missing or incorrect.  We did that on Friday (day 22) and I had a long list of corrections.  I finally got everything typed up and sent off on Sunday (day 24) so that the adjuster would have the list before this work week.

It's currently day 25 and I have a long laundry list of things to do or check on or wait for...

• Wait for a revised scope of work from the insurance adjuster. What time frame is reasonable? One day? Two?
• Follow up with the general contractor to make sure the permits are applied for so I can get a temporary power pole.
• Once the permits are obtained, make sure the electrician gets out there to get the pole set up.
• Once the power pole is set and live, contact the Service Master folks to get dehumidifiers set up in the house and go plug in the sump pump to start drying out the basement.
• Continue to sort through the last couple of rooms to get things packed up to move to the rental or to storage.

There's more but that's more than enough for now.

Day 18 post tree disaster

...and still no word on what they're going to do with the house. We've had some big storms roll through and under the house is full of water since the sump pump isn't running. I'm worried about the water heater and furnace being under water and being damaged. More of the ceilings are coming down in the dining room and office and mold is flourishing in the damp environment.

A few co-workers came over on Saturday and they moved a huge pile of branches and leaves out from the front of the house so I could mow and the place doesn't look deserted. I had to bring the babies too and just getting them ready, working in the sun, feeding them there and then later mowing for three house wore me out. It's too hot and muggy for this mess but what can I do really but continue to slog through it.

The good news is that insurance will pay us the "fair market rental value" for our house and then we use that money to pay for the rent on the rental.  Still, I want to hear back from insurance soon so the work can get done and we can get back to our home.

A giant tree crushed our house

No one was where they were supposed to be.

It was 5 pm on a Thursday and I'd taken a couple of hours off of work to run to the store. I drove home from the store through a terrible storm that whipped up seemingly from nowhere and fought to stay on the road through the wind and rain that poured down so hard my windshield wipers couldn't keep up with it. As I pulled into my driveway I realized something was wrong and the few breathless seconds it took to drive up, park and run into the house felt like forever. The giant white oak tree behind our house was down and covering the entire house. The tree was so large that branches and leaves were arched over the peak of the roof and showing on the front of the house. I knew without going inside that the back half of the house was crushed. The back half of the house where my husband and babies should have been sitting down for dinner because it was 5 pm. I hadn't gotten a phone call and my stomach dropped because I was afraid that I'd find my family dead under the tree in the dining room.

He answered immediately when I yelled entering the house and the sound came, not from the dining room, but instead from the nursery. This was one of the rare days when he was running late and instead of having both babies in high chairs at the table feeding them cereal and milk and some type of pureed vegetable, they were were still in the middle of diaper changes. There was no time to really feel relief past what hit me initially. This was a crisis and there were suddenly a huge number of things that needed to be done. The babies were secured in car seats and moved to a running car outside because we weren't sure how stable the house was or whether or not it would suffer more damage with the tree on it. Phone calls were hard to make because the storm was affecting available cell lines so we struggled to make outside contact while we feverishly worked inside. Gather up baby gear, try to move furniture out of the damaged rooms where water was pouring through gaping holes in the ceiling, load up money, firearms, prescriptions, clothes and anything else that needed immediate attention. I got a call out to my mom 500 miles away so she could report the damage to our insurance company and get us help immediately. My next call was to a friend who happened to be out of town on a consulting gig. I think he could hear the panic in my voice as I begged him to call anyone we knew for help. The third call was to 911 to get someone out to disconnect power lines and gas lines because they were both compromised. The firemen showed up first and after securing the power lines and making sure we weren't in imminent danger, helped move a freezer full of breast milk out of the demolished pantry so that I'd be able to continue to feed my kids. Our friends showed up second and in a flurry of activity working in the now dark house, packed up the entire contents of the nursery in trash bags and loaded up vehicles. By then I was overwhelmed and they effortlessly took over directing and packing and making sure I'd have what I needed immediately for my kids. Bins and bags and boxes were moved to a friend's garage nearby for temporary storage. A hotel room was secured and the kids were fed and changed and loved on while I took care of pumping and then went back to the house. A tree service had shown up, hired by the insurance company, to remove the tree from the house before it did more damage. They worked late into the the night swinging from cherry pickers with headlamps and chainsaws cutting down branches as large as most normal sized trees.

I don't think we really slept that night from the adrenaline. I was up early and scavenged breakfast from the hotel lobby and before it was fully light outside we were back at the house to survey the damage and see what else we could pull from the wreckage. The pantry/laundry room was destroyed. The dining room ceiling is down a foot or more lower than it ought to be and was really only saved by the three stack chimney, now leaning from the impact and weight of the massive tree. Bits of flue liner and bricks were scattered around the roof under tree branches and the fireplace insert was pushed out of the fireplace. A huge branch had pierced the roof of the office and was aimed down at the office chair where my husband normally sat. Ceiling tiles, wet insulation and bits of bark and leaves littered the desk and floor. The ceiling in the back porch was almost completely down and we're guessing that the only reason there was anything left of the back porch was because we'd put up plywood to enclose it a few years ago when we decided to use that space for storage. Water had run through the bathroom and kitchen and dining room and office and puddled in some spots and run down the walls and into the floor in other spots. All of the walls have a slight tilt to them having been pushed forward by the weight of the massive tree. Outside, most of the tree was still on the house and it wasn't long before the tree service showed up with two large trucks with grappling arms and a swarm of hard hat covered leather skinned men wielding chainsaws to chip away at the remaining limbs. Piles of branches and leaves that dwarf our truck started popping up all around the house. The trunk of the tree itself was too heavy to move and was pushed to the side a bit to get it off the house, bumping into the propane tank that is now going to need to be reset, if it can be moved at all.

The next few days were a blur of tree service men, a service company that helped us move and pack and store belongings from damaged rooms, more hurried packing and attempts to salvage belongings from rooms still wet from the storm. The insurance adjuster showed up on Saturday because no ordinary insurance guy would do - we required one who handles large claims because so much of our house was damaged. Then more packing and moving and getting lucky enough to be friends with the realtor who handed us keys to a three bedroom rental house just down the road so we had somewhere to move the babies that was close enough to keep track of our house. In the midst of this it was Rich's birthday that Saturday, Father's day on Sunday and the kids turned 6 months on Monday. We even managed to go to dinner one night because of someone who loves us enough to watch after the kids for us.

As bad as the damage is, as uncertain as things are right now because we're still waiting for the report from the structural engineer to get to the insurance adjuster so he can determine how much they're going to fix, as stressful as moving and trying to deal with the never ending list of things that must be attended to has been, we're lucky. Lucky that no one was where they were supposed to be that day. Lucky that Rich was running a few minutes late. Lucky that I'd taken a couple hours off work and wasn't sitting in the office like I should have been. Lucky that we have friends who arrive with one panicked phone call and swarm in to do whatever they can to help. Lucky that we happen to be friends with the realtor who just happened to have a house down the road from us that would work. The rest of this mess is just stuff and stuff can be replaced.