We have been out of our house since July 8th. It has been a headache. The insurance guy didn't return a phone call or e-mail for the first 5 weeks. After that he would only communicate with my husband and only occasionally. The people hired to pack out our belongings destroyed a lot of our stuff and left water and food lying around for months. When the contractor was finally allowed to get started, he got a lot of work done only to have it destroyed by water coming in from the still unrepaired house next door. We have to fight insurance for every penny, vet bills from smoke inhalation for the pets, having the closets painted, replacing our destroyed belongings, exterminators and a new cleaning service. Finally, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
The contractor is finished. Nearly everything is new: walls, floors, wiring, boiler, windows, paint, floors, etc. The company that packed out our house is supposed to return all our belongings Monday. I doubt they will, from their track record. But that means next week is unpacking, cleaning and cataloging what was destroyed or ruined by the cleaning service. I can't wait to have my coat back, it is snowing today! I can't wait to get our pets back, they have been living with my parents for nearly 5 months.
Unfortunately, as they tore the house apart, they found more things that needed to be repaired. Insurance wouldn't cover it because it wasn't caused by the damage. We have drained our adoption fund. Time to start saving again.
Last weekend we picked up some furniture from my friend. She is moving to Hawaii and it would actually be cheaper to buy the furniture all over again than to ship it. There were a few inexpensive things like Ikea end tables, rugs and lamps, but she had some really nice things like a Crate and Barrel sofa bed and ottoman, dining table and bed. All the stuff is relatively new. We should be moving into our house next weekend or the one after that.
We'll finally be ready to have our homestudy. I am ready to put this all behind me.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
*New* House
Our neighbor's house caught fire July 8th and spread to ours. It's now October 17th and we are still living in a hotel. Our neighbors weren't insured, but I no longer feel bad for them. One sure-fire way to go from home owner to homeless in 90 seconds is a house fire. They still haven't sold their house or repaired it. We had to pay to have their roof patched and plan on suing them to be reimbursed, or else repairs could not have continued on ours. Turns out they don't own their house, the owner is deceased and they never went to probate court. We'll never see that money again. But on the bright side, our house is nearly finished. Our contractor just needs to refinish the floors and install the windows in the front. We've been successful in getting the house on the other side of the fire declared blighted, so hopefully that we be sold and renovated.
It's been quite a journey.
During renovations, our contractor has completely redone our electrical. We had an old house, so he has added new outlets to every room. Our office only had 1 outlet, so if you wanted to print, you had to unplug the lamp and plug in the printer. He added light switches, so I can now turn on the upstairs hall light from downstairs- so I don't have to walk upstairs in the dark. He put an outlet and light outside in the back. He also had to completely renovate the addition that had been put onto the house in the 1950s. We had hardwood floors throughout the house and he did an excellent job matching the floors that were replaced to the existing floors. Same with the trim. His guys did a better job patching the plaster and painting than I did.
My husband's father is a pipe fitter and came down to switch our boiler out. Good thing, too, because he discovered our chimney wasn't lined. That turned out to be another huge expense. With the new insulation, windows and boiler, our house will be much more efficient.
I think we'll be back in the house in a few weeks.
All of our savings are gone, the insurance didn't cover much of the problems discovered while repairing the house. We have had to fight them on every front. They only wanted to pay to paint some of the rooms and parts of the others, they only wanted to replace 1 room's floor. Our insurance adjuster is an idiot. Our tenant has the same insurance company and hasn't received this poor customer service. Our adjuster is so terrible, that we only communicate with him via email to have documentation and forward and cc everything to his superiors. No one should ever have to go through this ordeal. I'll be happy when we move back into our house, but our adoption fund has been depleted and we have spent countless hours fighting insurance with what we are due.
Here are some updated pictures of the house:
It's been quite a journey.
During renovations, our contractor has completely redone our electrical. We had an old house, so he has added new outlets to every room. Our office only had 1 outlet, so if you wanted to print, you had to unplug the lamp and plug in the printer. He added light switches, so I can now turn on the upstairs hall light from downstairs- so I don't have to walk upstairs in the dark. He put an outlet and light outside in the back. He also had to completely renovate the addition that had been put onto the house in the 1950s. We had hardwood floors throughout the house and he did an excellent job matching the floors that were replaced to the existing floors. Same with the trim. His guys did a better job patching the plaster and painting than I did.
My husband's father is a pipe fitter and came down to switch our boiler out. Good thing, too, because he discovered our chimney wasn't lined. That turned out to be another huge expense. With the new insulation, windows and boiler, our house will be much more efficient.
I think we'll be back in the house in a few weeks.
All of our savings are gone, the insurance didn't cover much of the problems discovered while repairing the house. We have had to fight them on every front. They only wanted to pay to paint some of the rooms and parts of the others, they only wanted to replace 1 room's floor. Our insurance adjuster is an idiot. Our tenant has the same insurance company and hasn't received this poor customer service. Our adjuster is so terrible, that we only communicate with him via email to have documentation and forward and cc everything to his superiors. No one should ever have to go through this ordeal. I'll be happy when we move back into our house, but our adoption fund has been depleted and we have spent countless hours fighting insurance with what we are due.
Here are some updated pictures of the house:
 |
| Office |
 |
| Second Bedroom |
 |
| renovated addition |
 |
| how they left my kitchen |
 |
| third bedroom |
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