James' school holiday party was Saturday night. He was already in Williamsburg for class Friday and Saturday. Oma and Papa came to our house on Friday and Saturday to help with chorus, sports, etc.
Oma, Papa, kids, and I all left around 2:00 Saturday afternoon to head to Williamsburg. The kids went to Newport News to have a hotel stay with Oma and Papa. James and I went to the party. Not a super-exciting weekend, but a pleasant change from the norm.
On Sunday, we were headed to Newport News around 1:00 to pick up the boys when a neighbor calls in full panic mode. Someone had checked on the house and animals twice on Saturday and again Sunday morning, but by 1:00 Sunday there were waterfalls on the main floor and the family room ceiling had collapsed.
The supply line to the toilet in the master bath came loose. Flooded our bathroom, bedroom, and closet. Into the subfloor to the kids' bathroom and laundry room. Out and down the hallway and into the guest room. Soaked through the subfloor to collapse the ceiling in the family room, and nearly so in the office. Soaked through the hardwood floor in kitchen, hallway, coat closet, and powder room. Soaked through the main level floor and through the duct work to end with 4 inches of standing water in the basement.
This is the picture Candy texted me while we were driving home. Our hardwood floors do not actually have a high gloss finish; that's just standing water. You can actually see waterfalls pouring through the ceiling still.
Service Master came in Sunday night to start mitigation. Demolition started on Monday. That word made me cringe, but that's really what it was. They tore up all carpet downstairs and about half upstairs. Hardwood floor out. Tile in both bathrooms and linoleum in laundry room out. Entire ceiling of family room, half of ceiling in office, drywall in significant portions of both family room and office. Kitchen cabins pulled up to dry underneath. All duct work in basement out.
It's insanity. They've moved everything that can be saved from the first floor into storage, and will likely do the same upstairs. We stayed at the Residence Inn C'ville last week, and will be there at least through January 2. Restoration guy estimates February 6, +/- two weeks for everything to be complete.
Sooo...mantra for December has been "it could be worse..."
We have great insurance, and they are covering everything and acting quickly. We're lucky to live somewhere where we have clean water flowing into our house. I had packed up photo albums and moved them to the lake as part of my pre-house-listing declutter, so they weren't damaged. Nothing irreplaceable was damaged. We'll get new furniture. New carpet. New hardwood. We can finally add the ceiling fan we've always wanted in the office. It didn't happen this week, when we're gone for a week instead of just one night.
It could be worse.
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