7/30/10

So much has happened. The insurance company sent a check for $21,000.00 to pay for the abatement. I have been thrilled with not only my insurance company willingness to work with us to make things right but also the contractors who listen to what we want.

I spent the week in Idaho and came back to a lot of work underway. The weak subfloor where the fire took place was replaced with sheets of plywood. Charred pillars in the basement were replaced. Support beams were shored up with sister beams.

The basement previous (BF - before fire) had consisted of one room sheetrocked, wallpapered (wasn't everything?) and carpeted that stored the camping equipment, a desk, etc. Those walls and the walls that make the laundry room a separate room had been taken down making the basement seem quite spacious.

Our house attracted do-it-yourselfer's. Previous owners have made many additions including phones in every room - the basement, the bathrooms and so on. Not all of us feel the same. If you call me, I'm not desperate for company to want to answer the phone in the bathroom.

The cable people groan every time they see their cable equipment in the basement because it's such a jumbled mess.

The entire house had been wired for a sound system that was put in and taken out before we owned it. Same with a sprinkler system.

Like so many other people we've gotten rid of our land line. The box used for the non-existent sprinkler system was taken over by honeybees, so my husband added a bee house on top. Several weeks ago he donned his bee suit and got great honey from it.

So the basement ceiling is a mass of electrical wiring, telephone wiring, pipes for additional plumbing. It amuses us the contractors are appalled.

Plumbing and electrical are scheduled for next week. No doubt they'll feel better when they know what every single wire attaches to. No doubt we'll sleep better at night ourselves.