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.

7/11/10

Finally! Something is happening.

Construction plans have been approved by the city or county or whomever waves the magic wand over plans and says, "Okey dokey."

The contractor and the insurance company still haven't agreed on who is paying for asbestos removal. But the adjuster and his boss have recommended that the insurance company pay. Like everything else in the world it gets kicked upstairs to the powers that be and someone with a rubber stamp makes a decision.

But the asbestos has been removed and the basement has been sandblasted. For the first time a subcontractor worked on a Saturday. So the charred pillars look better. Next they seal the basement to contain the odor of the fire.

Summer has come to Portland. As usual it came with a bang. Cold, damp weather lingered until last week. Then it was 95 degrees. For those of you who live in weather than is normally this hot, let me point out that Portland isn't air conditioned. We have about two weeks a years (usually not together) of over 90 degree weather. Hardly worth the cost of A/C.

Today, it is only supposed to get to about 85 degrees. In a move that was unusually clever for us, my husband and I managed to spend most of the hot week at the coast where it was overcast and 65 degrees. PB & J had their first road trip.

The Oregon coast is different from any other coast. The trees march down to the water. To travel through a state park like Ecola (near Canyon Beach, OR) you drive through a primeval forest practically chanting 'lions and tigers and bears, oh, my'. Then there is a clearing and suddenly the ocean is front of you.

There are no private beaches, but getting to many of them requires scaling a precarious rocky descent. The deserted sand makes the climb both up and down worth while. Don't bother with a swim suit. The gray water is always too cold to swim.

My favorite time at the beach is winter. Before we had so much family in town, we would spend Christmas at the coast, bundled up, walking on the sand and drinking hot chocolate.

The day you marry you believe you could never be happier, yet after twenty years or so, you can't imagine life without your spouse and what you remember are cold Christmas mornings drinking hot chocolate and thinking the world is just about perfect.

June 30

Finally some news. We met with the contractor yesterday to discuss what changes we'd like to see made. The plans are now waiting for city approval. We may still be weeks away from doing anything new, but it feels like we're moving ahead.

We no longer need a light for the basement since we can see through the ceiling. Sandblasting will be the next step for the basement and then some sort of sealer.

The steam shower looks like it won't work, but we decided to move rooms around. the second bedroom changed roles with the TV room. And the fact I want a poured concrete floor in the kitchen is a possibility.

Yard work has gotten away from us. The front yard, as well as the back, is a jungle.

You can't believe how overwhelming it all feels. Once the rebuilding starts I'm sure it will be rewarding to see improvements every day. That is if we can still get from the street to the house without a machete.

June 19, 2010

For two weeks nothing has happened. At least it seems to us like nothing is happening.

The contractors have removed the hardwood floors in the hallway, living and dining room, so we are walking on subfloor. Keeping in mind that the ceiling below the subfloor is the truly damaged area, not every plank feels firm under your feet.

It's not as bad as an Indiana Jones movie where we are forced to cross a rickety bridge high above a canyon with a trickle of water in the bottom. Plunging through would equate to certain death. But when a board groans and bends under your weight you can visualize a broken leg without any problem.

As I have mentioned before, we have asbestos. Not just asbestoes-taped ducts like everyone predicts. No...0. Whoever installed the ductwork loved the tape. Really loved the tape. Our contractors have never seen anything like it. From top to bottom we have asbestos tape over every square inch of ductwork.

And because it is a house that has had a lot of 'helping hands at home' remodeling work done to it. We have found lights in walls with light fixtures still attached - including bulbs.

Two owners back, as near as I can figure, the guy must have had a serious audio fixation. He wired the house for speakers so we also have a variety of wiring that run to dead boxes. But in the original walls when you see the wiring that has been there forever, it sort of amazing that the fire only started in the basement.

Needless to say we have not been burdened with insulation either. At least not in the outside walls. The second floor was an attic remodel, so insulation was added upstairs whenever that happened.

When you take a house down to the studs, you learn more than you ever wanted to know. Particularly in a house, you bought for the character. I guess houses are more like people than I thought. The sterling exterior some times masks a rotten core.

6/2/10

Good news.

The first floor is in better shape than we imagined. Despite all the smoke on the plaster walls, there is very little damage behind it.

We do not have balloon construction. Balloon construction is an open shell from the basement to the ceiling.

So the second floor will be repaired, but not gutted.

The lack of smoke may mean we are able to save more of the first floor that we originally believed possible. Our first floor bathroom has a lot of wood. (see photo). This wood surrounds the tub, encases a piece of stain glass up above and provides wainscoating for the rest of the room.

There is also a possibility that some of the hardwood floors (everywhere on the first floor) may not required replacement. If that's the case, we could save a bunch of money, but what we don't want to end up with is a hot summer day where the smell of smoke leaches out of the floors. This will be a tricky decision.

With the removal of the kitchen cabinets and all the walls, a lot of the smoke smell is diminished. But I noticed yesterday when the house had been closed up for the rain, it wasn't completely gone.

For the first time in a week or so, the house and our circumstances don't depress me. Fellow workers have laughed off last week's melt down, so I'm good there.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel and if it is an oncoming train, it has me fooled.

5/31/10

Quiet three day weekend. The house will take another week to finish demolishing. Then we have the Engineers. Everybody gets to write a report. Things like the furnace gets tested.

Next we figure out what we can do and how much above the Insurance money this will cost. Because we want to make changes. Like the garage and the down stairs shower.

We have been impressed by how the demo guys sort for the dumpster. I don't know if the dumpster people care, but I bet they do based upon how carefully it's being sorted. The trim and woodwork that contained lead paint were hauled off separately.

Here's the order of things as I understand them. 1) reports 2) discussions with insurance adjuster 3) draw up repairs, changes, schedule 4) figure out money 5) get permits.

When all of that is done, the contractors can tell us how long the project will take. Right now we are just over 2 months into it. We're hoping to be back in the house before Christmas. Don't bet against us. Not because we're so determined, but because it will break my heart. I need the hope of illusion.

5/28/10

No matter how you slice this week, it was depressing. So depressing in fact I had a major meltdown at work. Amazingly enough no one has asked for my resignation - yet. But the worse news is that right now I am on the receiving end of hugs, pats on the back and sorrowful looks.

Who do I have to blame for this? Myself. When all I want is my life back. I want to be living at home, not in a apartment. I want to be able to focus on work. I want to quit worrying about money, colors, flooring, french doors, balloon framing, lead paint and new abatement laws.

Every day I visit our once-cute little house and want to weep. Our house is being demolished. Okay, so I knew it was coming. I just didn't expect it to hit me so hard.

A house is just a thing. It is not a person. It is not irreplaceable. Losing a house is not a major catastrophe. But for some reason I am reacting like it is. Normally I like me. Just not this week.

We've got pills for everything else. Why don't we have 'act like an adult' medication? I'm sure some of you know someone else besides just me, who could use it.