Woe is me...

[Moutaineer]

We are doing what should be a minor remodel--having the kitchen cabinets refinished, new countertops and backsplashes, redecorating some rooms on the main floor.

Our subcontractors have all been fabulous and timely, and it looks fabulous, so I've been congratulating myself on how lucky we've been with the whole process.

Last weekend we were able to move ourselves back into the kitchen, and the tilers were here this week doing the backsplashes. They carefully swathed our floors in plastic sheeting before they started.

When they finished, they pulled up the plastic sheeting, and exposed a horrible sight. Apparently, when we put the fridge back in place last weekend, the waterline had split, so it had been pouring water for four days before we discovered it.

My beautiful, inch-thick tongue and groove oak floors are soaked and heavily warped, for about a 12 foot radius, and the ceiling in my husband's den down below the kitchen is soaking wet.

The insurance company sent the disaster recovery folks out yesterday to assess the situation.

The floor may or may not be saveable. They are going to try some fancy new technology to dry it out and see if it will settle back down enough to sand and refinish.

Because they have to take the ceiling out downstairs (yay... that room would make a pack rat proud, so thats going to be fun,) they can attack it from both sides, which may help.

The oak flooring extends through the entire ground floor of the house with no thresholds, so we are all pretty invested in them being able to do fix it, as I can't begin to imagine how much replacing it would cost at today's wood prices, to say nothing of the kitchen cabinets, etc. And the disruption involved, which isn't going to be fun anyway if they have refinish it all.

On top of this, the painters start next week in the dining room, living room and hallway. (And theoretically the kitchen, but I think thats not happening.)

And I've done something stupidly painful to my shoulder and can barely move.

Sob.

[LeoApp]

oh no what a disaster! I hope they can fix it but I don't see how you can salvage warped oak. Let us know how it goes (and I hope your shoulder feels better soon). You guys must be beyond stressed!

[Srhorselady]

Oh no! What a mess! However one way or another the house will get fixed. Eventually….after lots of stress. However, Your shoulder could be a whole other issue! Do get in and get it seen to. Jingles for it all.

[PaulaO]

I am so sorry about the mess. Water leaks are horrible. As a fellow rider with shoulder pain, you know you need thee to a doctor for an MRI.

[StraightForward]

Oh dang. That is some stress you just don't need! I hope they're able to save your floors and get it all cleaned up fairly quickly.

[Snork]

Oy. My stomach clenched just reading this. House renovations are the worst, and the only thing worse than house renovations are house renovation mishaps. Fingers crossed the floors can be saved.

[heddylamar]

Oh no. Your beautiful floors!!! I hope they are able to get them dried quickly.

[texsuze]

Ouch! It makes me squeamish to even think of water-related house damage. You will get through all of this, because you must! Pain relief for that shoulder if you can, will certainly make everything more bearable. We are all peeking underneath our refrigerators now, so you've helped make our homes safer from your disaster--we thank you!

What about something like this? https://ogden.craigslist.org/mad/d/recl ... 76397.html

[Moutaineer]

Thank you all for your support, I do so appreciate it!

I'm feeling marginally less horrified about it this evening. DH cleared out his office (a win in and of itself) and cut a hole in the ceiling, It didn't look as bad as we thought it might. We'll see what we hear from the insurance co and the disaster recovery guys in the morning, take a deep breath and just get it sorted out. One thing in our favor is that the humidity here is so low that the risk of mold is relatively minimal.

But yeah, check your water lines!

If I sit still and do nothing, the shoulder isn't too bad (but as you can imagine, I'm really not so good at that!) Range of motion is actually good, which is somewhat reassuring, though weightbearing/picking something up with my arm extended isn't happening yet.

Trainer is alerted that she will be riding tomorrow, and we'll see how we go from there. My goal is to try to be good and see if I can get back on by Friday. I have to be stuck in a conference room for two days on corporate training mid week, so that should force my hand, as long as the buggers don't give me Covid or I don't injure myself falling asleep from boredom and sliding out of my chair...

[khall]

Oh no! Ah those beautiful floors! I hope you can recover them.

Take care of your arm. That sounds like nothing to mess with.

Houses!! Mold! We had our heat and air units replaced 18 months or so ago. Before covid hit. Duct work etc. they subbed some out which was not done to specks and now our upstairs vents are blowing black mold. They’ve got to get in here and fix it:(. Our humidity is through the roof here all year round. Not fun

[Sue B]

Ugh, so sorry Moutaineer, jingles that you can repair your floors. My mom once flooded a large section of her hardwood floors when she left the faucet running in the farm-style sink all day. Multiple fans and wet/dry vacuuming later (and a few weeks for the swelling to come out of the wood) no actual damage to the floor was apparent. Pretty sure if that had been Pergo or some other composite, she would've had to replace half her floor. Wood, especially hardwoods, can be surprisingly adaptive.

[Moutaineer]

The disaster recovery folks are coming in tomorrow to set up their dehumidifying blankets and stuff. They reckon that they need to be running for 3 days. If nothing else, it will be interesting to see the process, expensive, but interesting...

Sue B, that makes me feel better!

Shoulder is doing much better. Not great, but better. Fingers crossed it continues to improve.

[Moutaineer]

Its quite an interesting, and very, very loud process, this drying thing. It's like a giant woundvac for floors. And there are also a bunch of high velocity fans and a couple of very large dehumidifiers blasting away. DH has gone out, and I'm in my office with the door shut!

[heddylamar]

OMG, yes. Those fans are LOUD.

We had a water leak that damaged the glue down wood floors on the first floor, and the insurance company's repair company put huge shop fans all over the space. I worked with noise-canceling headphones x2 (over the ear + air pods) in my office on the third floor, with the door closed.

It didn't work, so the floor had to be broken up with a freaking jackhammer.

[KathyK]

Tons of sympathy and hugs from me, Moutaineer.

[Moutaineer]

I'm actually really impressed with what the water suction devices/fans/dehumidifiers actually managed to do. They pulled them all out this afternoon and they've made a huge difference. Not perfect, but not too bad, really. The advice is now to leave it alone for 2 months and see where we are before refinishing. We shouldn't need to replace the floor. Phew.

And the painter swears he will start on Monday and will bring an assistant, so I think we are back on track, thank heavens.

Shoulder is quietly killing me this evening, but I wrangled a giant sectional sofa, vacuumed, and then went to the barn and groomed, tacked up and rode my horse, then held him for the farrier today, so I dont really blame it.

[Moutaineer]

And ITS SO QUIET IN THIS HOUSE we don't know what to do with ourselves

[heddylamar]

That's fabulous news!! Now go put some ice on your shoulder