Hurricane Harvey... Seven Months Later...
Next door, a brand new house is being built. Prior to Hurricane Harvey, the owners had broken ground for the foundation. The fast moving waters made a giant mess of that... Once everything dried out, the couple sent in a crew of ten workers and started over. The first thing they did was truck in tons of sandy dirt. They lifted their elevation, which actually wouldn't have helped with the flooding since our neighborhood took on so much water... it just would have been a lower water line. The mud they trucked in spilled over and blocked this drainage ditch between our two homes. Fortunately, I was coming home from work at 1am and saw the blockage was causing another flood. The water backed up and was within inches of our garage. That would have been the final straw!!!
The finishing touches were added to the Casita bathroom. Chuck put up a glass block pony wall on the edge of the shower. Now it's perfect! The only thing we have left to do is interior doors... that could be awhile though. Priorities... priorities...
On the right side of this photo, is an unfinished wall. It divides the kitchen from the entry hallway that leads into the living room. It was a blank wall but we decided to transform it into a wine wall. The outer posts are weight bearing so we are able to remove the inside framing.
Prior to the flood, my son Jeremy made me a wine rack. I loved it! As part of our rebuild, I wanted to step it up and create a "wine wall". Jeremy lost a week of sleep trying to figure out the best way to design the wine wall with the "wish list" I gave him. My number one priority was to have a display rack with the labels showing. What you see in this photo is the first of six racks that will each hold six bottles. Three will be accessible from the hallway and three racks will be accessible from the kitchen. The wood will be stained the color Kona with contrasting "plugs". Jeremy has the gift of visualization that I do not have so, although I don't fully understand the exact concept, I have complete faith in his design because he knows my tastes better than I do!
The next aesthetic addition to the rebuild... rock on the master bathroom wall! I saw a design on Houzz and asked Chuck if he could replicate it. He said he'd be happy to do it! So after finishing the Casita, we voted on focusing our attention on the master. That will be a gigantic step toward normalcy. To have a retreat with a bed, tv, carpet and a bathroom! The first step (tape and float) was completed and photographed in the six month update. Since then, the room was textured and painted. I am not happy (at all!!!!) with the colors I picked out and may end up changing them. But, for now it looks clean and fresh...
One portion of the wall was completed today. Next comes laying rock around the window and on the front of the Jacuzzi tub. Our Jacuzzi tub did not survive the flood but our friend's parents were putting in a walk in tub so decided to donate their almost new tub to us! Next will be the floor tile.
BIGGEST NEWS: First, let me share that we were slated to accept a FEMA trailer. A contractor came out to measure and said we would hear back. We waited and waited with no news... On March 13th, we had an appointment with an HVAC company. We have not had heat or A/C since the flood. We've made several attempts at repairs... to no avail. The quote we received for three HVAC systems was between $37K and $43K. Gulp... impossible! We were stunned... in looking up the cost of a unit, we found them to be around $2,500 each. Texas doesn't have many regulations but HVAC and electrical are two things a professional is required. Not knowing what to do... we told the guy who gave us the quote that we needed to pray on it and would get back to him. On March 14th, two FEMA workers came to our house to inspect it. We didn't really understand what they were inspecting... but soon found out. We have been accepted for the DAHLR program, which is a grant to make our house livable. Apparently, had we taken possession of the trailer or utilized the hotel rooms offered by FEMA, we would not have been eligible for this program. The contractor was stunned at how far we'd gotten and said it was too bad because they could have paid for all of our insulation and sheetrock... we told them it's been SEVEN months! We are desperate to get life back to normal so we've been working nonstop. Apparently, many others are waiting for the government to do the work for them. Anyway... they are planning to come into our home with a crew to tape and float the entire downstairs of our home. As you can see, they will be finishing the sheet rock with what we have in the garage and have lots of walls to work on. They don't texture or paint (that is considered a luxury). They will provide us with basic vanities. They will lay our tile flooring but will not grout it... they won't lay the hardwood flooring. But the best news is... they will replace all three HVAC units so we will once again have heat and A/C!!! Best news ever!!! I cried... the lady inspector said, "Don't cry... you'll make me start! We got you girl... we got your back"... I cried anyway :-) This will be a huge blessing for Chuck because it will move him along! I'm sure he's getting sick of having his life on hold to rebuild our home. He has been here in Kingwood since September 21st... very gracious... always upbeat... and doing a fabulous job!
So that's how the what's been going on since my last update!
