Hurricane Harvey Update: Ten Months Later...
Ten months ago, Hurricane Harvey brought five feet of water ripping through our home demolishing everything in his path. Furnishings, clothing, photos, artwork, books... all destroyed after sitting under water for three days. It took weeks of mopping up silt, drying out the framing and treating for mold before we could get started rebuilding our lives. After about eight months we progressed to the way these photos look. Still raw... still scarred. We decided to save our sanity, we would focus on "healing" our Master bedroom so we would have an oasis.
Please click on www.dueliingtimezones.com to see the original Hurricane Harvey post and other updates.
FEMA to the rescue! We waited months for the promised trailer to arrive so we would have a place to lay our heads out of the construction zone. Thankfully, the delays turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The FEMA trailer never arrived, which meant we qualified for a grant program. It's a funny little program because it does a little of this and a little of that... but the qualifying projects moved us forward! I'll explain a little more in a bit...In these photos you see partially finished walls. Approximately ninety percent are taped and floated! Yay! The grant does not cover texture or paint but this phase saved us an incredible amount of time!
Our guest bathroom now has a basic, white vanity where our pedestal sink used to be. We have a toilet installed as well. Now we just need a door... and floors, of course! It's a little awkward using the bathroom if anyone else is in the house...
The final project in the casita is complete! Chuck created a living space for himself so he has a comfortable place to spend his down time. He's worked hard on recreating our home! This glass block barrier for the walk-in shower changes the whole look of the room!
Next on the list of priorities... creating a clean space for Barry and me. Camping is definitely getting old... A functioning kitchen is a far way off but getting our Master to a comfortable stage would make all the difference. So Chuck and Jeremy got to work... they taped, floated, textured and painted the bedroom and bathroom. I picked out the paint... and absolutely HATE it! It's not at all what I envisioned... It has me stressed for picking out paint for the rest of the house! It never looks the same as on the little paint strip/sample. Oh well... what's done is done so I changed my focus to lighting. These lights were selected to replace the pre-flood canned lights. Such a simple thing makes all the difference in the feel of the room...
The biggest change is the master tub! I LOVE how it turned out! Combing through the website www.houzz.com I noticed a bathroom with the same set up as ours as far as corner tub and window placement. Chuck said he could replicate it for us so we ordered the rock. It came out better than I imagined! Our tub did not survive the flood. The motor for the jets was under water too long. Our friends donated theirs because they were installing the walk-in style. Yay!
Oh this faucet! Jeremy surprised me with this find! We had decided to go with the bronze fixtures to match the strip on the hanging lights. My searches came up with nothing that jumped out at me. Jeremy knew I would love this one so he ordered it... it's perfect!!!
After several attempts at repairing our HVAC systems, we called for bids to replace them. The winter was freezing (snowed twice) without heat or doors. Now the warm weather was upon us and it was becoming unbearable. Barry and I slept with two large fans aimed directly at us... all they did was circulate hot air. We started making calls to get quotes... shocking! The three units would be over $30k. The last company bidding came highly recommended. We asked for 24 hours to consider finances before making our final decision. The next morning, we received a phone call from a program called DAHLR, who told us because we didn't use the housing benefits due to us, we qualified for a grant that would make our home "livable".
A construction team was sent out the next day. They were shocked at how much progress we've made. We were informed that we could have had all of the insulation and sheetrock supplied... there were many phases we'd already completed so that left them with a few projects they could help us with. One... the most amazing... the HVAC!!! These angels appeared just in time! Thankfully, we didn't sign a contract :-) The first order of business was to remove the flooded systems.
Two units were installed, all of the ducting was repaired or replaced and our home was temperature controlled for the first time in ten months!!! Finally... a good night sleep, a comfortable night sleep.
The odd part of the DAHLR program is that they tape and texture, but don't texture or paint. They will only install flooring provided by the contractor. Unfortunately, we purchased ours so they can't help us... and even if they had, they will lay the tile but not grout it. It is a program to make your house "livable". Texture and grout are luxuries.... They provided us with carpeting for the master bedroom and master closet! Now we were able to bring a bed that had been donated and a tv... It is definitely a place we can enter and forget the rest of the house is a construction zone! Though we need baseboards, trim, outlet covers and doors... it is an oasis to us!
Jeremy built me a desk so I can attempt to regain some seblance of organization! Since the flood, everything has been scattered. This definitely helps... being able to sit at the desk, gaze out the window and create a schedule and pay bills... such a treat!
And finally... prior to the flood, we had a wall that created a hallway leading into the living room. On the other side of the wall was the kitchen. It was actually a little desk area off the kitchen. We decided not to put that back.. . Instead, Jeremy is creating a large built in wine rack. Above you see one of six sections that will hold six bottles. I love wine racks that show the labels...!
So, little by little, we are moving forward. We have far to go but thankfully have a space to relax that is free of dust! We can look out the window and almost forget what's going on in the rest of the house... the rest of the neighborhood...
