Wow .. I'm REALLY behind on this thing...

A lot has happened ... yet not a lot ... since my last update.

In mid-January we got a FEMA trailer in the front yard of our house. Very lovely ... but at least we have a place to cook, for the kids to do homework and hangout, etc. We are luckier than some ... our house is 2 stories and the interior of the upstairs was undamaged. So, we are sleeping in our own beds/bedrooms and using real (full size) bathrooms instead of the little tiny shower in the trailer.

We have walls that are mostly painted (still need some touch-up by the painter, and some trimwork re-done). We are waiting to install the glass french doors between the back den/office and the dining room until after the house is leveled.

That leveling ... that is where we are at a stand-still.

The flood waters got trapped under the house (when the waters receded, what was trapped in the pocket under the house couldn't recede and slowly soaked into the ground). The water soaking into the ground and sitting there caused the ground to "become like jello" and the pilings to shift. This caused the house to tilt forward nearly 5" (from the front to the back - the back is 5" higher than the front).

According to the engineer who inspected the house, it was clearly caused by the flood and was not uncommon during the storm. I have the inspection report from when we purchased the house in 2000, showing that the foundation and pilings were solid and that the slab had no sinking/tilting. Since we live in an area (most of Greater New Orleans) that sinks, that is really important when buying a house - are the pilings stable?? Since the house was 32 years old when we bought it, and level with stable pilings, that meant that the house was not settling and that we were considered "safe" from sinking. The fact that we now have sunk and are tilting nearly 5", such a short time later, with an event that clearly CAN cause the pilings to become unstable, this should be a clear-cut insurance claim with our flood insurance. The flood caused the house to sink ... according to the engineer we had inspect it.

The cost to level the house and install new pilings is approximately $30,000. If we tried to sell the house today, any mortgage company for a buyer would insist that this be corrected before they would provide a mortgage on the property. Effectively dropping my property value by $30,000.

The insurance company is stating "we don't cover normal settling", and is giving us the run around. We sent the proof (copy of engineers report, and the initial inspection report when we bought the house) over two months ago. He told me 2 weeks ago that they want to send out their own engineer for an inspection. We are still waiting for that.

In the meantime, we can't do anything else. My cabinets have been delivered but can't be installed. It would be a bad idea to attach them to the walls prior to leveling the house - because the process could cause shifting that may tear them away from the walls or cause the sheetrock to crack behind the cabinets. The same with the flooring. I'm installing tile flooring in our downstairs - and it could possibly crack during the house leveling. So we can't do that either. The glass french doors in the dining room (dividing the den/office) can't be installed because the glass could crack during the leveling process.

All we have left to do inside is install flooring, cabinets, and counter tops (and I am not having my appliances delivered until after we install the flooring so that I don't have to deal with moving them back out in order to install the tile), and finish some touch-up on the painting. We've been at a standstill for months and I'm so tired of cooking in the FEMA trailer.

I love to cook and want a real kitchen, with an oven and 4 regular size burners. But at least I have a place (without a mother-in-law) where I CAN cook ... so really, I should be very grateful. It could be worse.

We are having new carpet installed upstairs in a few weeks. But that is unrelated to the storm damage ... it is just wear and tear and kids damage - beyond time to replace our carpet which appears to be original to the house. We should have replaced it when we bought the house.