Well, we finally got someone from the insurance company to come back out. My adjuster has had my supplemental claim (for the slab leveling) for months. After many phone calls and Chris finally taking over the phone calls (he is not as nice as I am), they sent an engineer to the house Wednesday. Chris said he didn't do much - took 3 measurements and asked that we fax him a copy of the report from when we had the house inspected by Cable-lock.
Hopefully we will know something really soon.
I spent nearly a week in Seattle - what a beautiful city when you can see through the fog/clouds. Really though, it was a neat city. I stayed downtown at the W (REALLY nice hotel - with great cocktails) - our tradeshow was just a short walk from the convention center.
I got to see several friends while I was there - that was a bonus. I stayed the night with my friend Bonnie, we got to hang out, we cooked together (ok - she did most of it, I made mango salsa and stir-fried the asparagus), walked downtown Seattle a bit, and just enjoyed each other's company. She is a great person and such a wonderful hostess. She's got a great dog too, Maggie - the sweetest thing. Friday night two other of our friends came over (Tracy, and Andrea with her 3 kids - the older two had grown SO much since I met them when they had a trip here to New Orleans, and I hadn't even seen Caleb, the baby). Saturday we drove to Snoqualmie Falls. We had lunch at the cafe made famous by Twin Peaks (GREAT burgers!!!). I took a bunch of pictures but haven't loaded them off of my camera yet. That afternoon I had a massage in my room, relaxed, slept, read some of my book and just relaxed.
Sunday, I got to see my best friend from elementary school (and still my best friend in the world - we always pick up as if we talked yesterday even if it's been 6 months or a year), Desi. She was in Seattle (she lives about 3 hours south of Seattle) with a friend for the friend's graduation. We had brunch at Ivar's, right on the water with a great view. Then we walked back to my hotel and had a drink in the lobby lounge before they had to get on the road to head home and I had to head to the convention center for the opening day of the exhibit.
Tuesday I got sick. At the show, I started feeling very very cold. I was shivering, bone aching kind of cold. On the walk back to the hotel after an early dinner (Linda went shopping, I wanted to go to bed), I broke out in a horrible sweat and got really weak. But I made the walk back without collapsing. The flight home Wednesday was pretty uneventful - I slept most of it (something I NEVER do - I just can't get comfortable enough on a plane to sleep - but I slept most of both of the flights home). I got home Wednesday evening and had a fever of 103.5, and I was coughing horribly. This lasted, and lasted. Finally on Monday I went to the doctor and found I had bronchitis. He gave me an antibiotic, some prescription cough syrup, and instructions.
Today is Friday and while I am still coughing (and feeling some pain in my chest from it), I feel 100% better than I did earlier this week. I hate missing work, but couldn't make it in Friday, Monday, or Tuesday.
Friday, June 23, 2006
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)