...until the house is flooded

When Ryan and I left Mexico we spent the night in St. Louis and hung out with the family. On Saturday afternoon we arrived home to quite the surprise. First there were two huge limbs laying in the side yard. Ryan went to check on those while I went inside the house. I immediately heard running water. I though the ice maker was messed up. Then I looked to my right. There was standing water everywhere. Ryan came in pulled the refrigerator out and the water supply line was spraying water everywhere. He got that turned off while I went downstairs to assess the damage. I was shocked! I found water pouring from the ceiling, or what was left of it, standing water on the floor and the paint dripping off the walls. About this time Ryan came downstairs. Neither one of us knew where to begin with the cleanup and we were thinking of all the hard work to finish the basement the was literally washed away. SO...then we collected ourselves and called USAA. They are awesome!

Talked to the claim rep for about an hour and within two hours. There were two guys from ServiceMaster cleaning up the mess. The guy in charge, Roy, did a walk through and gave us the run down of what was damaged. As it turns out, it was even more of a disaster than first thought. Not only was the basement a loss, but the tile we did last summer on the main floor was a loss too. Apparently there is no way to dry the subfloor without removing the tile first. Because of all the work to be done Roy called in two more guys to help with the demo and drying process. From 2100 to 0110, there were four guys steadily working, drilling holes in drywall, ripping out carpet and padding, pulling down drywall, breaking up tile and backer board and setting up fans and dehumidifiers. The drying process, which sounds like a Chinook landing in the living room, will take 3-4 days. Tomorrow the adjuster comes out to begin to figure out the loss and get someone here to start rebuilding.

As best we can put together (with the help of Roy's assessment) about 5 days ago (while we were sipping drinks on the beach) the water began spewing out of the supply line. The water ran down the wall behind the fridge, all over the first floor and down the air conditioning ducts (which means those have to be inspected before we can turn on the a/c). The water pooled in the ceiling in the basement and it eventually fell in. The water continued to run until we turned it off yesterday. (I can only imagine what the water bill will be this month :) The water fiasco pictures pretty much tell the story. At this point we have no idea what will be a total loss and what can be salvaged. We'll keep you posted.

What a way to end vacation!