Aug 6

So... July 31 was just another day at work. I was at the office until about 6:30, then went directly to the movies with my husband. We went to see "Funny People" as I have an obsession with always going to Adam Sandler movies the day they open (Which is really unexplainable, but perhaps I will try in a future post.)

 

Anyway, it had been raining pretty heavily here at the office before I left, but nothing spectacular. We went to the movie, stopped by my in-laws (who live about 10 minutes from my house), and they told us about how hard it had rained. No big deal... what's a little rain, right?

 

So then we headed toward our house. The first sign that something wasn't quite right was when we were unable to drive down the main cross street to our development. Police cars were directing traffic, and the traffic lights were out. After a fairly long detour, and more failed traffic lights, we were getting close to home. "Well, this sucks... We probably have no electricity at home," was my first thought, but then I saw that the lights were on at the park, which is right in front of our development, so I breathed a sigh of relief... until we turned down our street.

 

I have never actually been in a war zone, but that's the only description that came to mind when we drove down our street. Downed trees, branches and debris everywhere, pieces of sidewalk ripped out of place... it was pretty nasty looking. We pulled into our driveway, and prepared for some serious debris, as our house backs up to a wooded area and we have a giant tree in front of our house. The front yard was crazy! Giant branches everywhere, some of them sticking straight up like javelins. It was dark, but I didn't see any immediate damage, so I headed inside to feed the cats while my husband went to check out the back yard.

 

I was only in the house a minute before he called for me to come back outside. Not only was there "tree debris" up to our knees in every direction, but our gutter and some flashing was hanging onto the roof by a thread, and there were some huge branches up there. We decided to go upstairs to see if any water had gotten in... and there was a giant branch sticking through a hole in the ceiling in the room we use as an office. And, of course, it came in right over our filing cabinet, allowing unknown amounts of water to destroy papers, books, etc. And the fun didn't stop there - oh, no. The branch came in at an angle, in the corner of the room, so the hole was actually over both the office and a bathroom. And, of course, the water also leaked downstairs into the kitchen.

 

We called my father-in-law, since it was 10:30 at night and we had nothing to tarp the roof. He came over, and my husband climbed up on the wet roof, in the dark, to saw apart the giant branch/limb, remove it from the roof, and get a tarp over the hole. I sat on hold with the insurance company for 45 minutes.

 

The next morning, we started making our calls. I signed up for Angie's List to get some information on contractors, roofers, etc. since we had never used anyone before. Then we started cleaning up the yard. I spent the rest of the day being sad because my house was broken.

 

Lessons I (We) Learned

That weekend, we learned about public adjusters. Public adjusters are people who work for you when damage occurs to your home. Basically, you call a public adjuster first, and they come out and take a look at the damage. Trust me: you want to do this. There was damage that the public adjuster saw, that I would never have even looked for. Our adjuster also recommended someone to come out to do "emergency service." Yes, we had tarped the roof, but it was just to get us through. The emergency service (sadly, but necessarily) also included cutting out pieces of the drywall in the rooms that got heavy water damage. Trust me, I was not happy about this, but I also do not want mold in my walls, so I learned to live with it.

 

The adjuster then communicates with your insurance company. Essentially, the public adjuster wants to get you everything you are entitled to. And they're motivated, as their payment comes in the form of a percentage of what they get for you. It does not come out of your pocket; rather, licensed adjusters essentially get their fees from the insurance company. It's a complex process - but well worth researching if you have a homeowner's claim!

 

We are still waiting to hear what the insurance company will offer us to make the necessary repairs, and yes, we are still living with holes in our walls and roof. But it could have been much worse. Six houses down, an entire (fully mature, giant) tree fell on a house. That's some serious damage - all we have are some holes and some water.

 

But, most importantly, no one was hurt. Even had we been home at the time, we probably would not have been injured because of where the damage occurred (although it probably sounded pretty frickin' scary). And, as frightened as they must have been when it happened, our three cats are none the worse for wear. Two of them even showed up at the door when we got home that night, begging for their food - so I don't think they're "scarred for life" or anything.

 

So, my house may look a little broken right now, but it will be back and better than ever soon. And I'm looking forward to it!