The Mold

While drying out the basement and having to open up the walls about 2 feet from the floor they discovered mold. Little did I know what a big deal that was going to be. Geez--do they take that seriously. Another team was brought in. Everything had to be plastic up with heavy duty plastic. The doors had zippers in the plastic so you could go in and out by zipping it up and down. There were tunnels made out of plastic where they had the air blowing to the outside. All of this was done so it would not contaminate anything else. The guys went in with white coveralls and big gas masks on their face. I thought then and still do now that it was a bit of overkill. They were adamant about how dangerous it was. Could not touch anything. We were ordered to stay out of the basement until it got the "all clear" from a certified mold specialist who came in with hand held devices to take a reading. As it turned out it was very little mold. Some on the outside kitchen wall and some in the furnace room. All that for such a small bit. And it was expensive.




Replacing the furnace, hot water heater and air conditioner. They were all taken out by the flood and could not be fixed so we had to get new ones.

More big fans were brought in when mold was discovered. These were all hooked up to tunnels so as not to contaminate.

The mold team. They worked hard and long.

Plastic every where and they made sure it was sealed tight. This was one of the walls where mold was discovered and it is being contained until it could be treated.

Putting up plastic.

The Clean Up

Part of Dad's plaster walls had to be destroyed because of moisture and then on top of everything else mold was discovered. Now it takes on a whole other dimension. This was caused by flood. Remember we are talking two different kinds of damage--flood and fire.

Part of all walls had to be opened up and big time fans are brought in to start drying.

This truck got to be very familiar around the house. They were there from morning to night for about 8 days. I would work right along side of them. When they cleaned something I would pack it up. All boxes are lining the garage at this point in time.

About the third day into this I heard the workers groan. I rushed in to see what it was all about. They had just opened Mom's cupboards to reveal all the dishes. Every single one was hand washed, dried and put back. This is not all of them. There are 2 more cupboards filled with the pretty things. They did dishes for a day and a half. I do come by my love for dishes honestly.

Of course my two little buddies, MyMy and Zoey are always there to give me support.

The furniture was cleaned and stacked in garage. This is where it is at right now. Although the kids (Kim. Jeff, Shannon, and Kari) have taken some of these things.

The team doing dishes. They said that was probably the most dishes they had done in their entire career of doing this type of thing.

The team is vacuuming, scrubbing and hauling. I got to be good friends with all of them

Garage got to be a dumping ground. Why this is typing with underline I do not know. All of a sudden blog disappeared and came up with gobbly gook. I spent some time just getting it back to this so I am not going to try to correct it. You will have to take it like it is. Grrrr.The textile team. This was the first team to show up. They packed all curtains, linens, clothes and electronics (computer, TV, washer, dryer, etc.) They took them off to be cleaned and treated and they had to be put in an ozone room for 24 hours.

The Fire-July 24, 2011

Flood--then fire. Sounds like something from the bible. Believe me when I tell you that this has been trying and difficult. And it is not done yet. But as Mom would say-everything will work itself out.

Sunday, July 24th I was at Ikea. Pudge called and said that neighbor contacted him and said there was lots of black smoke coming from Mom's. Needless to say I immediately left. Another phone call-fire department had to be called. When I reached Willernie I could not get to Mom's house. All roads were blocked by squad cars. I parked at home and ran up only to be greeted by about 15 fire fighters in full gear, 2 huge fire trucks, 1 smaller fire truck, and about 6 policemen. I am not kidding or exaggerating. To make a long story short one of the fans that we had blowing to dry the basement out started on fire. It was a mess. I do have to give the firemen credit because they only used a 5 gallon bucket of water to put it out so at least we did not have to deal with water again. But the soot!!! Oh the black, greasy soot!!!

Insurance company called. They came the next day and started. I will blog about all that later. One thing I do have to say is it is one way of getting things cleaned out.

A few days later--I came home dirty, black and sooty only to be greeted by these adorable neighbor girls--Amber and MyMy. Now if this won't put a smile on one's face I don't what will.

Cleaning the furnace ducts. This had to be done because it only would have thrown the ugly soot right back in the place.

Ceiling tiles had to all come down. Truth be told--I hated those ugly things anyway.

Soot. I don't think the pictures do it justice. I think it was worse than this picture depicts.

Mom's little trolls that she had displayed on a shelf. Had to laugh at how dirty they were--their clothes, face, hair. Some of those that look like they have black hair it is really supposed to be white

More soot. Touch it and it got all over you.

I was surprised at all the cobwebs that showed up. I said "Boy, I don't remember all of these hanging around. I am ashamed." Well I was told they are soot webs created by the plastic of the fan and the soot.

This is the culprit. The fan that caused the disaster or what is left of it. It was borrowed from the neighbor who is also the mayor of Willernie. We have had some laughs about that.

This should have been the first picture but Blog doesn't post them that way. And I am not about to try to get them in order. As a matter of fact I am publishing this because it has gone pretty smooth which is unusual. Hope I have not spoke too soon.