My water broke

The morning after the flooding happened.

One spot where the water came into the garage.

What was under the carpet.

They took out everything -- including the kitchen sink.

After everything came out and the fans went in.

Ceiling out.

And the labor has only begun.  Last Tuesday, Wes came home from work around 5:30pm to have dinner with some friends and their kids.  He pulled up to the garage only to find that the door was open, which is very unusual.  Upon further inspection, he found that water was pouring into the garage from the ceiling.  He went upstairs to the apartment and found the pipe connected to the sink in the kitchenette had burst.  He turned off the water and got some of the water up.  After dinner with our very understanding friends, I walked across the street to get suggestions on whom to call the next morning.  Joe kindly came over, took a look with Wes and both our dogs, and had his guys in the next morning.

Juan and Pablo came first thing Wednesday.  Wes took the day off and ended up helping out with the tearing out process (which Joe found strange and kind of funny).  They moved all the furniture into the living room of the house, tore up the carpet, removed the kitchenette (which had been destroyed by the water, took the ceiling out of the garage, and got some fans up to start drying things.  The weatherman had been calling for ice that day, so I'd put a bunch of salt down on the back patio, which was subsequently tracked through the kitchen and living room.  I, meanwhile, was upstairs trying to finish a paper due on Friday and then off to pick up Oliver at lunchtime to take him to a follow-up appointment with his ENT.  Ollie and I went to check out the progress when we got home, and I had to tear him away to go back inside.

The plumber has since been in and repaired the offending pipes.  We are now waiting for the insurance people to look at Joe's bid for repairs.  Wes and I visited Home Depot briefly the other night to look at paint colors, carpet swatches, and kitchen cabinets.  The bathroom is fine, so we don't have to do anything in there that we know of. We don't know how much any of this is going to cost, but we are looking forward to updating the space.  The carpet was really awful, and paint color was horribly ugly.  There was no insulation between the floor of the apartment and the ceiling in the garage, so that will be added, along with wrapping the pipes.  Wes also finally managed to find the cut-off point so that we have the option of turning off the water when it gets into the single digits.  We also decided to replace the window air conditioning unit with a wall heat pump that would allow us to keep the apartment from getting bone cold like it does when no one is out there.  

All of this happened, of course, after we had a leak on our kitchen in the house.  Wes had to replace the flusher on the toilet in the kids' bathroom upstairs.  A ring hadn't sealed properly when he put the tank back on, causing water to leak slowly out and around the base of the toilet and then through the ceiling.  We now have a lovely brown stain on our kitchen ceiling, waiting for some paint.  Wes had been feeling guilty about that but realizes now what a small issue it is  compared to the new challenge.

Not the ideal time for this to happen -- what with the colder temperatures and guests coming in the next 2-6 weeks, plus a baby on the way.  And not the ideal way to redecorate a space.  But we've been upbeat about the situation -- save my 36-hour mental breakdown about all the furniture stuffed into the house (I need a feng shui expert!).    Hopefully, by late January, we'll have a newer, nicer guest apartment, which will also serve as a place for me to work twice a week when the babysitter is here and I'm not in class.

Stairs to the garage.