ut oh, oh no

uhhhh man- that stinks! literally.... We walked in the door after a 5 day vacation to my parents' house in the beginning of August to the most horrible odor. I was thinking, "did I leave wet dirty rags out" but I would've had to leave 100 of those out to get that odor.... Think again.... yep, a toilet on the second floor was clogged and ran the entire 5 days. Y.U.C.K. The water flooded our master bathroom, bedroom and hall on the second floor.... It felt like we were walking through a swamp when we first discovered it...

In fact it went through the house the entire way to the basement. It leaked onto our tv, dvd player and cable box.....

This is the main level ceiling - in the formal living room. It effected 2 walls and the ceiling. The pipe runs across the ceiling. So one of the walls was in the front of the room with our bump out window and the other was the back wall, opposite....

This is another picture of the basement....

So after trying to clean it up ourselves..... I think we were in shock... We finally called the insurance company. They sent in a restoration company. They started ripping out walls and floors and ceilings.... I started crying.... My house was being ripped apart! They set up huge dehumidifiers and fans that were VERY loud- but 2 1/2 days later it was dry! This is what we were left with....

They gutted the master bath- yes, this is my vanity in my bedroom....

Initially only walls and ceiling were removed from the basement. They ripped out most of the padding under the carpet and put dryers under the carpet to dry it with the hope of drying and re-installing it. That effort failed so now the carpet down there will be replaced as well.

It has been a month since these pictures were taken. I'd like to have after pictures for you, but we aren't even close. Though I can say that the smell is gone. Thank goodness:) We have had the drywall on the ceilings and walls replaced but that is as far as we've gotten.

The good things- well, my new beautiful kitchen and central hub for the family was not touched, and none of the kids' bedrooms were effected. So thankfully we can still function as a family. However, we are living in a mess- things are piled up everywhere. And we are walking around on plywood floors.....

So when we first discovered it.... I honestly was in shock and trying to ignore it when we first walked in. I just unpacked the kids and didn't even walk around to access the damage. Hubs was walking around though and I could feel him getting more and more upset. He walked outside to gather more luggage from the overfilled van and I followed him. Just as I walked out, he was standing there with his hands full and a bird crapped right on him- funny now, but I didn't dare laugh then- anyway he was so upset, he said "seriously, could something more go wrong, please, come on." I stopped, hugged him (bird poo and all) and said we are blessed, this is nothing, it could be so much worse. Thank God we have a house, and that we all came home safe, and that everyone is healthy. At that point we put it into perspective. We are a team and well will survive. We were upset but there is a silver lining, more on that to come......