Recovering from the Albany Park flood should be getting easier, but both psychologically and physically, it seems to go up and down.
Good News; Bad News
The good news is that the humidity in our basement is under 40%, which is pretty normal for this time of year. The drier the area, the less friendly environment for molds and bacteria.
The bad news is that we're still pulling moldy stuff out of the basement, and I've just started taking down the wallboard. I've got the worst of the wallboard down, which was in the laundry room and the bathroom. It's just slow going, and though I'm getting much better at hammering down the wallboard and cleaning up any obvious mold, I'm only one person.
Most frustrating for us now is the fact that we still don't have our insurance check. We've signed off on the "loss statement" over a week ago, and I badgered our agent a few times this week.
The upstairs is still full of stuff, and that is starting to be difficult to deal with. I'm still a good week or two away from having things clean enough in the basement to start bringing stuff down there so the upstairs can be habitable.
"Progress" in the Bathroom after the Albany Park Flood
First, a peek into the downstairs bathroom when we still had 3-4 feet of water in it. This is just the entryway, as we weren't going to walk all of the way into it with 3-4 feet of muck. That white thing is a little shelf unit that used to sit up against that wall and hold toiletries, towels, etc. The water is higher in the first pic than in the second:
After the water was out, we were left with this mess... and I didn't take any really good pictures of the bathroom mess.. It actually was much worse!
The doors down there are all warped; they will all have to go.
Where We Are Now
This is where we are now. I first filled a couple of contractor bags with water-logged toilet papers, soap, miscellaneous undistinguishable medications and toiletries, stuff that was in the vanity under the sink, garbage from floating garbage cans, etc. The bathtub and the sink were loaded with stuff that had floated into the bathroom and remained when the water went down the drain. I knocked down that moldy white shelf unit and loaded it into contractor bags. Then I cleaned and bleached the floor, the toilet, sink, and bathtub, all of the walls, even the ones that will go.
I pulled down most of the wallboard, cleaned and bleached the wall behind the wallboard and the studs. There must have been two rooms there once upon a time.. part of the wall behind the wallboard was white, part was green. We also noticed that the rehabbers must have knocked out some of the cement from the wall behind the studs.... perhaps to make room for the studs? The vanity will have to go, but for now, the mold has been contained... There is discoloration and stains, but no mold:
The toilet paper holder actually survived the flood. Complete with new toilet paper, the downstairs toilet is now very clean and completely usable.
Every Man's Dream
Oh, I almost forgot! Paul had a reading stand down there in the bathroom, full of magazines about cars, motorcycles, and guitars. All of those magazines resulted in three heavy bags of sodden reading material. We did save the little stand. And we also had a T.V. by the toilet (The T.V. was saved and is now upstairs.).. The movable mounting unit for the T.V. can still be seen on the wall, even though the wallboard has been pulled out around it. (That's every man's dream.. a reading table and an HDTV in the bathroom opposite the toilet.)
So that's where we are. Six weeks (or is it now seven?) after our lives and our home were completely disrupted by the Albany Park flood!
(Next part of the Albany Park Flood Story: Insurance checks and Barack Obama. )
No comments:
Post a Comment