Ida Update

Tomorrow, September 18, marks three weeks since Ida made landfall in Louisiana as a strong cat 4. The day before she had been moving through the gulf as a category 2 but quickly strengthened while traveling over the warm gulf waters.

Now three weeks on, we have power and internet back. We’ve decamped from the camper, Miss Vanjie, and resumed occupation in a now air conditioned and technologically connected home. Blogging and binging BritBox—currently a couple of seasons in to the Inspector Morse spinoff Inspector Lewis.

Its been a time of adjusters, assessors, and remediation specialists, Oh My! And not a small amount of rain through our compromised roof. TS Nicholas brought a good amount of water through the area this week adding insult on top of Ida-inflicted injury to a region already saturated with water. Roofers finally arrived Wednesday and secured the roof with waterproofing.

The water remediation specialist visited Thursday last. We quickly learned a new use for blue painters tape—marking off walls for demolition. When his moisture detector was finished, needle often burying itself at the outer limit of the red, approximately 30-40% of the interior was marked for demo. It is astounding to see how water can run its way to ground from roof to slab. Areas we thought we fine metered off the gauge.

When all was said and done, only four rooms and two baths passed with the determination “clear”. The exterior wall and ceiling of the den, the fur down and one wall in the kitchen, a wall in the parlor, two guest baths, one guest room, main bedroom, dressing room, and garage were marked for partial demo. The upstairs kitchenette, smaller guest room, main bathroom, one main closet, and entire third floor marked for full demo.

Talk about kicking our anticipated “phased” renovation into hyperdrive! Looks like Miss Vanjie will be making a return engagement in our drive.