Patience is a Virtue

My patience is paying off with regard to the repairs that need to be done in the house. (At least I've been TRYING to be patient.) Because of the water leak, insurance is going to pay for us to install a whole new kitchen! They are going to replace all the cabinets, the floor - even some of the sub-floor, baseboards, and island. The water got into the laundry room also, so the floor will be replaced in there as well. The floor looked good, but did not match the kitchen floor. Michael is going to lay all the flooring to save some money and that will hopefully give us enough extra money to purchase a new dishwasher. Michael also has to get the house leveled right away (see pictures of the settling) so these other repairs can be completed. It will take 2 weeks before they can begin work in the kitchen because everything has to be ordered and we calculate that the work being done will coincide with Spring Break!! I know Arleen and the kids were planning to go to the valley at that time, and possibly Tara and Dean. I may also be coming down just so I won't have to deal with all the construction mess. I'll keep everyone informed and post pictures once I have my brand new kitchen! Woohoo!!

Leak Under the Sink

Last Sunday, I went into the kitchen to make some rolls for dinner (using my new Bosch...) and I noticed that my socks kept getting wet. I also noticed that water was squishing up between nearly all the wood planks on the floor. At first, I thought that my dishwasher was leaking, but upon further investigation, we discovered that there was a leak in a pipe under the sink. Luckily, Jared was still here and was able to take care of the leak right away. There was water under the wood on the floor from one end of my kitchen to the other. We put towels down all over the kitchen to try to soak up the moisture.

Monday morning, Tara and I noticed a horrible moldy smell and just looked at each other knowing without a doubt that the entire floor had to come up. That meant that EVERYTHING had to come out of the kitchen. We have 2 food storage shelves loaded full, a microwave stand full of stuff, an island loaded full of stuff (one that Jared and Arleen brought with them) and the little buffet table that Mom Halls gave me. Plus, we also had to clean out the food on the floor in the pantry. We were exhausted just thinking about all the stuff we had to move out.

Once we had everything out, then Michael began pulling up all the wood. Luckily, there was linoleum under the wood - ugly, ugly and full of staples because of the plastic that was installed under the wood - but better than particleboard. Michael swept the floor and wiped down the linoleum to get the worst of the dirt. Then Tara took a scrub brush and scrubbed every inch of the floor. We had to wear masks because of the mold and smell. I have had laryngitis all day today and congestion in my chest. I'm hoping no one else gets sick.

The good news is that our insurance is going to cover it! We will probably have to get a new island and replace some of the wood underneath the linoleum. We have a $500 deductible, but that is much cheaper than what we thought we were looking at if we hadn't had the insurance. I'm posting pictures of what it looks like now and then I'll post pics when it's done.