After a winter blizzard and a delayed thaw, my mother and I managed to get out to the house again- this time just to pick up mail and any packages. It was March 26, 2018, two days before my birthday and there were no major plans for working on the house that day. Unfortunately, this was a day that indescribable unhappiness permeated multiple aspect of my life. I had trouble getting inside and when I did, things already didn't seem right: the lights weren't on anywhere including the front porch, things smelled peculiar, the mail at the door step was soggy, the carpeted stairs were moldy in a couple spots, and then I realized that 90% of the ceiling was no longer were it should be; it was broken and soggy on the floor and I was walking on it. Furthermore, I hear a strange sound and as I carefully stepped down the hallway, I saw into the living room and water was gushing out of the ceiling at full pressure; we had a disastrous leak...
The first thing we did was get the water turned off. Then we called a couple relatives and financial advisor to let them know what happened and get some advice. Neither my mother nor I have ever experienced anything like this and we were not prepared for it in any sense of the word. We first went with a personal recommendation that turned out to be a nightmare. The woman we hire abandoned the job and we discovered things were missing. Next, we got some price quotes for mod/mildew remediation and salvage. These guys finished the job but they were a franchise and some of their work turned out to be questionable in terms of how things were cleaned, packaged, and items requested to be saved were missing. Furthermore, they did not dispose of the washer and dryer units are originally requested and claimed we did not request it, but would be happy to do so for an extra fee to which we turned them down. Then we needed quotes from contractors for putting the insides of the house back the way it was because the remediation team gutted the entire house from top to bottom. We checked with a couple of home improvement-type apps and contacted recommended companies not realized they actually are at the top of the list because they paid to be there rather than being their based on performance and customer reviews. this led to a nearly 6.5 year long nightmare with a company that we hope to put out of business and collect maximum damages due to extended and multiple incidents of unprofessional and unethical behavior.
We have lost so much or what was originally and allegedly salvaged I can't say who is to blame for missing things because there were things that did not need to be thrown out that we specifically asked to have salvaged. It could have been the first woman hired or part of her crew, the remediation team, the contractor, neighbors, passers by, or some combination of the previously mentioned. I also had a former acquaintance offer to help, but he had his own agenda and refused to do things the was we ask, which namely was not to sell the house as is and lose money. We already have lost so much money in this process, due to unethical business practices, liquidating my mother's retirement to afford these expenses, and so on. We can't afford to replace everything we lost. Some things can't be replaced either due to cost, item age, limited availability, heirloom, handmade, etc. My grandfather built the house in '68 and it has stayed in our family ever since. loosing and everything inside was devastating and definitely not the way we wanted to part ways with that home, if ever...
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