November 26th, 2008 by Romelda
People have been asking us how we’re doing and where we are at after moving back into our apartment building on Sept. 15th. so I thought I would give you an update here.
Well, after just over two months, we’re almost back to “normal” inside our apartment.
We have struggled daily with our insurance company to have items replaced and monies sent for items we had to purchase. The insurance battle has been very stressful and unpleasant. (More in another blog about our horrible insurance company – it will take its own entry to explain).
Just this past Friday, Nov. 21st the last major items were replaced. Our leather recliners, that had been soot and sun damaged (due to the steady sun beating in the windows for 8 weeks straight after the cleaning crew or fire crew opened all the windows and patio doors and pulled back curtains) were finally delivered by The Brick on Friday afternoon, and then on Saturday morning, we finally got the delivery of our piano which had to be refurbished by Robert Lowery’s Piano Experts….who did a great job by the way.
The last piece of the normal puzzle will be our artwork. Somehow, artwork makes a place feel like home. I miss the familiarity of it hanging on the walls. I miss walking into the apartment and seeing the art pieces that were given to us from friends who love us and care about us. I want the artwork back on the walls. Then we will be able to say that we are done, and everything in our apartment is back to normal. Read the rest of this entry »
September 21st, 2008 by Romelda
On Monday, September 15th we finally moved back to our apartment. It wasn’t exactly a straight move in with everything in its place – more like just flop bags down at the door.
The cleaning crew were not able to put back everything because some of our storage – like the pantry – was damaged by the soot and removed. So there were still many boxes piled around the apartment – much like if we had moved and hadn’t finished unpacking.
Monday night we had to sleep in our recliners due to the stink of the bed. Thank goodness the new bed came on Tuesday…what a sleepless night on Monday. We also had no linens or blankets, so I threw on a sweatshirt and trackpants and put a towel over me to stay warm. It was pretty pathetic, but I slept a little. Heather says I snored even (which I am not sure I believe lol). We have slept just fine since the new bed arrived.
So the week has been spent shopping. Now, in most cases that is something we all wish we could do – have a little spending spree. Well, in our case we had to replace just about every appliance we owned in the kitchen and then some and all our cutting boards, utensils, etc., and we spent about 3 hours shopping at Cayne’s The Super Housewares Store (this place is great if you ever need any housewares – they have everything from appliances to toilet brushes). It took us 4 shopping carts and the stuff filled the back of a pick-up truck and the back seat. It was a struggle to offload it at the apartment – took about five trips. Read the rest of this entry »
September 14th, 2008 by Romelda
It’s the end of the 8th week being out of our apartment since the explosion in our electrical vault.
Since the last posting so much has been happening, it’s hard to know what day it is. They all run into the other. The last five days have been focused on the clean-up process. We have had Restoration Specialists, brought in by our insurance company (with much prodding and trying to light a fire under them to get the process started) on Tuesday, Sept. 9th to begin cleaning. What a task! Belfor, the Restoration Specialists are also contactors in addition to being the clean-up crew and they bring in specialty companies for specific things, like dry cleaning, so the first thing achieved was an inventory of all our “soft-goods” like clothes, linens, shoes, scarves etc and a sorting of our stuff for pick up by the dry cleaning subcontractors. 403 pieces of cleaning picked up. If you’ve ever said – I have nothing to wear – you’re wrong. You have LOTS to wear…try counting your clothes some day, you will be amazed. Never again will I say “I’ve got nothing to wear.”
Once the cleaning was sent out, then came the piano. Since Belfor does not have a piano expert sub-contractor, we brought in Robert Lowrey’s Piano Experts, and by last Wed the piano was out for complete refurbishment. Then the electronics subcontractor came in and took away basically everything that has a plug or requires electricity to run. All our computers and peripherals, clock radios, TV, the Wii and even the vacuum had to be taken away to be assessed and if deemed salvageable, cleaned completely of any soot on or in the item. The actual soot removal and apartment cleaning could then start. Within minutes of the 8 person cleaning crew arriving, much of our stuff was deemed unsalvageable. Gone are just about every appliance we owned: toaster, coffee maker, KitchenAid Mixer, microwave, and the water cooler – anything associated with food preparation essentially – boxed up and removed by Belfor. Also, all items that were plastic or wooden; spoons, cutting boards, utensils, tupperware etc. – tossed. The kitchen had the most soot casualties by far. They didn’t even send the air conditioner out for salvaging…tossed. Everything they “tossed” was boxed up and brought to their warehouse to dispose of. If they couldn’t guarantee that absolutely all soot was removed from the items used for food, they could not leave them with us, for obvious reasons. Read the rest of this entry »
