Party's Over. The Dirty Work Begins.

Be prepared to grimace! The next photos are NOT pretty by any stretch. They are downright YUCK!

This is what greeted me a couple of weeks ago on a Saturday morning when I went into our living room to water a plant near our front window. I felt it before I saw it. Not moisture. Oh, no! The surfaces were already dry. What I felt was the rippled hardwood under my feet. I looked down with shock and only as my eyes moved up did I see the brown stain on the wall and the baseboards and then the mess on the windowsill. And then more. EEEEK!! I must have happened shortly after last Saturday when I last went to that part of the house to water that plant.

So, the insurance adjuster and contractors have been by. We have estimates and quotes and right now there is a giant moisture sucking machine running by the wall because of the moisture behind the surface. In all the 22 years we've been here, nothing like this has ever happened before. I've learned a new term: Ice Damming. Something to do with the way the snow melted and froze and melted and froze, lifting the cedar shakes. It's wet inside the wall and the insulation is wet. Ultimately, it looks like that front wall with our beautiful window and window frame will have to come off and be replaced. We've been promised that our window will look just like it does now when all is said and done. We're lucky it was just the one wall and that the problem didn't wrap around to the other walls or effect the ceiling.

The hardwood is pretty rippled in about a five foot square area. We're leaving it to dry for several weeks and see how much it flattens out before deciding how much work it will need. If we're lucky, a light sanding and coating will be enough. If we're unlucky, it means replacing the whole floor. EEEK!!

The outside of the house will have to be painted, too. The brown stain doesn't come off. I tried on parts of the windowsill already.

So, that's my sad story. I was so sure our next big home event would be a new kitchen!  Wahhhhh!!