I’m not sure where to start. I’ll start with the obvious. We had a leak. Had, because it’s fixed. A sneaky, dirty, insidious, little leak. We didn’t know it was happening. It snuck up on us & caused so much damage. A tiny little leak. Big, huge, damage.
Our house is a normal two-story house, with a full basement apartment. A cute little 3-room apartment that’s perfect for guests or teenage boys. For two years Nestor & Cole made it their home. It made it harder to have guests, but we managed. Besides, with my broken leg I couldn’t really manage guests, stairs or an extra apartment.
As my leg healed, and first Cole & then Nestor moved out, it was time to deep clean the apartment & welcome a summer full of guests. I was so excited! But. There was mildew on the walls. It wouldn’t come off, so I got Dave to help. Part of the wall came off. Our walls were wet! As we moved furniture & found more mold, we realized we were in over heads.
I called a plumber, but he wouldn’t come unless I called insurance first. I called insurance. They called a fix-it company. The fix-it company couldn’t find the leak at first, in fact there was briefly wild panic (by me, not the fix-it company) that it was a burst city pipe….so not covered by insurance! Finally fix-it company guy found the hidden pipe. Hidden by The Big, Red, Intimidating, not-out-of-order Machine, not dripping but streaming!
The next day the plumber came out & fixed it. The next week the fix-it company came back & made their final assessment. Then the insurance guy came out to approve it. Then I got our portion of the bill. German insurance works so that our home insurance covers the home. The house. Everything inside is covered by a different insurance.
The fix-it company sent one quote to the insurance, for cleaning & reconstruction, that was approved. And one for removal of all the things, for me to pay or submit to the inside-house insurance. A bill for 14,000€. 14 THOUSAND EURO!
To remove the stuff in a 3-room apartment.
Stupid me didn’t get the inside-house insurance from the Germans, but from the Americans. Because it wasn’t a flood. Because it wasn’t standing water. They are paying $2,500. For stuff replacement. Forget 14 THOUSAND EURO to remove said stuff.
Luckily I have some amazing friends. Together we’ve been working hard at emptying out our apartment. Tess & I are doing dump runs, I am in love with the neat, clean, well-organized local dump. I love dump runs! I’m in my happy place there. Tess too loves throwing stuff onto the piles of stuff. Dump runs are our jam.
So far we’ve spent less than 140€ at the dump. I almost would have paid that much just for the pleasure of going to the dump. I’ve spent a little more on feeding our crew of merry demolishers. I’ve spent no where near 14 THOUSAND EURO. I’m in the wrong business.
Some of those mold photos would have made some amazing overlays, but I’m glad that you got to have some fun at the dump. The town that I used to live in had bottle recycling bins and you got to throw them and break them. How often do you get to break something so I think I get the satisfaction over “going to the dump”….:)
OMG!!! I SO know how you feel. We had a dishwash … a 3 month old Bosch dishwasher … pee all OVER our kitchen. We ended up having to do the mold abatement, etc. Took 5 months to finish everything up. Fortunately, we only had to pay the deductible which was refunded 1-1/2 years later after Bosch settled (in court) with our insurance provider. Stuff like this is NEVER fun …
What a mess for you! Maybe this was exacerbating Tess’ allergy problem? Glad you’re able to get it fixed, though.
We were lucky when we had a “leak” a few years ago there was very little mold but it did ruin our Pergo floor….it is now tile laid by me. Luckily then we did not have ot go to the dump but on Friday we will be making our third trip to our dump….years ago I did poured ceramics and had all my own plaster molds. Could not find anyone who wanted them so Friday we will take the last truck full to the dump…and yes, it is kind of fun to break things!!! I am too old (very hard on the back!) for that hobby now so instead I do digital scrapbooking! I was lucky though as my nephew is into doing “wheel” pottery with a friend and I was able to give my two kilns (with all the stuff that goes with) to them….I would have been sad to have taken them to the dump as they still are in good condition though old.
The apartment is just beautiful!
Wow Toiny, I’m so sorry you have to deal with this, I love that little apartment, it was home for a few weeks in 2015. Such a special place and special memories, working with insurance can be a crapshoot, I am glad you got the bulk of it covered. It will be good to have it all fixed up. Holding you in complete recovery and restoration.
Oh, so sorry to hear about the leak. Your basement/apartment was so beautiful!! It’s too bad about the mold; what a mess! But at least it didn’t go up into the rest of the house!!!! Praying that the restoring & fixing up goes smoothly!!
[…] and at home. Our basement, more our first floor, looks like an octopus is sucking its brains out (14 THOUSAND EURO) and all the basement stuff we salvaged is surrounding me both in the living room and my bedroom. […]