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.

Kitchen before
Bedroom Before
Bedroom After
Kitchen After
Fun at the dump!