We Interupt this Great Life for a Flood

Forget whatever I had planned for this week.  Life had something else in store.  I came home from registering my car Tuesday to see water tracks coming from under the front door sill.  Inside was evidence the powder room toilet had overflowed (water came from the washer).  I started mopping and Jack called our insurance agent - and the septic people.

Gray water was down  the center hall, an inch deep in the under the stairs closet, seeped into the living room and kitchen.  Bad part:  everything but the kitchen and bath is laminate flooring - fairly new laminate.  It all had to go. 

We had a visit from a sweet claims adjuster who declared us covered by our homeowners insurance.

Some nice damage control folks came yesterday morning to tear up the laminate in the wet areas, spray mildewcide and leave three powerful fans, two dehumidifiers and an air cleaner. It sounds like a wind tunnel downstairs

 Septic was located.  I was delighted I could remember where the 2nd (hidden) tank was. This picture is for future reference.

Septic was pumped.  (My driveway looked like a disaster convention with all the trucks.)
BL Hubby and I will get to install a new floor downstairs.  We're still waiting for our favorite septic tank repair guy to consult tomorrow on replacing the pump.  (We really wish we had listened to him when we first moved in and had the drain fields redone so we didn't need to pump.) Until then it's showers at Grandma's!

Some bright spots. Our first floor is quite open and the laminate flows seamlessly from the living room through the hall and into the dining room.  I loved how well the installation went getting the flooring to look good throughout the three rooms and through three big openings.  It was a lot of work and quite a bit of  help from BL BIL, who was making his living at the time laying a lot of laminate, to make it look good without any transition pieces.  Our insurance (and most policies) will not cover replacing the flooring in rooms not damaged in order to match the new laminate to old.  It looked like the dining room might not have got any water under the laminate and if so then the insurance wouldn't replace it and then we would have to pay for the dining room laminate out of pocket or live with a big transition piece and the dining room not really matching the rest of the downstairs.  Fortunately (unfortunately?) the water went a couple of floorboards into the dining room, also, so my downstairs won't look like a patchwork quilt.

  Since laminate products go out of stock almost as soon as you buy them you can't just patch like you could if they were hardwood,  the whole floor has to be replaced but a lot of the flooring is still good.  We've elected to take up the good parts ourselves and I'll be able to install it upstairs in a room or two.

I've  been wanting to do a little update of our space.  Watch what you wish for.  I still think updating by disaster is a bad idea.