By Austen

As promised, here is the ‘saga’ of what Presley and I had to deal with since New Years which will hopefully explain why the lack of content.

We traveled to visit family during the Christmas holiday. This was the first time some of my side of the family met our daughter, Emerald, for the first time. It was really special to watch my grandparents (Emmy’s GREAT-grandparents) meet, play and interact with her; I will never forget it.

After a great visit with family, it was time to pile all of Emmy’s Christmas loot into the family wagon and get back to the tiny home. The trip to the halfway point was uneventful and rather long (I’m not a fan of long car rides). We decided to cut the trip in half, so we weren’t struggling with a one-year-old in the car for the whole trip. We found an Air B&B and got some rest. We definitely needed the rest because that next morning was going to lead to a very stressed and nerve-wracking drive home.

The News

I woke up when I heard Presley get up to use the bathroom which encouraged me to get out of bed. I was jolted awake when I heard Presley exclaim, “our house flooded!” Hearing that news certainly woke me up! There’s no amount of caffeine that could have mimicked my heartbeat spike from that new knowledge.

We listened to the voicemail our friend, who was watching the house, left us when they went to check on our house. Our friend described about 4-inches of ice throughout the entire bottom floor of our house. It turned out there was a sudden drop in temperature in less than 24 hours, the night before they checked the house. As a result, for whatever reason, some of our pipes leading out of the house froze and the water we left dripping (to prevent the water from freezing) overflowed from the sinks and onto the floor.

The Looong Drive Home

Needless to say, we were two balloons filled to the brim with all kinds of emotions, hoping we weren’t going to pop! The drive home was very quiet. We were both trying to figure out what we were going to do if the worst were to happen. I was trying to stay positive, but it was difficult. Thankfully, the friends who were watching our house had an extra room we could stay at while we figured everything out. We finally made it to their house, but it was way too late to go to the tiny house and we needed to get some rest ourselves.

The Work Begins and the Memories Flow

As we walked into our home, that was filled with ice, there were definitely lumps in our throats. So many questions filled our minds, “What does this mean?” “Are we going to lose our home?” “Can we fix this?” “Can we afford the repairs?” Thankfully we were able to have a renovation company come out to meet us to assess the damage. The bottom line was we needed to get the ice and the floorboards out ASAP so we could dry it out and see if the subfloors were warped. The gentleman who came out sympathized with us and told us he would walk us through what we needed to do for free, but if he needed to do it, he would have to charge. That really helped our mental stress to say the least. It’s funny how a little sympathy, during a time of need, feels extraordinarily comforting – like the big hug you’d get from your grandma when you were little. It’s just a nice feeling.

Presley and I were determined to get it all completed ASAP. As soon as the man left, we found some shovels and started shoveling the ice (and by that time slush) outside. We made quick work of that. The next task was to tear out the floorboards so we could begin drying out the subfloor.

I had a lot of reservations before we began. This was Presley and I’s first home we ever owned, where we found out Presley was pregnant and where we brought Emmy home to after she was born. It’s where Rose, our Golden Retriever, lived, and it was where she passed away. It was hard to tear out the same floor where all those memories happened. In the moment, it was as if those memories lived in those floorboards. But we had to do it so we could to move forward. So, we tore everything out and stacked it outside.

Now Let’s Play the Waiting Game!

We did all we could have done at that moment. The man that walked us through the steps, told us he would bring over some commercial dehumidifiers to try to soak up as much moisture as possible with the hope none of it seeped into the subfloor.

We learned we were not the only people who had water damage during the holidays. The cold temperatures hurt a lot of other homes as well, some worse than ours, which meant there was a line of people we were waiting behind. Thankfully we had our own dehumidifier to help. After the first few days, it filled up within an hour!

We figured it was going to take some time, so we moved into one of our friends’ house closer to my work. After a couple of weeks, we received a phone call telling us the floors were bone dry and there was no warping! He told us we were in the clear to put the floors back. We decided to move back into the house to give our friends their house back, but as we were cleaning and getting it ready to move in, we realized our refrigerator stopped working completely.

After a long back and forth with a repairman, it was time to give the refrigerator the boot. That kind wasn’t right for us anyway with how many issues we’ve had over the last couple of years. Unfortunately, it ran on propane/electric which required outside ventilation so there was big cavity that was open to the outside behind the refrigerator. We needed to fill that cavity before we bought a new refrigerator.

Finding the Contractor

Once we got the all clear, we began research into finding a contractor that didn’t have a month-plus waiting list. We live in a rural area and our choices online were slim. Looking back, we should have reached out to friends in the area for other suggestions, but we didn’t consider that. We found someone on Angie’s List and called him up. He was quick to respond and very professional over the phone. Presley and I were really impressed, and he also quoted us way lower than we expected. As a result, we went with him and he told us he could start ASAP!

The Long 2.5 Weeks

The contractor estimated 1.5 weeks to do the floors, tile for the woodstove, and fill in the cavity behind the refrigerator. That worked with us!

He showed up on time the first day to “prep” the floors for the next day of work. After that the days came and went, and the work was very slow going. As some of the work was progressing, we were noticing obvious mistakes that were ignored by him. Long story short, it took longer than expected and multiple times while he was there, we weren’t sure if he was going to come back. Overall, the work was very sloppy, he didn’t communicate at all, and we always had a “sketch” feeling when he was there, like he was hiding something from us or not telling us something we needed to know.

In the future, Presley and I will ask people we trust for recommendations for contractors as well as ask more questions of the individuals such as, “Do you have any certifications?” “How long have you been a contractor?” “What would you say is your specialty?” “What does good communication look like to you?”

The End

The work is finally over and yesterday we finally received our new refrigerator! The result of 2022 has finally ended, and we are grateful.

No matter how many bad things happen to us, I feel every bad experience comes with a lesson as well as a bond that’s added to Presley and I’s relationship to reinforce it, but if the bad experiences could ease up a bit. I’d be OK with that.