Painting!!!!

This weekend we will start painting the entire house. Since it is new dry wall we will have to prime first. We will start at 9am on Saturday and noon on Sunday. We could use all the help we can get. The more people we get, the faster it will go. You can call me for the address and directions. 615-400-7687

Getting Closer

It is beginning to look like a home again. The floor plan was changed a little to what mom has always wanted to do to the house. If she ever wanted changes to the house then now was the time to do it. We opened the kitchen, dining, living, and den to one huge room. Also, she has a utility room now with a pantry. The last thing was changing the porch to a sun room. God has taken something horrible and made my mom a safer, more cost efficient house. The old electric was the wiring with paper around it, insulation was bad, and a/c had gone out several times. To get hot water you had to go into the garage and flip a switch. Now the electric has been reran. New insulation and drywall are up. Also, the walls are now textured. The duct work and new a/c unit are installed. I am hoping we will be painting in a week. Then the floors, cabinets, tile, etc. will be put in. After that hopefully we can get the furniture delivered that is being purchased by donations from her AA friends.

We had a lot of rain this past week and the roof leaked. It leaked around the fireplace and into some new light fixtures. That might put us a little back, but will find out this week. We are praying it will be an easy fix.

If you are looking for ways to help we might need volunteers for for a few things. We are talking with someone about the possibility of having them spray the paint on the walls. However if that doesn't work out we will have to prime and paint the entire house. Also, once the house is complete we will be taking what we salvaged from the flood and moving it back to the house. We could use help moving and cleaning everything. The things we saved are currently being stored in a unit that was donated, and we are thinking everything will need another good cleaning before being used again. I will post when we are getting close to needing help. The painting hopefully will be in about a week and the moving will be maybe in a few weeks.

The anticipation is building. God is good!!

Let the Shopping Begin

The floor joists are finished and sub flooring is in! I think mom has decided on the floor plan and final changes are being made. This coming week the tub and showers are going to be installed. Mom took me with her to Lowe's and showed me the appliances she wants for the house. We had some fun taking pictures while we were there. I was told I couldn't post the picture of her in the toilet section of the store but I will hold on to it for future bribery.

quick update

Hopefully by the end of this coming week we will be done with floor joists and the building process will go quicker. We were at a stand still this week waiting on insurance. Everything has worked out and it should be a go on Monday. We had someone jump the front gate again and open two gates. The barn was a mess but it is possible Cole did that part.

I smell fresh wood...hmmmm...smells good!!

Mom and I worked today at the house cleaning up the yard. We scooped up the left over trash from the piles of stuff. Davidson County Sheriff's department came out again this week to get the last pile of debris. There were swarms of flies all over. It was pretty nasty. What was worse was the ac ducts were piled in the yard. When they were brought out of the house they were full of...well...bile to put in nicely. We also picked up tile from the yard that had been removed from the bathroom. It is kind of funny that the entire house is gutted except for the guest bathroom in the middle of the house. To get to it you have to walk carefully along the beams, but it does work. Mom also cleaned the bathroom today. The front porch is swept and the barn is clean now. That should last for about a week.

We currently have a crew in the house during the week rebuilding. Right now they are replacing floor joist. Hopefully when they are finished with those it will go a little faster. It is nice to smell fresh wood!

This week we apparently had our first looters. On Wednesday morning my dad said two of our gates were open. Someone hopped the entrance gate and made there way through our yard leaving two gates open. They took the halters off of the three horses. They are about $20 a piece, and we had just bought them after the flood. They didn't get into the house, and we aren't sure if anything is missing in the barn. We really aren't sure what is where at the moment. Things are being stored in various locations. So it is hard to know what is gone unless we are looking for it to use. The halters were easy to notice they were missing because mom leaves them on the horses. It is really sad that someone knowingly steals from someone who has lost almost all their possessions. Hopefully that will be all the looting we get through this process. I am sure if that is the only thing taken then we are doing better than most who have dealt with looting. It was still frustrating.

Slide Show House Demolition

I usually make movies with Microsoft movie maker. This one is the first I have made on iMovie with my mac. I am still trying to figure the program out so I apologize. I am going ahead and loading it as is because there have been a lot of request for newer pictures. Enjoy!

The gutting is just about complete.

I am spending the evening lazy on the couch. It has been a long 20 days. Today we got majority of the sub flooring out. Mr. Baxter from my school and two guys from his church came out in the morning along with my dad and brother, Casey. They removed the sub flooring in 3 bedrooms and the living/dining room. Mom grilled burgers on our charcoal grill donated to us from LifeChurch.tv. After lunch Baxter and his guys left and the Raglands showed up. Bryce is one of my students and he came with his parents, Jill and Danny, and his brother, Brandon. The guys helped finish the sub flooring and Jill helped me pick up glass in the yard. Bryce continued to help my dad in the house. At one point I looked in on them and all I could see was Bryce from waste up. He decided it was easier to work standing in the crawl space. Casey, Brandon, and Danny moved the temporary gate back to its original spot so the horses have more room. The horses are healing and now can get in the barn. They are doing wonderful.

The last thing we have left to do before starting back rebuilding is removing the plastic and duct work in the crawl space. It should be easy since the house is gutted and there are no floors. However, it will be the nastiest job. I am still working on finding volunteers for that one. I don't even want to do it.

There is free standing water all around the yard and fields. It is starting to stink really bad. Lily at one point today was helping Jill and me find glass and asked who pooped in their pants. Don't worry she wasn't touching the glass. She was telling us where the glass was and taking worms to Granny while saying "Granny I found a snake."

Tomorrow mom goes back to Texas to work for the first time since the flood. She isn't looking forward to it. I am glad we are far enough along she doesn't feel like she should be here working. She is working on floor plans for the house. She is making the best of the flood and rebuilding it back how she has wished her house to look. That is a positive to having to gut and rebuild your house. If there is something you didn't like now is the time to change it. She will have a bigger bathroom and closet when finished. Something every woman wants for their house. Another part being designed into the house is a laundary room.

Thank you again for all the prayers and support. Also a big thank you to the Homedepot manager. Mom went in to ask about the washer and dryer that were still under warranty. She is trying to get either her warranty back or have someone come out and fix them. Her blower was also new and under warranty. They told her to contact the manufactor for the washer and dryer. The manager ended up coming to find her in the store and had a brand new blower for her. He said he felt bad he couldn't do more for her. Thank you for the new blower Homedepot. It is one less thing she has to replace.