The Flood, Day 1
9:23 PMArrived at Re-Find Living today, just after 9. I was heading in a little early to finish up a couple of projects before going down the hill to Not Too Shabby for the Mix-It-Up workshop at 12.
There was a little bit of water seepage on the exterior concrete as I walked up. Not good I remember thinking. We're in a drought, the watering hose must be leaking, better get that fixed quick.
Get to the door and it sounds like a huge sprinkler is going off inside. Is it the fire sprinklers? All the lights are off, no glowing so that means no fire.
I open the door and about 5-6" of water starts pouring out. The spraying water is coming from the back of the store, the bathroom. I can't see a thing, but water appears to be pouring out of the ceiling.
I can't chance turning on any lights, afraid of any electrical shorts in our older building.
I call 911.
The operator is amazingly nice, transfers me to the fire department.
They arrive within 5 minutes.
Meanwhile I've walked around most of our building looking for the water main. I can't find it.
It's in the sidewalk at the front, the fireman turn it off.
The little white plastic joint piece on the water hose has cracked in half.
The firemen were amazing! They immediately start sweeping the water out of the building, one fireman went back to the station to get the long squeegees. Other firemen start moving all the furniture out onto the porch.
I start working the phone - insurance, Landlord, Serv-Pro Recovery, David, Pam, Sam, Vicky, Bayleigh, electrician.... It's starting to feel overwhelming. The phone starts ringing non-stop, people start arriving.
The salon next door is also flooded.
Customers try to shop....
9 hours later, we have a bunch of fans & de-humidifiers set-up, most of our furniture has been moved outside and then stacked in the center of the store, most of the littles have been sorted & packed into Rubbermaid tubs, initial damages have been sorted, and we lock up for the evening.
I think our Stikwood is ruined.
Tomorrow we meet with our independent insurance adjuster & get an update from Service-Pro on the possibility of Asbestos in our Sheetrock.
We could be closed 3-9 days.....
There's so many things to be grateful for. It wasn't a fire! We have insurance! No one was hurt. It could have been so much worse!!!
I feel wrung out.
So many questions.
Mostly about money.
Our silver lining was how easy it was to wipe off all the furniture because of the Annie Sloan wax finish!
Even the firemen noticed. We had pieces that had water sitting on top, trapped under glass, for 6 hours & the water just wiped off.
Our painted concrete floor is covered in bubbles....our Chalk Paint® stuck great, the previous paint has bubbled off the concrete. This paint is amazing!
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