***Help is needed this Saturday, August 23, starting at 10 AM. The majority of the work will be demolition of the upstairs as we'll be making some room changes there. Bring your own gloves. Please email one of us if you're interested in helping or for more details (heather_atwater@hotmail.com or danUUc@danUUc.com).***
Today, we spent yet another Saturday working at the Bowling Street house. Dave worked on the basement windows while Heather did some clean-up work (sweeping, vacuuming, etc). We've purchased the basement windows and the frames are built (that was last weekend's project). However, some cement work needed to be done around the sills. The foundation is limestone with a crumbly, sandy base so that needs to be solidified. One out of five windows has been completely installed. We hope to finish the cement work early this week so the other windows are done before next weekend.
We are in the final stages of completing the additional paperwork that is required for our SBA loan. We originally applied on July 26, but we had to get insurance documentation for flood insurance, paperwork notarized, mortgage recorded and a title report done as part of the application process. Yes, more fees that we weren't expecting! We plan to take all the forms to the SBA office at Westdale Mall (aka "Flood Central") this week for review and then they will ship them to the home office for completion. All this is very time consuming as well as a lot of running around, but it has to be done.
We are also compiling our justifications for our FEMA appeal. We have 60 days to file the appeal which puts us at the 1st week of September. We can't wait until all this paperwork is done so we can just concentrate on rebuilding and getting back into our home!!
It is SO nice to have electrical back though. After 2 months without it, we didn't think we'd be this excited just to be able to do some simple tasks without powering up a generator. Dave could actually run a saw (to build the basement window frames) while Heather ran the shop-vac for cleaning, and we can have a fan running at the same time! Not having to use gas to run a generator is a huge savings.
We feel completely robbed of our summer though as most of it has been spent cleaning, doing paperwork, errand running, and planning for the rebuild. We need to commit to a heating and air company as well as a plumber for those services since winter is coming fast.
Keep us in your prayers as we still have a lot of major decisions that need to be made. If anyone has any insight, expertise, or knows of any good deals for flood survivors, please email us and let us know!!
Thanks, Heather & Dave
August 7, 2008
HALLELUJAH!!! We have surpassed a major hurdle and finally have
electrical back at the house!!! :) It's only 4 outlets, but we'll take
it! It feels like an exciting, come-from-behind victory! Of course, it
took a lot of effort and energy in addition to putting up a little
fight. We had the electrical scheduled 3 weeks ago to be hooked up
yesterday (Wednesday, 8/6). We had made plans to bury our cables
underground to avoid aerial lines in the event we make other changes to
the house where the lines would hinder our efforts. However, Alliant
called first thing yesterday morning and said they wouldn't be able to
dig our cable in yesterday. Talk about devastation! Then they proceeded
to say that it would be ANOTHER 4 weeks!! We completely understand the
utility companies (along with everyone else in town) are working hard
and are extremely busy in spite of the flood, but this would majorly
delay our efforts to begin working on our rebuild. Plus FEMA would be
on our case about why we weren't back in the house sooner since they
don't want to provide partial rental assistance any longer than
necessary.
So since Alliant couldn't dig the trench for the wiring
yesterday, we both decided to take vacation time, save the electric
company some work, and dig it ourselves. The trench is the width of a
shovel, has to be 3 foot deep, and is about 30 feet long. After 5 hours
of digging (along with sore arms and backs), we got the trench
completed. Wednesday night, we called and left a message for our
Alliant contact that the digging was done!! We didn't hear back all
morning about getting the electrical getting installed. Today was
technically our rain date, but there was no guarantee it would get
hooked up considering their workload. Then Dave went to the house at
lunch, and they were there laying the cable! Once the trench was dug,
the rest of the work was easy. What a relief to have power!! See the
posted picture on this update with Dave plugging in a shop light.
We are still in the process of gathering a few more estimates from
various contractors. In the next week or so, we will prepare all the
documentation for our FEMA appeal. We don't know if they will consider
us for any more federal grant funding, but we at least have to try. If
we can prove and substantiate that repairs will be much more expensive
than they indicated, the output will be worth it. We'll still have the SBA
loan plus our mortgage to pay although grant money is indeed better
than a loan (even a low-interest loan). We understandably have some
anxiety and uneasiness about how we will swing both payments, but we'll
find a way somehow.
The last 2 months has felt more like 2 years, but things are starting
to progress in the right direction. People keep telling us that we'll
be better off when this is all said and done. Of course the contents
of the entire house will basically be brand new; yet, one still has to
take into account the hundreds of man hours we'll have to put forth to
accomplish this mighty task. So far, we have been blessed with lots of
volunteer help and words cannot begin to express our gratitude. It will
most certainly take a community to rebuild this great city -- working
and rallying together to overcome this catastrophic event.
THANKS to all for the overwhelming response to take down the garage
last Saturday, August 2. About 15-20 showed up whether confirmed or
not. Heather had planned a surprise visit to visit her sister and new
niece last weekend. Upon returning home and seeing the pictures with
ALL the help, her emotions got the best of her. Talk about community!
The work was completed in half the time we thought it would, and we
were able to remove the flood-damaged garage debris to the curb while
the city is still taking it, free of charge. Many hands make less work
and the task gets done much faster! All your efforts were much
appreciated.
We still have our faith and each other, and that's all we need to
endure and prosper as flood survivors!!
July 23, 2008
***If you're free this Saturday from 2-6:00 in the afternoon, we're in need of a crew of about 6-8 to help with a few additional tasks that need to be completed before the rebuilding process can begin. If interested, please email one of us (heather_atwater@hotmail.com or danUUc@danUUc.com) for details.***
We are starting to make some progress when it comes to
getting contractor estimates. We had a couple people come over on Saturday,
and both said we are definitely on the right track! That was certainly good to
hear. Since we are planning to a lot of the work ourselves (along with help of
family, friends and church), we are getting bids a la carte. We will have to
have licensed contractors do the electrical, plumbing, duct work, etc, so we're
trying to break down materials and labor costs to submit for our FEMA appeal.
We have 60 days to complete which puts it around the 1st of September.
This past Saturday, we also met with some friends from church who
are in the design business. We shared our ideas about rebuilding and
remodeling. We should hear back from them in the next couple weeks. The good
thing is we can make the house what we want- make it our own. As long
as we're down to studs anyway, we might as well!!
We were also busy removing the chimney on Saturday as well.
The chimney is non-functional, and it was taking up space we could potentially
use for our rebuilding efforts. It came out pretty easy though. Just a few taps
with the sledgehammer and we were able to take out the brick with our hands.
Dave set up a pulley system from the 2nd level with a plastic crate
to lower the brick down to ground level so we didn't have to carry it all
downstairs. Heather then unloaded the crate so it could be pulled back up to
be refilled again. It was a pretty slick system. Leave it to Dave to be
resourceful like that!! We used our garden cart/wagon we received as a gift
from the wedding to haul the first floor brick to the curb (thanks Clint and
Laura). So now we have MORE debris on the curb - just what the city
wants.
Our SBA loan documents are being processed now. We're
getting a low-interest loan from them to cover expenses for home repair and
personal property. This will be the first phase. If we don't use all
the monies, we can 'recast' the loan and get the payments reduced.
We also have the option (in the next 2 years) to refinance our mortgage. That
is, put a portion of the low-interest loan from SBA toward our principal
mortgage payment which would help reduce that amount and pay that part of it
off at a lower rate. Every little bit helps at this point!
Our big task in the next week is to hopefully get electrical
hooked back up. We both took today (Wednesday) off to work at
the house. We also have more estimates to call on and get scheduled (i.e. plumbing, heating). Heather calls them "house calls!" We
realize we have a long way to go, but we're starting to make a little progress, it seems!
There is lots of planning and organizing to do plus ensuring we're doing what the city allows. We'll let you know when we need more help at the house!! At this point, we are making sure our design along with everything else comes together (and we have the money to pay for it all)!!! :) Thanks for your continued support!
H&D
P.S. Please check the 'If you are willing to help'
section (from the menu) for the latest update there.
July 13, 2008
Greetings from Bowling
Street (or 12th Street NE), depending on which house
we're at! It's been another busy week, and we STILL haven't had much time to unpack (and
therefore, not being able to find things when we need them).
On Tuesday, we did finally receive funding from FEMA but it
was nowhere near what we were expecting.
We're not sure how
to get back to a functional level with what we received and why neighbors with
similar damage received funds that were considerably more. We would like to appeal but first need to get
contractor estimates to make our case so it can be reviewed. We have 60 days from July 7 to do so. Of course, this could cause even more mental
and emotional stress that we don't
need right now, but we almost have to give it a shot. If there's
a difference between the FEMA amount and the contractor estimates, then there
may be adjustments made to compensate the difference. Anyone know of any high bidding
contractors?!?
We had an SBA (Small Business Administration) loss verifier
come on Wednesday to assess the property damages. The SBA helps to cover personal property
since FEMA funding does not address that.
The only problem is that SBA monies are in the form of a low-interest
loan. There may be some potential there
though. We need to provide some
additional information in the form of Dave's
side photography income, but we will know if we're
approved within 5-10 days.
Yesterday (Saturday), we had a good crew helping us apply
Pine-Sol to the basement and the sub-floor on the first level. We have been told by a restoration/cleaning
agency that the Pine-Sol actually kills the mold whereas bleach may not take
care of it totally. If the mold
reappears in 3-5 days, there are spores still in the wood and we'll have to try sanding it off. This same agency is scheduled to spray a mold
inhibitor on Monday morning on anything wood or anything porous in the basement
or the first floor in order to hopefully stop the growth. They may also provide a service to
encapsulate the wood so that the mold spores don't
come back. We will hopefully learn more
about this during their visit tomorrow.
We also would like to get our electricity restored so we can
run dehumidifiers and fans and not rely on a generator (which is a huge gas
hog). We learned that we shouldn't be running fans if mold is
still present as they blow mold spores around.
Good to know now!!
We have A LOT of decisions to make in the coming weeks and
months, and these are obviously not overnight decisions either. Certainly not the way we intended to spend
our summer. Even though we are preparing
the house to stay, we don't
even know if that's the
right decision at this point. We do like
the location and the neighborhood in Czech
Village We just hope we take the right course of
action. We've
decided we have to stay on people and project manage this thing to the hilt!! It's going to require a lot of
research. We are just ready to move
forward with our lives! though.
On a happier note, we are happy to report that we have a new
niece!!!! Heather's sister, Lindsay (and her husband, Travis), had a
baby girl on July 11. Yes, 7-11!! Dave joked that they should have named her 'Slurpee.' Her name is
Addison Jean and everyone is doing fine.
We are happy to now have a girl to spoil on that side of the family.
We will keep you posted!
Heather & Dave
P.S. Thanks for all the Kohl's cards! We've gotten plenty! Looks like we're well on the way to getting Dave's wardrobe replaced.
July 4, 2008
***We plan to work at the Bowling Street house this Sunday (July 6) starting at 10 am. If you're interested in helping out, please give us a call or just show up.***
It's been a little over a week since our last update and wanted to fill you in on the latest happenings. Quite a bit has occurred since our last posting.
The biggest news is that we've moved (again)!! Since there is so much uncertainty right now as to if/when we'll go back to Bowling Street, we looked at several temporary housing options last week. We decided on a temporary rental house on the NE side of Cedar Rapids (near Mount Mercy College). This is familiar territory for Heather since it's her alma mater! We've stayed there since Monday night now and are trying to get settled into the new place - a place of our own to call home for now. We signed an 8-month lease and the terms will be month to month beyond that if we need to continue living there. The landlords were flexible on the terms so that helped tremendously. The house is small but all we need for now. It comes with a one-stall garage and has easy access to the interstate. As we mentioned before, we are lucky to have rental assistance from both the Red Cross and Pearson. Our special thanks to a good friend from Pearson who helped us find our new place (you know who you are)!!
We are grateful for our friends in Lisbon who have allowed us to stay these past few trying weeks. They have been wonderful hosts, taking good care of us during our time there.
Heather's name change has now been accepted at FEMA, so we are waiting for our application to be completed. They suggested calling back this Saturday to check status. We'll keep on them until we get some results. :)
We had quite a crew helping at the house this past Sunday. We were able to finish clearing out the debris in the backyard and moving it to the front curb. We've filled the curb 3 times now, so we're keeping the garbage folks quite busy! On Sunday, we also finished gutting the first floor so we're down to just the studs. Dave has been working on removing duct work and vents this week as well as bleaching the basement.
So for now, we are basically in a holding pattern until we learn more from FEMA about any assistance they will be able to offer. We are also finishing up our SBA loan application which is for a low-interest loan beyond what FEMA may provide. As you know, money doesn't grow on trees so we hope we wouldn't have to utilize the loan resources very much. Hate to have that on top of a mortgage payment!!
Heather went back to work on Tuesday of this week, and Dave will be going back this Monday. We're trying to ease back into normal life again.
As a side note, we had a good time at the Heather's dad's wedding in Riceville this past weekend. A good time was had by all. There were between 400 and 500 pictures were taken! It was great to see relatives we hadn't seen in a while. Dave hadn't even met some of the Sprung clan before.
Many thanks,
Heather & Dave
P.S. - If you are storing any of our things, you may need to give us a gentle reminder that you have items. We've lost track of who has what!
June 26, 2008
This week has flown by, and
it's hard to believe we've been out of our home for 2 weeks now. We've packed up and moved the 2nd
floor so we have those items removed from the house, whether we stay or
go. If we decide to stay, we just wanted
to have everything out of the house.
It's really hard to see the house so empty.
Power washing in the basement
has continued, and we hope to do some bleaching before week's end. At this point, we are preparing the house as
if we'd remodel but we simply don't know what's going to happen. We provided FEMA the necessary information
for Heather's name change, but the application is still in progress. We don't know what will happen or how much
aid we may receive, but we do know that we do know we don't want to take out a
large low-interest loan through the SBA to compensate for our losses.
Our debris (aka personal
possessions) which has been out on the curb was picked up this morning. We never thought we'd be so happy to see it
go! Seeing it every day was just a
constant reminder, so now we can at least start to move on with our lives. We still had debris in the backyard and began
to move that to the curb today. Most of
it included insulation and wood debris.
It rained last night so you can imagine the insulation was a soggy,
smelly mess. We hope to finish (or
mostly finish) moving everything to the front curb on Sunday.
We'll be taking a short break
from our house duties to attend Heather's dad's wedding this weekend. Obviously, this was planned long before the
flood. Dave is the official
photographer, so we have an extra obligation to be there. J We are planning to return to Cedar Rapids on Sunday to complete the backyard clean-up. If you're free, we could always use the
help. Many hands make less work. Give us a call mid-morning on Sunday to
confirm a meeting time at the house.
The headline in the local
paper earlier this week stated that 2,000 of the 4,000 homes affected in the Cedar Rapids area would be destroyed. It is so depressing to hear that a portion of
our city (both residential and business) will likely not be rebuilt. We've heard of 4 basements caving in in our
neighborhood (in the next block) in the past week. It's hard to tell at this point how the area
will be impacted and if we'll even have a neighborhood left.
We are currently looking into
temporary housing as we have no idea when/if we'll be back in our home. We hope to make a decision by early next
week. The Red Cross and Pearson
(Heather's work) have offered to help with this temporary housing by assisting
with several months' rent. It's a
blessing to have this support.
We have more pictures and
will try to post them soon. In the
meantime, we feel your support and are grateful to have such wonderful friends
and family. Enjoy the weekend!
P.S. Many have asked what they can do to
help. Until we know the status of our
house, we would certainly be able to use gift cards (for example, Wal-Mart,
Bed/Bath and Beyond). Since Dave lost
most of his clothes in the flood, Kohl's cards would also be wonderful to help
replace his wardrobe. Thanks again!!
June 24th, 2008 Well we've had a couple of days of rush, rush, rush, to get all of the moist and molding materials out of the house. Out of the basement, we've removed the entire walls, insulation, wiring, electronics, furnace, water heater. On the first floor, the water was up to 18 inches high and so we've gone through and removed the bottom 36 inches of plaster, lathe, and drywall from all of the rooms. This meant removing kitchen cabinets, built-in curio cabinets, paneling, and tub.
Everything is out on the curb,.... still. After three days, nothing has been picked up so the piles have gotten higher. Plus we still have debris in the back yard that the curb won't accommodate. It's all just a constant reminder of what we've lost and how our lives have been turned upside down. The sooner it's gone, the sooner we can start to move on.
The basement is down to cement walls and that's about it (very depressing since we built the home theater down there). We've got most of it power washed with a pressure washer, and we'll be coating with a good helping of bleach this Wednesday or Thursday morning. That should stave off any mold likely to grow on the surface, but still the smell could always be there.
Stood in line for over 7 hours on Monday to get some help form the Red Cross, but they were very supportive got some good info, but received a generous gift card which will help. FEMA is having difficulty processing our application for aid because Heather's name change hasn't propagated to the appropriate offices (even though it was done shortly after the wedding in October). So more frustration there as this just delays the process.
We've had a great number of people help out, provide food, or drop off supplies, too. We could not have done it without them.
We have the house in fairly good shape to repair in case we stay there,
however, we still have no idea what we're going to do...if we're staying, if
we're going, if we're rebuilding. That's the frustrating part.... we
just don't know. More questions than answers at this point. We can't think of anything we need right now -- just lots of prayers and positive thoughts for the right decision to be made when that time comes.
Thanks again for all the support!
June 20th, 2008 We can't always answer, but..... Dave's Cell - 431-5874 Heather's Cell - 573-5751 We are checking email as often as possible. June 18th, 2008
It's hard to believe it's been almost a week since we evacuated our home due to the unprecedented flood. We have added you to this email distribution list to update you on our flood situation. We've had many calls and emails from people asking how we are and what they can do. We thought this might be the best way to communicate and keep everyone posted as best we can. We understand you may already receive too many emails as it is, so if at any time you wish to be removed from the distro, please email us back and let us know. We're trying to stay connected via phone as well, however, may not always be available to take calls. Feel free to leave a message and we'll try to return your call as soon as possible.
We were finally granted access, but it wasn't easy to return to our home on Tuesday, June 17. It's been a little less than a week and the mold and mildew smell in the house was overwhelming. So much of what we had worked for and all the effort in making this house our home was destroyed beyond recovery. The flood waters had risen from the basement into about the first 12-18 inches of the first floor. Most of the furniture on the first floor was not salvageable and had to be put on the curb for garbage pick-up. It was like trash amnesty day gone wild in our neighborhood. We also ripped up all the carpeting on that floor, which was still completely soaked. Hardwood oak flooring was underneath. We started removing some clothes we thought could be saved, and some family members were gracious enough to take them home to try and wash out the damage. Unfortunately, most of Dave's clothes were located in the basement.
We haven't been able to start removing anything from the basement, however, since there is still a couple feet of water there. Our home theater area down there was completely destroyed. Everything is in shambles and things ended up on entirely different sides of the room. We had just finished the theater room in early 2006, so definitely not enough movies had been viewed yet. Last Thursday before we left, we used everything we had to move all the furniture and equipment in the basement at least 4 feet off the floor. Who knew the flooding would extend WAY beyond that! Our house is out of the flood plain so no flood insurance. The street flooded a block and a half beyond us.
At this point, we are waiting for both a FEMA and home insurance adjuster to inspect our home. Hopefully, these will both occur by the end of this week but these agencies are extremely busy, as you can imagine.
So many of you have asked how you can help. Right now, we are just SO overwhelmed with all the devastation and are trying to determine how to proceed. Obviously, the inspections need to occur first. We know areas of need will be identified as we go forward, and we're hoping to communicate all of this via email updates so you can stay informed on our situation as the weeks and months go on. In the meantime, a small group is planning on aiding us in some initial cleanup this Thursday.
Living out of a suitcase will certainly not be easy for this extended period of time, but we're taking things step by step, little by little, day by day. We know we still have each other AND all of your support to help carry us through this very difficult time. If you have any pointers or resources you think would be beneficial to us, please feel free to pass this information on.
Again, thanks for your care and support and we'll try to post some photos for the next update.
