Ahhh, vacation is always a wonderful thing! Cooler temperatures, the beach and the twins getting to enjoy the time with their grandparents! We thank Bill & Alice for putting up with us for 6wks, we had a wonderful time!
The journey back home was great, couldn't have asked for sweeter kiddos! On the last flight, there were some changes that the airlines did and they had all 4 of us on different areas of the airplane- uh no. So I asked some really nice guys to switch with us and we all ended up in the same row. Which was preferred since snacks/drinks for the kids were in one bag & toys were in another.
It has been 100 degrees or more each day since we got home (except for one day). It has been HOT! We have barely had any rain all year and we are up to about 50 days this year of 100+ degree days. With all that hot and dry weather it is really taken a toll on our clay ground and the damage showed when we got home from vacation.
First we noticed a crack in our kitchen foundation under the vinyl. Then we started looking around more. There are cracks in the walls/ceiling in each & every room, there are cracks in our bricks outside, large gaps around a couple windows and 2 of our doors and then all the cracks outside on our foundation. It is very scary! Before we left for vacation, Bill checked the sprinkler system & all was in good working condition and when we got home 1/2 of the zones were not working! So the ground was not getting much needed water & we didn't know it since the system runs in the middle of the night.
We called a friend who does alot of construction for a referral and started researching. At first we wanted to blame the builders- but it isn't their fault & they have gone out of business anyway. Then we wanted to claim it on our home owner's insurance but sadly our policy says: ""We do not insure for loss caused by any of the following. This limitation applies to loss or damage the following. WEATHER CONDITIONS which includes but is not limited to heat, cold, humidity, rain, ice, snow, sleet, wind, hail, or drought." So sadly this is our problem and we need to figure out a way to pay for it.
A guy came out on Saturday and looked at the house, he said "this doesn't look good, oh this isn't good" I was not hopeful, he said that he would dig under the house and build a concrete pad for the foundation to sit on to level it all back out. He said each concrete pad was $600, we thought "oh that isn't too bad" he said he was going to go out & walk the house one more time and figure a quote. He came back and said that between the house, our 3 car garage & our detached garage we would need 28 concrete pads!! Uh that is $16,800! And that doesn't count the cost to repair all the bricks, concrete & wall/trim cracks! OH MY!!!
So needless to say we started doing more research and alot of people in our area are experiencing the same problems. We read to have an unbiased residential structual engineer come out & do a full report on our house. We have an appointment for August 25th- that is $300 but he will do a full report and tell us what we NEED to do and what we DO NOT NEED to do. I really hope he has better news than this other guy's estimate.
Last night Bill changed our house water filter (even tho it was only in for 3wks) and then reran the sprinklers and thankfully the system is working properly!! So we got to cancel the sprinkler repair guy for tomorrow! That saved $80 per hour plus parts. But we received a letter from our septic company that they came by to test our system and they were not able to test the water because there was none in it. So we have that problem AGAIN. Bill put a phone call into that guy and he will come by tomorrow and check the system out to see what needs to be done. Whatever it is, it is underground so I am sure it won't be cheap!
Yesterday we had an appointment for Jordan, when she stands up straight her legs touch from her waist to her knees. But then her legs go out to the sides & her ankles do not touch, if we try to get her to touch her ankles together then she needs to put her knees off to separate sides. The dr was really nice and she said this happens alot and she wants to monitor Jordan. They took x-rays of Jordan's legs and measurements of the separation. We will go back in a year to make sure things are better, if not we might have to do leg braces or worst case senerio- surgery.
On Bill's way back to work from the appointment, a rock came flying at his truck on the highway and busted his windshield. Insurance will fix it but it is a $500 deductible and to fix the windshield is $230. So we will pay for it instead of making a claim. But he thinks he will have to have his truck re-inspected (another $45) because the sticker is on his windshield and if he does- the truck won't pass inspection because Ryan broke his horn a couple months ago. So now we gotta replace a windshield & fix the horn.
Over the next month we have 4 more companies coming out to give us estimates on our foundation issue. I hope these companies see something different than that first guy. We do not have money to cover these repairs, who has $17,000 + sitting around? So we are trying to sell many things. So far I have sold one laptop, my Kitchen Aid mixer, returned my gorgeous treadmill, I canceled the kids The Little Gym classes that we had prepaid and I canceled their ballet/tap/tumble class that they were to start this past Monday. And Bill has put a for sale sign on the boat, we don't have a choice. The boat is listed on Craigs List and a couple other online sale places. We are contacting a couple of local marinas to see if they will help us and consign the boat. Even if we sell the boat that is a drop in the bucket because there isn't a big enough profit in selling the boat to cover the repairs.
All of this has totally stressed us out, we have yelled, cried, eaten and eaten and been very angry. But we have come to the conclusion, why? That behavior is not helping anything. I have put on 6lbs in 9 days! This is not good!! Both of the twins are sick, poor Jordan is coughing so hard that she chokes. So we are trying to look at this differently, yes it is awful that we have to sell our things but they are just things. We have each other and that is all that really matters. We are not religious people but a friend of mine had a quote on her Facebook page yesterday: "What would happen if you woke tomorrow with only the things you thanked God for today?" And that really got me thinking, so we thanked God last night for everything that we have.
We will keep this blog updated to the estimates and engineer's report. We hope the boat sells quickly so that we can afford another monthly payment and then we will apply for a loan to cover the repairs. Unless someone has a money tree that they would like to give us, please.
Hopefully the next post will have better news.
I have been thinking about you guys a lot with all this mess that continues to cone at you. Wish we could help.
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