Ovulation = Disaster

So I finally ovulated on Monday on CD53. And we even FWP with pretty good timing. Apparently that knocked the world off its axis or caused some sort of disturbance in the universe because that day became the 2nd worst day of my life, coming in second to my miscarriage. I forgot my lunch for work (which I NEVER do) so I ran home around 1 pm to grab a bite to eat before heading back. I walked into the entire 1st floor of my house flooded and a huge 6 ft by 4 ft portion of my kitchen ceiling missing with water shooting out of the ceiling and all over the place. It was like a fire hydrant, and so loud. I could not believe my eyes. I rescued my poor dog who was cowering under our bed with water surrounding her, locked her in my car, and turned off the water to the house in the garage. I went back in to assess the massive devastation. Basically it has been around zero degrees here lately with wind chills as low as -20. When the plumber came he immediately said that the pipes were improperly insulated which caused them to freeze and burst. The disturbing part is that the place where the pipes burst is in the middle of our house and there is a bedroom overtop of it, so one would not have thought that a problem would arise there. What is also disturbing is that this is a new house in a very nice middle class subdivision in our town and we haven't even lived here for a year yet. From what we can tell the water had been pouring out of the ceiling for hours before I came home. The ENTIRE 1st floor was flooded. Unfortunately that included our 1st floor master suite. When we opened the kitchen cabinets all of our bowls were full of water. The water went everywhere, soaking into all the carpets, under all of the ceramic tile floors, between walls from room to room, out the back door and into the garage, under our furnace and water heater, down the furnace/AC vents, and into the crawl space. We were able to get ServPro in within an hour and they immediately began to clean up the water and dry things out. Here are the damages that we know of so far:

*They tore back the carpets and tore out all the carpet padding in the hopes of drying and saving the carpets and only having to replace the padding...but we'll see. Honestly I think its gross that they'd make us keep the carpets that had been flooded, but they said it was "clean water". Honestly they are dry now, but it just makes me sad. 50% of the 1st floor is carpet.

*50% of our 1st floor is ceramic tile which is completely flooded, and since that cannot be dried out underneath it must all be torn out and replaced. This includes tile in our kitchen, hallway, 1/2 bath, laundry room, and master suite. We went to the tile place and even though our house is relatively new they don't make the tile anymore, so we have to choose something new, which means that the tile in our entryway and upstairs bathroom will no longer match, meaning that we’ll have to tear out the perfectly good tile and have it replaced so our property value isn’t diminished.

*Because the tile goes under the cabinets in the kitchen and master bathroom they all have to be torn out so the tile can be torn out.

*It appears there is flooding under the master bathtub, so that will also have to be torn out.

*When the tile comes out the floor molding will have to come out and then be replaced and we’ll have to see if the drywall is wet where it meets the floor. If it is all of the drywall will have to be torn out and replaced.

*The heating/cooling vents in the crawlspace are full of water. They will attempt to suck it out and dry/clean it, but there is a good chance that it will all have to be replaced.

*The sump-pump in the crawl space has been working hard to pump out the excess water, but there are still some places that are wet. They will have to suck out whatever is left, remove all of the plastic that lines the crawlspace and replace it.

*They have to tear out what’s left of the ceiling in the kitchen and replace it. But before they do that we’ll have to pay out of our own pockets to have somebody come in and assess our pipes and have them PROPERLY insulated like they SHOULD have been in the first place. Then they’ll put the ceiling back up.

*I’m sure more devastating things will come up. They are basically going to have to gut the entire 1st floor.

I know that things can be fixed, but it is going to take months for everything to get done. I’m also absolutely terrified that we’re going to end up getting MOLD. I just don’t see how they can get everything…I’m going to demand that they do that chemical mold prevention treatment…whatever that is. When everything is fixed I’m going to have mold testing done by visual/culture and air every 6 months. I am so terrified.

The house is basically unlivable so we’re staying with DH’s mom and her husband in their guest room. Merry Fucking Christmas. We’re going to be here for a long time. Here is a recap of this year:

March 2008: Bought 1st Home
May 2008: Married
August 2008: Miscarriage
December 2008: Home destroyed by frozen pipe flood

WTF? A few days before this happened I told DH that even with everything we’ve been through this year I am so thankful that we have such a safe and beautiful home. Guess I should have kept my mouth closed. This Holiday Season has been hard in dealing with our lost baby, and we were trying to stay positive by looking forward to our 1st Christmas in our new home. I feel like a shit magnet lately. I just can’t believe it. We’d better live a charmed life from this point on. I’m so sad.