"Ugh" is right! Best Wishes to you as you dry out!

My fingers and toes are crossed. May you find a way to make lemonade out of lemons. I'm sorry this has happened to you.

Wow. That's terrible. I hope this works out as well and as rapidly as it can.

Wow! That must have been strong wind for the branch to come through the roof! I hope you don't have any more storms like that and nothing wet before you get your roof fixed.

Holligator

PLEASE call your home insurance asap - that is what you have it for. Take it from someone who has been through this & worse.

They will send a professional clean up crew out today - We has Servpro - They bring in industrial fans, dehumidifiers, wet vacs & focus on mitigating any further damage. Then an adjuster will be assigned - You really don't know the extent of the damage & homeowners insurance will cover any necessary repairs or replacements -depending on the policy language/limits

What you think may be minimal may prove to be otherwise - I would be concerned about electric in your case as well -
And you may want a roofer to make sure the roof is temporarily secured & needed for repair.

Open all the books & put them near a heat source - they will recover

make sure someone assess the attic/space above, you may need the insulation removed to prevent mold growth (prof cleaners that come can do this) & spray mold preventative solution to the area

good luck keep us posted

Great advice, jetvtr. You never know what problems might present themselves in a weeks or months - I'd definitely call your insurance co.

I'm sorry this happened, though! That must've been one big storm - are you in OK or other states that had that nasty storm come through yesterday?

I'm seconding jejvtr's advice. The insurance won't usually cover repair of the roof but it should (I hope) cover consequential or resultant damage, which is insurance speak for damage to something else (e.g., drywall, pine ceiling, range, hardwood floors, warped cabinets). The dehumidifiers and such are needed to help prevent mold from growing -- it loves wet drywall.

In my state (Cal), wind driven rain is more likely to be covered than ordinary rain. That might not be true in other states, so check locally.

I hope everything gets back to normal soon! Hugs!

Blue

Holligator, how terrible! Definitely the season - it's been raining pretty hard all night here and DH bolted up in the middle of the night to go check and see if any water was coming in. Our sump pump was sure working overtime.

My sister had a flood that started with a plumbing leak in the kitchen and generated lots of damage - the advise about invovling insurance now is essential. Until they can come take pix of everything you can, including detail shots.

(((Good luck)))

Eliz

Oh, how awful!!! Many wishes for a speedy recovery.

And another vote for getting in the fans and dehumidifiers. Makes all the difference.

Oooh, so sorry you're having to face and go through all of this! I hope for you a speedy clean up and recovery for everything.

Oh Holligator,
You must be so sad. Truly terrible news.
All your hardwork is soaking wet.
You were wise to stop your husband from
climbing on the roof. It would be more sad to
have him fall and sustain a permanent injury.
The water will dry up and all will be better.
I'm sending well wishes your way.
boxerpups

Unfortunately, given the state of the insurance industry in Florida, making a claim for something like this is not a good idea. We have huge deductibles, and most companies will drop you after you've made a claim. Plus, this is a 67 year old house--young by New England standards, but practically uninsurable here in Florida. As hard as it was to get insurance on this house in the first place, I don't want to risk being dropped. By the time I pay the deductible, there won't be much left for the insurance to pay anyway. It's really unbelievable how bad it has gotten here. :(

Oh, my. I've been out of insurance for decades and hadn't realized. Of course the gross inflation in buildnig costs is going to be felt. Are there also increasing numbers of major claims at work? Good for you on keeping your husband off the roof, though. No doubt you're handling the rest as it needs to be.

So sorry. Good luck.

holligator...
This should be covered under your flood policy which down here is separate from your insurance policy... sort of a separate policy. They can't drop your flood insurance because your mortgage company requires that you have it and will purchase it and tack the cost onto your mortgage if you don't have it. My deductible is huge too... had to to keep the cost of insurance doable. I think my deductible is around 5K. I don't know if you have a shingle roof or a cement/barrel tile roof but the cost is HUGE and definitely exceeds the cost of your deductible... if cement tile, at least 5 fold.

I'm so sorry this happened to you. We had damage after Wilma but not to the inside of my home.

Oh no!

Good luck with the repairs.

Thanks for the kind thoughts, folks!

Believe it or not, almost the exact same thing happened to us a few years ago, before we remodeled the kitchen. In that case, we were incredibly lucky, because the all the water that poured in poured directly into our kitchen sink! In that case, the cost to repair was about $100 to the roofer and another few dollars to replace one of the ceiling tiles.

We thought we had solved that problem by cutting down the pines that were close to the house. I still haven't been able to figure out which tree this came from, since we have no pines within 50 feet of where this branch was. Then again, my neighbor who has no pine trees at all had a huge branch sitting in the middle of their yard. The wind gusts during the storm must have been stronger than they seemed.

This time, all the water pooled into one area, so there wasn't anything for it to damage (other than the books on my table, which seem to be completely dried out now). Turns out the pine ceiling was a good idea, because the grooves gave it a good way to drain, and it didn't hold water like drywall would have. We have masonry walls in that area and travertine on the floors. If this had happened before the remodel, it would have soaked a plaster ceiling, the cypress wall we removed, and the oak floor. So, happening now instead of then was, I suppose, somewhat of a blessing.

Here's the hole this morning...

And here's what my husband told me to tell you it looked like after some more rain...

{{!gwi}}

LOL!! Great picture!

Curiosity: Did you reuse the cypress for something? I love that old Florida cypress...

Good to see your dh still has his wry sense of humor! Hope everything gets repaired lickety-split - or at least before the next rain hits!

Did you reuse the cypress for something?

We haven't used it yet, but we did save it all. The whole inside of our house is covered in it.

>The whole inside of our house is covered in it.

Pecky cypress? Ooh, I'm jealous!

Boy that sucks to come home to a floor and damage like that.

Good to hear it's drying out tho.

This is why I begged my DH to get tile through out the house. We had a water heater sprung a leak 6 months ago and the water came in from the garage, through the walls.
He was wanting to get wood floors and I was like please no.

I can't beilieve insurance is that bad WOW. Our's is 1400.00 a year. We've used it once for roof damage. No problems but I've heard if you put in to many claims they'll drop you.

Best of good wishes on getting thing's back to normal.

Holligator,
I'm so sorry. One of my favorite kitchens and one of the nicest people! You are having a wonderful attitude about it. Blessings to you.

Awww, thanks again, folks--y'all are the best! Nobody appreciates a kitchen scare like GWers!

Just an update...the electrician was here today to check everything out, and we are good to go. There was no damage. After looking around up there, he also commented that, other than a hole in the roof (which should get fixed tomorrow), it doesn't look like we have any damage at all. They're replacing the damp insulation in the attic, and everything else is already dry up there.

As big of a mess as it was, it seems we have come through this minor disaster practically unscathed.

Sounds like a bigger disaster mostly avoided, but still what a pain to deal with. I love the fish!

holligator - so sorry to hear about your flooded kitchen. Just last week you posted pictures so I could see the soapstone done by Joshua at creative soapstone. Hold onto your bootstraps, you will make it through this, I will add you to my prayer list.

Oh, that picture brings back memories (the hole, sadly, not the fish). Same thing happened to me late last summer, except my kitchen was spared. One of the upstairs bedrooms had a big hole through the drywall though, and the dining room ceiling below still sports an amoeba-like stain from the rain that got in. I didn't know anything was amiss until one day I went out on the deck for something, turned around and saw a gigantic elm branch sprouting from the roof like the gate at a train crossing. Ugh, indeed.

My insurance did cover the roof repair; don't understand why it wouldn't, maybe it varies from state to state? Very glad to hear, though, that with just that roof repair you'll be good to go! Good news.

Oh, gosh, Holli, what an awful thing to come home to! I'm glad it seems to be minimal damage . . . you deserve a little luck!