we've taken on a major remodel/rebuild in our house, fo rthe quick of it, you can scroll down for the pics, if you want to preface it, you can read the following:

HISTORY:

well, we bought our house in March 2004.
by the following April (2005) we noticed we had some weird stuff going on in the ceiling in the living room. the sheetrock was kinda spongy and seemed like it was coming away from the beam across the living room.

then at the end of April we had a big storm and we noticed water dripping from the beam.
so, we called our Homeowner's insurance and opened a claim (since the 12 month warranty was expired one month prior).

so, our insurance adjuster comes out for about 10 mins and leaves, the next day there is a check for $900 in our mailbox which is supposed to cover the entire area being repaired (minus our $1,000 deductible).

i get multiple bids for over 8-10 times what she said would cover the costs.
no local contractor would touch it for what she approved for the claim.

plus an inspector came out and tested for hazardous materials and found 3% asbestos in the sheet rock joint compound so all the existing sheet rock would have to be handled by a certified asbestos abatement contractor.

so fast forward to March 2007 (two full years later), roof still leaking, wife pregnant and insurance still not paying so we got a lawyer and she got the ball rolling on the project.
Last week (April 30th) we moved out temporarily for the asbestos abatement contractor to do his thing.
the sealed off the house and went to work which was originally supposed to take one day.
today (10 days later) we still can't start to do the reconstruction cus the structure is so water damaged our contractor won't jsut resheet rock it and call it "fixed" he's insisting they tear down that whole half of the house.

so we're still staying at our inlaws (in one room...yea! ) house still is in the same state, and insurance company is still lagging!


here are some pics of the project:


BEFORE: (w/o furniture)
dining room area

note the bubble on the ceiling in the foreground, that's where the water pocketed behind the sheetrock and paint until it pooled enough to leak
also note the mold (dark areas) on the far wall in the dining room where cabinets and a desk used to be.

wall along dining/living room

more mold along the wall where the couch was


living room area

 

STAGE 1 Asbestos abatement
dining room area


wall along living/dining room area


living room area



substructure of the ceiling


the main area where the leak started


currently we're just waiting on the insurance company to ok the contractor to tear out the walls and start the rebuild (which is taking too long! but our lawyer is on it with our contractor :thumbup: )
i will update this as things progress.

 

Oh man that looks like hell...what year was the house built?

 

originally, ~1942
the portion that had a problem was an add-on section that was put on at some point over the years.
it was originally a porch or something that they closed in and finished as living space.
once we're done that whole half is hopefully gonna be like new without any problems.

 

Good luck Aaron. Hope everything works out for you soon.

 

Ugh that sucks... construction projects have a tendancy to snowball cause you always find 1132304972059735 other things wrong than what you were originally fixing... and anything your new work touches has to be up to snuff or you could be held liable for it.

 

yikes. but just think, when it's all said and done that part of the house will be brand new with no potential health problems (mold).

 

That sucks it's taken so long. Luckily you have a pretty good lawyer that's taking care of it. Hopefully you don't get stuck now, and have a house that is mainly the frame on one half.