Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Water, Water Everywhere...

Upon returning home after a long, busy & tiring weekend, there are few things that you want to hear, like: "Honey, I'll take care of the kids & the unpacking---why don't you go take a hot bath" or an answering maching message that might say, "Hey----knew you guys would be tired when you got in so we cleaned your whole house and stocked the fridge for you!" or maybe even, "Hey, why don't you take tomorrow off!!!" But, alas, none of the above will be in the remaining of this story! I was juggling both boys just kicking my shoes off when I heard John call from downstairs, "Um, honey, the whole basement is under water!!!!!" So needless to say, we switched gears knowing it would be a long night ahead of us. So here are some shots of the war zone! It ended up being about 2 inches of water, not all that bad since the water could have only been "dumping" for 3 days at the most. And since we left our heat on and the upstairs door closed it was like a sauna down there! So EVERYTHING was wet!!! We are thankful that it wasn't bad enough to ruin anything truly valuable or sentimental (i.e. the baby books---which no longer will have a place in the basement!). And the insurance will take care of replacing everything downstairs, even the digital camera that was dropped while taking insurance claims pictures! The Lord is so good, even in frustrations like this!!!



THE WET WALLS

THE CULPRIT: a broken expansion tank above the hot water heater. Um, I don't think that pitcher is of much help at this point!!


A broken sump pump didn't help the situation at all!

We'll keep you posted with the New & Improved Neiner Basement!!!!!!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, Erin that is terrible! No wonder you haven't been posting much lately!

I hope things are starting to get back to normal for you!

Anonymous said...

oh my! Well, God certainly provides for improvements in mysterious ways!! :-)

S said...

Do you all use your basement for storage or is it finished? I was wondering about that when you had told me everything was under water. Hope that the Lord will send lots of help for you all to get it all cleaned up! Me and Esther are just now getting back into a routine after the trip, can't imagine how you must feel!

Erin Neiner said...

It's funny because after all this, Drew got SO, SO sick this week. He woke up Wed. morning sick and just yesterday I feel like he is finally on the upward spike. All week I kept thinking, "I can't believe Drew is so sick on top of all of this mess"---but now that I look back it really was worked out perfectly...as you can imagine how intrigued an almost 3 year old would be with workers and huge fans and dehumidifiers...but Drew just really lounged on the couch or watched a DVD and he was happy. {I think part of that was the med.'s also!)

Shannon: our basement is "partially finished." Still a cement floor but there is paneling on the walls and a basic drop ceiling. There's a pull-out couch, DVD/VHS player and TV, the washer and dryer, all our storage bins and a lot of my craft stuff. So we do "live" down there a lot, but it is still pretty rustic!

It looks like with reimbursement we will be able to update the basement to a more finished level! Something we've been wanting to do but have not had the funds to do so!!! Isn't the Lord so good!!

Anonymous said...

Uggh on the basement pics! Well, at least you get a "makeover" for practically free!
Canon got the card from the boys today, and I love the picture of them! Whoever took it did a fab job on capturing the moment of true brotherhood. Have faith -- Last night as I was getting ready for bed, I was pondering what a great potty trainer I must be...no accidents for 5 days straight. BUT don't even bother to ask me the stats for today...
Love,
Me

Leah (Parrish) Millan said...

Yuck! I am so sorry you have to deal with a wet basement, but it's great that you will be able to renovate :) What do you want to do with the space? Is Drew feeling better? I get so much done when Olivia is sick because she will happily watch Einsteins all day-- and I happily let her :)

Unknown said...

Hey Erin! What a bummer! But, like the others have said, the Lord provides for "fixing up" in mysterious ways:) Just think of all the cool things you'll get to do - that you wanted to do:) now that you will have some money for it:) I'm sorry I don't "blog" much on everyones...but I DO LOVE staying posted:) (Your kids are SO cute!!)
Dana:)