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The Great Louisiana Flood of 2016

Glad to see that repairs are progressing. My aunt's house looked much worse after the hurricane Andrew. It was flooded and lost a roof. They lived in a hotel for almost 8 months.
 
Glad to see that repairs are progressing. My aunt's house looked much worse after the hurricane Andrew. It was flooded and lost a roof. They lived in a hotel for almost 8 months.

I will say that I am grateful for not losing the roof. We didn't have any wind. This is definitely going to be a six to eight month ordeal also. We don't expect to get much from FEMA and an SBA loan will only cover so much . We are buying things as we can and a lot of friends have donated so much. But there will be a serious wait for the ting we can't do ourselves as contractors and skilled work will be in such high demand.

My goal is to get the house at least habitable. That means getting the kitchen, a bathroom, and a bedroom finished. The kitchen is going to be the hardest as we will have to get cabinets made to match the uppers that were saved. Then have to get counter tops put in. Depending on what we decide, I might be able to do this myself. All in all, I am happy with our progress so far, but I know there is much to do. Thanks all for your comments.
 
Glad to read that everyone is safe, including the 4-legged members of the family.

The four legged members (I have three of them...two weenie dogs and a 50 pound lab-ish black dog who thinks she is a weenie) did very well. Being shoved in kennels and stuck in a vehicle for about 36 hours (don't worry the wife or myself were always with them) then crammed in a hotel room for three days, then kept at a friends house for another few days, and now with us at my mother's house...the little guys have been awesome!
 
Glad you and the family are safe. I was reading yesterday that FEMA has or may mandate that all houses to be rebuilt are to be raised 2 feet. I know this was a requirement in NJ after Hurricane Sandy.
 
Glad you and the family are safe. I was reading yesterday that FEMA has or may mandate that all houses to be rebuilt are to be raised 2 feet. I know this was a requirement in NJ after Hurricane Sandy.
Yeah, that's not going to happen. My house, like about half the houses or more in Louisiana are built on concrete slab foundations. That would require destruction of my current house and bring in several tons of earth and then a complete rebuild. Even then two feet of elevation would not have saved my house.

I don't live in a flood zone. And when we bought the house we researched to see when this area flooded last. In the 100 years of records for this area, the land that is my neighborhood had never flooded.

All of our flooding was backwater that had no place to go. What had happened to us and 100,000 other homes was completely an act of good. There was less than a 1% chance in a thousand years that we were going to receive the amount of rainfall in a 24 hour period that we did.

In the grand scheme of things I probably should have had flood insurance. But when you real estate agent, mortgage company, insurance company, family, and friends all tell you that you don't need flood insurance, what would you do?

Sent from the Danger Phone
 
Don, Glad you are getting by, and am glad you seem to be finding the silver lining in things.

Also glad your weiners (and lab dog) are ok. I only have one weiner (as God intended:laugh:); she is a 13 year old long hair (my first daughter).
 
Great progress, Don. So I gather you don't have to replace wiring..just the outlets? If so, that's awesome..lot less work.
 
Great progress, Don. So I gather you don't have to replace wiring..just the outlets? If so, that's awesome..lot less work.

Yeah, the wiring turned out to be just fine which was a huge relief. Just had to snip the ends and strip a little where things were submerged. That saved a LOT of money.

Originally we were thinking of doing most of the work ourselves, but now we are entertaining the idea of letting a contractor do most of it. This might be more money up front, but we were thinking that if we ever wanted to sell the house at least this way we can point to an actual company who did the work. Not sure if it matters or not but we had someone take measurements yesterday and will give us a quote in a couple of days. Wonder what the wise Gents of B&B have to say about this.
 
[MENTION=93173]dangerousdon[/MENTION]
I agree about having a certified contractor do the work. It puts the onus on the contractor and not you should there be a problem later and it gives the buyer an extra level of comfort to know it was done professionally.
While you may be able to do the repairs as well as any contractor (and likely better than most), they have the license and liability insurance which you don't have should something crop up later.
Spend money now to save money later. The money spent on the contractor would likely be far less than lawyers later if a buyer should sue you.

Free Advice and Worth the Price.
 
@dangerousdon
I agree about having a certified contractor do the work. It puts the onus on the contractor and not you should there be a problem later and it gives the buyer an extra level of comfort to know it was done professionally.
While you may be able to do the repairs as well as any contractor (and likely better than most), they have the license and liability insurance which you don't have should something crop up later.
Spend money now to save money later. The money spent on the contractor would likely be far less than lawyers later if a buyer should sue you.

Free Advice and Worth the Price.

Thanks! That was what the wife and I were thinking.

While you may be able to do the repairs as well as any contractor (and likely better than most)

I will save this for silent sarcasm...my DIY skills need some serious improvement.
 
Yep, Safety First.. and You and Yours Above All...

My DIY skills are dialed in.. I dial in an expert anytime I need help!!!
 
Don't let the insurance play you around. They are notorious for that. I have a friend who works for a private insurance adjuster. They basically represent the owner against the insurance company. They work on your behalf to make you whole again.
 
Sorry for the obtuse question, I've never seen red 2x4's is that a special treatment. We have pale green treated up here in Ohio, but they gas off so can't be used indoors. Are these the inside the house equivalent?

A lot of the new construction houses are using these treated studs now. To be honest, I can't get a definitive answer on exactly what they are treated for. But like the article that [MENTION=67261]Parjay[/MENTION] linked, it might be treated for fire, mold, and termites. I am fairly certain that they are treated for fire at the very least. It may be they are treated for mold also, because I have not seen a lick of mold anywhere in my house. Almost every 2x4 in the house is pink. The only lumber that I see that isn't treated is the attic/roof lumber, the lumber bolted to the foundation, and a stray 2x4 here and there that isn't load bearing.

I want to say thanks again to all the encouragement and well wishes all of you are giving. It really does help in times like these.
 
There's a silver lining in everything. My stash of Pacific Rush was saved.

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Sent from the Danger Phone
 
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