Forced renovation...starts today

You may have heard of a "forced evacuation" but never a forced renovation before...uhm...well a forced renovation occurs when you live in an old house and everything decides to fall apart all at the same time...yep, literally all at the same time.

I live in a modest older home...sort of a fixer upper that I just haven't started fixer upping yet.  Two weeks ago, I loaded my dishwasher, turned it on and went upstairs to take a shower.  I came down 30 minutes later and...water was everywhere AND continuing to flow like a river from the blasted dishwasher.  The motor had shut off but water continued to fill up the washer and was pouring into the room...of course, in a huge panic, I had no idea what to do but stand there and talk to myself...out loud..."Think...what do I do?  What do I do?  How do I turn this !#$% thing off?"...over and over again as water continued to fill up my kitchen floor...

Well, I finally figured out there was a water shut off valve underneath the sink so I took care of that but then had the lovely task of mopping up the James River that was flowing throughout the downstairs of my house...UGH...I promptly went to Lowe's and bought a new dishwasher which was delivered the next day.  When the installer pulled out the old one, his only words were "WHOA...DUDE!"...uhm...not a good sign.

Apparently, the dishwasher had been leaking for a long...I mean LONG...time...long, as in years.  It had never leaked on top of the floor...all of the water had been going underneath the washer itself and underneath the linoleum.  The sub floor is completely rotted and...a fresh crop of mold has gloriously begun to grow.

Enter my homeowner's insurance...Lord, they have been wonderful!  So helpful and understanding of how upsetting this entire mess is.  So...I've met with the insurance company's recommended contractor and a mitigation company.  They are coming in today to begin demolition...they will remove:

• All free-standing "things" in the kitchen...fridge, washer, dryer, table, chairs and island
• Old dishwasher
• All built-in kitchen cabinets
• Linoleum
• Sub-floor
• (And tear out dry wall if mold has started to grow behind the cabinets)

The bright side is that my insurance is taking care of the entire repair...and I'll be getting a much needed renovation of the kitchen.  I've already purchased the new dishwasher.  I'm going to go ahead and get a new stove...again, much needed since only burner works on the old one.  The only downside...is that I have to endure this...I will be kitchenless for quite some time...HOWEVER...there are people that are homeless...I have nothing to complain about...AT ALL!  

I am blessed.

Pictures to follow tomorrow!

All the best,
BJ