Part 3 –The Future
So, the crisis is so very close to being averted!
I’m really happy to say that after a few days of stress and hard work, the new underlay has arrived and Joe fitted it himself, as well as re-fitting our carpet back into the lounge as soon as the floorboards, skirting and damaged carpet were thoroughly dried.
We’ve placed back the furniture that used to be there, and the lounge door has been put back on – like nothing ever happened! I’m so so happy.
The kitchen floorboards are taking significantly longer to dry out, but thanks to our friend Jonathan, we’ve got a humidifier on the go, so fingers crossed, it won’t take much longer! Besides, if things go to plan (and I realise, that they usually don’t for us, but let’s just pretend for a minute) we should start stripping the kitchen soon for the extension.
You can just about tell from the pictures above that the skirting board took a bit of damage, which we’ll need to touch up, but the floors are slowly but surely drying out.
As for the lounge, it’s almost as good as new!
Whilst this week has been full of drama, and I’ve done my fair share of moaning, I always think it’s good to look objectively at a situation and reflect on the positives – otherwise I think I’d go mad!
Here are a few reasons we were lucky with what happened:
+It wasn’t a brand new kitchen. Imagine if something like this had happened after installing a floor that cost us years to save for!
+We have home insurance, just in case.
+We don’t need to replace the carpet. Something we initially feared and I had a little cry over. (Pull yourself together Karen!)
+The water damage didn’t reach the wedding presents. As we have no storage, and a lot of wedding presents are decorational/kitchen items which we can’t display/use yet, we have them in the lounge. I’m so relieved the flooding didn’t reach this far.
+No major appliances were damaged. We still have our fridge and oven so we can still make meals.
+No electrics were affected.
+For the most part, any losses were not critical. Inconvenient and annoying yes. Serious? No. Phew.
+And this is the big one… It wasn’t a burst pipe. It was a connection that had come undone. Had this been a burst pipe, it would have not only cost a fortune but would have been a longer process to repair. Also, can you imagine if it wasn’t clean water that had been running? What if it was sewage? There would be no way we’d keep the carpet if this was the case. I can’t overstate how relieved I am at this.
Sure, we had a bad week, but it’s situations like this that ultimately make the DIY and renovating worthwhile and makes us so much more grateful for what we’ve got.
And this brings me on to the future: What’s the next step?
+Do a big shop! Need to re-order all of those kitchen rolls that got soaked…
+Buy a bazillion air fresheners. The kitchen smells a bit funky…
+Deep clean the carpets.
+Get a start on the kitchen- long overdue. But we’re working on it!
+Stay positive!
If anyone has experienced anything like before please let me know! Do we need to treat the floorboards? Is there a preferred method to deep clean a carpet? Should I just hire a professional? How long until floorboards are truly dried? All help welcome!
I’ll post a progress update at some point in the next few weeks. I’m off to the pub to relax for the first time in ages. Pint of wine please!