Train in celebration of not having to knock down my house! (lvl 3+)

Open

So, most of you have probably already heard that I'm a victim of hurricane Harvey. That SOB took both of our cars and put 5-6 feet of water in our house for two weeks. I've had to rip the entire first floor down to the studs and brick...it's a complete do-over. A lot of our stuff is gone, as well as all of the work we'd put into the first floor of the house (we had remodeled almost everything).In the mean time, we're living with my in-laws (who are excellent people 👍🏻).

But, I am choosing to look on the bright side of things. We'll rebuild it better than before, even though we know it's going to take 6-12 months to do so. And, I had a structural engineer out at my house yesterday, who confirmed that the slab and all of the framing is still solid and hasn't moved despite being under the weight of so much water for so long. In other words, I don't have to knock down my house and start over from scratch! Hey, I'll take the small victories at this point. 😂🙃乁( ◔ ౪◔)ㄏ

So, in celebration of at least not having to start from zero, I give to the SG community a pretty decent train.

Also, even though I know that the government is going to screw me on my settlement, at least I have insurance, which means I'll be able to afford to fix things properly. A lot of people in this area are not as fortunate (mostly because they were told that they didn't need flood insurance - i don't take chances with crap like that). They literally have nothing: no house, almost no belongings, and no idea of how they're going to deal with it. Please consider donating to appropriate charities like The American Red Cross or the Houston Food Bank. There's also a great list of other possibilities here. Thanks!

6 years ago

Comment has been collapsed.

153 Comments

zpangwin

Sorry to hear about the troubles from Harvey but congrats on the slab/foundation being intact. On the bright side, like you say, it will be better than before.

I'm about to remodel my first floor soon too. Nothing hurricane related... it's just old/worn and looks like shit.

Also, I know it's probably too late to volunteer now and donations to help get folks back on their feet are the most needed currently. But does anyone know / have experience volunteering, how it wprks / if there are orgs that will manage travel and/or temporary rooms/tents/whatever for folks that would like to volunteer time/labor immediately following natural disasters like this?
Like if I had a week or so I could take off work and was was willing to put in time, do i just try and find a hotel somewhere 1-2 hrs away and drive in or is there any org that would find me somewhere to stay for few nights while I am working and direct me where the work would do the most good? My understanding is that Red Cross / Salvation Army don't do that as they are more focused on collecting donations/material goods but I have no experience with either aside from donating blood/$ to Red Cross in the past.

6 years ago*