Update on the rain

OK, a crew from American Technologies arrived promptly on Saturday morning to assess our roof leak. The next storm is due on Tuesday so there is no time to waste. The crew used meters to determine the moisture level on the wood floors. It was a much bigger area than I first thought. They did this assessment on the walls and ceiling, too.

As they were doing that, the second crew from Am-Tec arrived to work on the roof. The entire house, except for the garages, is all on one level. The foyer is 2 stories tall, though. They found a hole in the tile roof over what is the foyer. That seems very odd since the foyer is about 30 feet from the ceiling leak. I hope that does not indicate that there are other leaks that we just can't see. We checked the house the day we discovered the leak and found only the ones in the studio. Water leaking in a house is scary especially if you cannot see it. If you don't know it's there, you can't fix it. And if you cannot fix it, it can cause mold down the road. Nobody wants that. Though I am worried about the extent of the damage, we are anxious for them to take care of the entire problem.

So the outdoor crew put up a temporary brace and sand bags with clear plastic covering parts of the foyer roof, and across the roof area of the living room to the back. (Yeah, no blue tarps, thank you very much.)


The indoor crew removed the dry wall from the ceiling in a 7' x 8' section of the studio. The studio is really my living room. We had to move the longarm to the other side of the room. The machine feet were placed on thick wool carpets when we moved the machine from the second master to the living room. We moved it in there several months ago to accomodate my son's family moving in with us. They moved out a few months ago but we have just not moved the machine back to the old studio. We had planned to use that second master while we were getting our master bath remodeled. Hmmm, we may have to revise our plans.

I think we may need to move the machine back to the second master pretty soon as there is no way to quilt in that room in its current state. Plus, when the wood floor is replaced, that will be a mess, sanding, glue smell, yikes. We had the wood floors put in 2 years ago in April. The glue smell was so bad that we opened the windows and left them open for several days and nights. With the current weather, that will not be possible.

So while all this was going on, I sought refuge at the local quilt shop. When I got home, I found a huge plastic room in my living room/studio. If you've ever seen Dustin Hoffman and Rene Russo in the movie Outbreak, you will know how I felt. The plastic room is about 8 feet by 9 feet floor to ceiling. The ceiling drywall and insulation have been removed so I'm sure, if you were so inclined, you could see right up to the joists in the attic. There is a machine inside the chamber which hums, a dehumidifier and fan, I think. It runs all the time. The chamber has a zippered door.

We live in the country so we have always known that we share our house with small creatures in the winter. Mice, roof rats, etc come into the attic out of the cold. I do not like it but thus far we have not been able to determine how the little vermin get into the attic. They have never gotten into the house. Of course, they have never had a 7 x 8 foot hole in the living room through which to enter either. The indoor crew assured me that the critters, (if there are any in the attic with all the fan blowing in there) will be contained by the plastic chamber. And yes, I am checking it frequently.

Am-Tec will be back on Tuesday to assess the next step.This is the wrong time of the year for this kind of problem. Well, it is never the right time to have a roof problem. But the holidays are a time for relaxing and enjoying time with your family.

Now that I say that, I remember that several of my quilting buddies in Oregon and New York are suffering through bad storms, fallen trees, loss of electricity and way worse problems than I am. I'll pray for their calamities and I'll try to deal more quietly with mine. Merry Christmas one and all.