Tear Down is Almost Complete

Tomorrow (April 26th) will be one month since the fire happened.  I can hardly believe that much time has already gone by!  It still seems like just yesterday that we got the phone call at Chick-fil-A, but it also seems like forever since we were living in our own space!


It took about 2.5 weeks for insurance to get going and do all of their analysis and reports.  The contractor was finally able to get in last Monday, April 18th.  It took them almost a week to clean out all of the damage contents and start ripping out the carpet from the basement.  They started downstairs because of the water damage and then worked their way upstairs.  We went by the house last Thursday and the basement and upstairs bedrooms were completely torn out.  Mark went by today and they had finished the main floor and kitchen.  The only room that still has walls is our bathroom.


Now that they have everything gutted to the bare bones, the contractor and his team will do an estimate of what needs to be replaced in the "guts".  They will look at flooring, wiring, boards, roof, and framing.  They will clean and reseal anything that they keep.  Once they do this part, we will have a better understanding of how long to rebuild and what we can begin to research and decide.


With Easter just being on Sunday, we truly are feeling what it means to have a "new beginning".  It is so comforting to know that God loved us so much that He sent his Son to die for us and take away all our sins.  We think the loss of our house is bad, but God sacrificed his Son FOR US!  The verse that I've been holding onto since Sunday is Philippians 1:6, "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."  Thank you Jesus for knowing what is best for us and for guiding us day by day!

On Monday, April 11th, they brought a huge dumpster and put inside all of our belongings that couldn't be saved.
It was more upsetting that I expected. 

By Thursday, April 14th, they had a much smaller dumpster in the drive way and had begun the tear down process. 

They did the basement first because of all the water. They are doing their best to prevent the mold and mildew.

The upstairs guest bedroom all stripped down.

Looking down the stairwell from the upstairs rooms towards the front door.

The kitchen- they even left up the back splash!

Looking into our bedroom from what used to be a wall!

Insurance Has Been Amazing!

As I mentioned in our last post, our phones began ringing at 9:00 am on Monday morning.  When the fire happened, I was too emotional (and out of control) to talk to the insurance people, so Mark immediately took control of this.  On Monday morning alone, he spoke with three different people from Allstate who are in charge of the three areas of our claim.


Basically, the claim is split into three parts: structure, contents, and temporary housing.  Our structure agent is George.  Mark made an appointment to meet with him on Tuesday morning at 9:30.  Our contents agent is Teresa.  Mark made an appointment to meet with her on Thursday morning at 8:00.  Lastly (but most importantly at this point), our temporary housing agent is Wendy.  She found out the basic information on our living situation and immediately began looking for a rental home for us for 6 months.


On Tuesday morning, March 29th, Mark met George at our house.  They walked around the house and looked at everything for close to 1 1/2 hours before my mom, Kris (Mark's mom) and I got there.  It was very cold and we couldn't go inside the house, so we all stood outside and talked to him for another hour. He was factual and easy to understand and thorough. He let us ask questions and clearly explained the answers. He unfortunately didn't have much good news. Although it wasn't surprising to hear how bad it is, it was still difficult to hear how bad it truly is. It is bad!  Basically the whole thing will be gutted down to the studs and they will start over. Since the frame is brick, they will keep that and work from the inside.  It is amazing that it will take longer to fix a house than it does to build one from scratch. We do have replacement cost on our insurance, so we will end up with a new house just like the one they had. Our insurance does not, however, cover any additional cost to bring the house up to new codes. With a 50+ year old house, this could be an issue.  He gave us a name of an Allstate approved contractor that we decided to go with, so George called that guy and got the ball rolling.  He said the contractor would come out and look at the house and write up the final estimate of how much time and money it would take to rebuild.


George had brought with him an investigator who was going to try to figure out the cause of the fire.  It is clear to her that the fire was not the result of faulty wiring in the house but from either the surge protector itself or something plugged into the surge protector. There were four things plugged into the surge protector: Mark's saltwater tank, Mark's Sirius Radio dock, our HP Wireless Printer, and the base for the dog's electric fence. Insurance wants to determine what caused it so that they can potentially issue a recall on the item and/or go after that company for some of the money.  The investigator sifted through all of the charred ruins in the office to find any clues that she could.  A lawyer has been called (by Allstate) and an electrical investigator has to come back and join them.  The office has been sealed and is not allowed to be touched.  Since that Tuesday, they have come back out twice and have had zero luck in determining what caused the fire.  They had a few guesses, but there was not conclusive evidence to go with any one option.


On Thursday, March 31st, Mark met with Teresa (the contest agent) at our house.  She basically is in charge of placing a value on every item in our home that cannot be saved and then telling us how much money we will have to replace those items.  She suggested that we pretend to turn our house upside down like a salt shaker and shake everything out.  She is in charge of anything that would fall out- clothes, furniture, electronics, TV, fridge, oven, and much more.  Teresa and Mark went room by room, drawer by drawer in the 7 rooms on the top two floors of our house.  She said that the smoke was so bad that nothing can really be saved.  They opened drawers and counted how many forks we had, how many tshirts we had, how many tank tops we had, how many books we had, how many Wii games we had, how many DVDs we had, and such.  I think Teresa was shocked at how much Vera Bradley I had! :)  Inventorying the entire house took Teresa and Mark about 8 hours!  After they had completed the inventory, I met Mark and Teresa at Chick-fil-A.  I looked at all of the pages on inventoried stuff on the sheets of paper.  I was able to look through what they had written down and also the suggested values that Teresa had placed on many of the items.  We feel like she was very fair and very gracious.  While going over the forms, Mark gave Teresa her VERY FIRST Chick-fil-A Sandwich!  She told us it would take about 4 weeks for her to look up brands and item numbers for some of our items and then she would get back in touch with us about the replacement value of everything.


As I mentioned in the last post, our insurance people have been amazing!  They have gone through this journey with us step by step.  They allow us to ask questions.  They've given us their cell phone numbers.  They've been honest, but not overly optimistic.  They are helping us to truly view things correctly.  Both George and Teresa have said to us, "You are both so smiley.  How can you be that way when you basically lost everything?"  We are just thankful that we have more to life than shirts, dishes, DVDs, and Vera Bradley.  We fully trust that Jeremiah 29:11 is the truth- "For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord. They are plans for GOOD and not for disaster.  Plans to give you a FUTURE and HOPE." 


Each day is a process.  We learn something new each day and then act upon it.  God has given us the opportunity to fully trust and rest in His arms and that is what we've decided to do... each step of the way!

Catching Everyone Up on the Details

We wanted to go ahead and put all the facts of what has happened up to this time on the blog for people to know.

*On Saturday, March 26th, 2011 around 11:45ish, one of our neighbors called us at Chick-fil-A to let us know that smoke was coming out of our back window and that our smoke alarms were going off at our house.
*We immediately went home to find the main floor of the house on fire.  Our neighbor, a fire fighter who lives in our neighborhood, and Mark went inside to get the dogs.
*Upper St. Clair has a volunteer fire department that got to our house around 12:10 or so to put out the fire.  They did a great job and worked quickly.
*They decided that the fire started in the office (or useless 8x8 room) in our house.  They originally thought it was wiring or something within the plug.
*The fire fighters and police officers did an amazing job of comforting us and giving us direction that day.
*We got to go back into the house that afternoon with the fire chief.  Flames reached two rooms- the office and our bedroom.  Rebecca used the closet in our bedroom and Mark used the closet in our office.  Therefore, all of the stuff in those two rooms are gone because of flames, smoke, and water.  The rest of the main floor and two upstairs rooms are mostly damaged by smoke and there are holes in all the walls and ceilings upstairs because the fire fighters were trying to make sure that the fire did not spread.  The basement was pretty much saved.  The side of the basement under our office/bedroom had significant water damage that came through the floor/ceiling, but the fire fighters did a good job of tarping.  The other side of the basement is completely dry and seems normal.
*Our insurance, Allstate, came out that afternoon to board up the windows and take a look at the damage.  Immediately, they told us to expect to be out of our house 6-8 months for repairs.
*Since it was on a Saturday, we did not hear anything else from insurance until about 9:00 am on Monday morning.  And then our phones starting ringing off the hook!

I've included some pictures of the damage as we saw it the first two days.  Some pictures were taken immediately afterwards and some were taken on Sunday when Mark and Daniel went back to the house.

So those are the facts.... soon I will write about the insurance process and some of the amazing blessings we have received over the past 3 weeks.  However, please know that things are going and moving forward!  We are focusing on the fact that all the people (and furry friends) are safe.  We know our house is bad, but we also realize that it could have been a lot worse.  We know that God is in control and has great plans for what we consider to be an inconvenience.

"Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His love endures forever." Psalms 107:1

The back of the house where the fire started.

The fire fighter kicked everything from the office out the back window to make sure that nothing rekindled.

The first pictures after the fire... this one is taken from our front door looking into the living room and kitchen.

This one is taken from our bedroom window looking into our bedroom. Through the door, you can see the bathroom.
This was the 2nd room where the flames made it.

This is the picture from the actual office, where the fire started. Nothing in this room is even recognizable.

Three Weeks In...

Wow... this is the only word that I know to start our blog with.  It has been three weeks since the fire at our home.  My brother, Daniel, has decided that we should call it the Grand Whoha instead of the fire.  Anyway, it has been emotional, but so amazing at the same time.

One of the Pittsburgh Operators suggested that we  start a blog to keep everyone updated in Atlanta, Pittsburgh, and all over the US.  At first, I was very overwhelmed by the thought, but then I realized that so many people have been praying for us and would like to be updated.  We're only 28 years old, but through each step of our lives, we've been showered with love and support from so many people.  When we got married, the outpouring was overwhelming.  When we moved to Pittsburgh, the goodbyes were many and hard.  When we go out in the South Hills, we feel like we know so many people after only 2 years.  It's been amazing to see how God continues to provide such a strong support system for us no matter where we are because we needed it!  

I want to start our blog with the email that my mom sent out the day of the fire to let people know before she left to come up to Pittsburgh.  This will give everyone the basic story of what happened.  From now on, we will update the blog with progress reports on the house and baby, as well as specific requests!  Again- thank you for the overload of love, support, cards, and gifts.  We are truly blessed and know that God has a mighty plan that is slowly being revealed.

Hi everyone,

I am sending this because I have been communicating with some of you today and have no idea who I have told what to...

Also, I only have the email addresses shown here, so if you see someone else that should get this, please forward it. I have been trying to resurrect my email addresses without much success.

Mark and Rebecca had a horrible fire in their house today (in Pittsburgh).

Mark had gone into work early and Rebecca left the house at 11 am. She took a Chick-fil-A delivery and got back to the store at 11:40. At about 11:45 their neighbor called to say that their house was on fire and that he had called the fire department.

They only live about 3 minutes from the store so they got home immediately. Rebecca called me in hysterics. The fire dept was not even there yet. The house was fully engulfed in flames. She kept saying, "where are they"? I heard the trucks pull up and then she kept saying "why are they  going so slow". I was trying so hard to get the story from her and Mark was talking to a policeman. They were standing in the neighbor's yard in the back and the fire was mostly in the back of the house, Mark's office. Once they finally got water on the house, they got it out pretty quickly. 

It was so incredibly difficult to be so far away.

I told Rebecca to hang up and take pictures and I called Mark's parents cause he couldn't cause he was talking to the police.

A neighbor had rescued Mark and Rebecca's dog but they didn't know that Daniel's dog was in the basement in a crate. Mark went into the house and rescued Peanut. Daniel sobbed when he found out.

I called Chick-fil-A and told them to call Rebecca's good friend and get her over there right away. Miraculously, 2 good friends were there within minutes to hold them and comfort them, and give them good advice. Some neighbors came out and brought them coats and another neighbor took the dogs and put them into their fenced in backyard.

While I was talking to Rebecca, part of the roof caved in. 

So, here are the details:

They have a small cape cod house with 2 small bedrooms upstairs, a main floor with the living room, kitchen, their bedroom, bathroom and office and a basement. 

The main floor is a total loss. The fire started in the small office which is between the bedroom and bathroom. Daniel said that you can't even tell what was originally in the office. I have a picture but don't know how to upload.

It seems that a surge protector in the office shorted out. Ironic.

No one was hurt and they do have insurance. They do not, however, have anything else, every stitch of clothes is gone, Mark's glasses, their toothbrushes, so much. Daniel's letter jacket from school. all paperwork, all books, etc.

Rebecca is 4 months pregnant. I was very worried about shock for her. It is such a blessing that their friends got there so fast and could be with them. The fire captain told them that they would be out of the house about a year but that, when it was all said and done, they would have a new house.

I am leaving in the morning (Sunday) with Mark's mom to go up there and help them look for a place to live.. after I hold her and cry a lot.

They have a wonderful, Godly lady that Rebecca is in a Community Bible Study with, whom I have met and think is wonderful, who, along with her husband, has taken them into her home and is loving on them really good. They will probably stay with her for about a week, which is good.

The insurance co came and boarded up the house. They had to knock out all of the windows for the smoke to escape.

The adjuster will come Monday when I am there.

Um, that is all that I can think of for now.

I have no idea if I will have email access... potentially not. And I am sure that we will be crazy busy, so I will send an update next weekend.

Prayer requests:

Praise that everyone is ok, including the dogs and turtle!

Pray for Rebecca's emotional strength and for the baby.  (she has another doctor appt on Tuesday, so Kris and I will get to go with her)

Pray for Mark, who works so very hard and now has to deal with this.

Pray for Susan to not have her baby while I am gone.. although she is doing well and shouldn't have a problem.

Pray that they can find a place to live that will take dogs,,, this is VERY difficult.

Pray for anything else that I haven't thought of yet and for our 10 hour drive.

Thanks for your support.

Love, Cheryl