Water Update: Almost One Year Later

A little less than a year ago, as many of you might remember, Milwaukee fell victim to a pretty nasty storm which resulted in widespread flooding. Since then, bit by bit, we've been repairing the damage, and now, finally, our basement is done, from top to bottom. It's better than it was before, though; the old basement I merely tolerated, this one I like, and enjoy spending time in. See what you think!

On stairs, looking down, night of the flood.

On stairs, looking down, today.

Looking into main room, from foot of stairs (southwest corner), night of the flood.

Looking into the main room from foot of the stairs after stripping paneling, drywall, etc., a few weeks after the flood.

Looking into the main room from foot of the stairs today.

West wall, night of flood.

West wall today.

Northwest corner, night of flood.

Northwest corner, today.

Northeast corner, night of flood.

Northeast corner, today.

South wall, a few weeks after flood.

South wall (southeast corner), today.

View from bottom of stairs, a few weeks after flood.

View from bottom of stairs, today. 

View from northeast corner (between TV and computer), today. 

View from northwest corner, today.

House Follow-Up

You snooze you lose, right? The other offer was accepted. Our realtor is still in contact with the listing agent and if the deal falls through we have decided we will write an offer, but it looks like we missed out.

Decisions, decisions...

I stink at making decisions. I really do. When someone asks me what I'd like to eat, drink or whatever, I generally give some nonspecific answer because, usually, I really just don't care. Wine or beer, Coke or Sprite, La Croix or an Izze; I never have much of a strong preference.

This problem gets worse when we're talking about big ticket items. Like houses. Today, specifically, we're talking about houses.

I love our house. It's small, there's nothing particularly special about it, it seems like it's always a mess with five-- and soon to be six-- of us dropping a coat here or a book there but for whatever reason, I love it. It's home. And in a lot of ways I don't want to move anywhere; it's a lot of work, it's expensive and, besides, we're already home.

But then I think about our situation pragmatically and I know we'd be much more comfortable with another bedroom. And a family room. And maybe even an eat-in kitchen. So, we go house hunting and, invariably, we see a house we like yet Joe and I dawdle and ponder and, ultimately, never make a decision and see the house get sold to someone more capable of saying, "Yes, I want this house."

Today we saw a house. It's not a perfect house, but the soul of a really great house is there, it just needs some love and attention. It's in one of my favorite neighborhoods in our town. It's being sold well below market value. It has all the space we need. Yet again, we waver. It needs a LOT of work Joe and I say to each other. And it's true, it does. But look at this gorgeous red brick, Joe, and look-- real shutters! I say back. And Joe agrees, those things are lovely. But do we want to spend the next two or three years pulling up carpeting, patching ceilings and walls, ripping down outdated wallpaper and updating kitchen counters and bathroom fixtures? Maybe.

We have to be decisive now. There is already one offer in on this house. There's a deal to be had, a bigger house out there for us and, unfortunately for us, a major decision to be made.

Rain Update

The basement seems to have dried up in most spots, thankfully. To put things in perspective, the local middle school is closed because of flooding and numerous local houses that have never experienced water in their basements had trouble during this last storm. These were extreme circumstances.

But, there's more rain in the forecast today, but tomorrow looks sunny so far. And, from what I hear, the violent storms producing the flash flooding and tornados are over. At least for now.

Long term I don't know what we're going to do. The drain tiles and palmer valve should take care of the wetness problem, just apparently not when we get 2.5 inches of rain per hour which is very, very unusual. I suspect we'll start with some regrading and mud-jacking the driveway in some suspicious spots. My answer Saturday night while moving the contents of our basement to higher ground and cleaning up gross messes was just to chuck it all and move. But given the reports I'm hearing of wet basements abounding, I think that's a pretty extreme reaction.

I'm in clean-up mode today. Throwing out old carpet remnants that lined my laundry room floor and washing rugs from the family room. After the basement is cleaned up and normalcy is returned to our chaotic house then we can start mulling over long term solutions.

Some good news: Elisabeth is feeling better. Completely recovered, I'd say. Oh, and we had the most delicious sandwiches ever last night. I'll share the recipe later today. YUM!

UPDATE: This is mere moments from our home. See why I feel thankful the damage wasn't worse?

Incognito House Hunting

We love our house (recent basement post aside). Really, we do. Finally, after four years, it'a pretty much how we want it. It's smaller than we'd like, yes, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in location and neighbors.

That said, Superdad and I are always keeping our eyes open. We're constant visitors at various open houses and, even occasionally, have popped in a few tempting houses with a realtor friend of ours. If the right house came along I'm not quite sure what we'd do.

But don't tell our neighbors.

You see, every time someone has moved off the block for any reason other than a job relocation, they've been skewered. Sure it's all in good humor and fun, but people on my street house-hunt in secret. Including us.

Some good friends of ours down the street confessed to me yesterday morning in hushed tones while looking furtively up and down the street that they actually had considered moving twenty miles north of here. They then begged me not to tell anyone else. Today I'm going off with our realtor friend to look at an interesting house. What should I say if my neighbors see me getting into her car? Should I say we had a coffee date?