| RECONSTRUCTION |
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| The first few weeks we spent cleaning up the debris, piling it up and burning as much as we could. There was an unbelievable amount of it. Next we bought a storage building as we just didn't have room to store everything in the house. Furniture had to be put in there so that we could clean the mold and mildew damage up from the rain that fell the night the tornado came thru. Plus you can't rebuild around furniture. We were fortunate that our insurance came through for us. So many with damage didn't. We had to get a roof on our main house first. We lived there and with a wet spring and early summer predicted, it was our top priority. This meant building the front and back porch roofs back as well as scrapping off the old roof and getting rid of it. |
| One month after the tornado hit us, we had a new roof on the mobile home portion of our home. No more worries there. Now to the addition.... |
| Dispite the use of 3 layers of plastic sheeting we were still getting some leaks in the addition. We contacted several contractors only to be told they didn't have time to work with us. We were in a bind and had to do something fast! We immediately scrapped the idea of building back the loft. |
| So we planned to take the long 4th of July weekend and have all our friends come help us put a roof on the addition. We prayed that it wouldn't rain. Our in-laws and some of our friends and their kids showed up and we spent the whole weekend lifting the trusses to the floor of the loft and started putting them up. Over the 4th, 5th and 6th, we got the trusses up and decked and the tar paper on. It was a miracle that we got all that done in such a short time. The following Sunday, the roofer came out on his day-off to help us get in the dry again. |
| As the cooler days of Fall arrived so did our energy-level and we began to work on repairing the inside of our addition. Milldewed wallpaper and wainscotting were removed and walls were repainted. Part of the stairs to the loft were ripped out and a wall went up in its place. By Christmas, the ceilings were finished and most of the walls painted. Even the fireplace got a new coat using rock veneer. The floors were repaired and carpeting laid. |
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| Soon the den became a room we could use again. Our hummingbird decorated computer room got its furniture and the computers were moved in. The dining room got the remaining cabinets and some tables moved in by Easter 2004. We even had a central heat and air unit put in so that we could finally enjoy all our hard work year-around. |
| Although some fine-touches had yet to be completed, we finally realized our dreams just a little over 10 years after we started putting all those ideas on paper. It wasn't everything we dreamed but it was close enough. |