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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 1, 2023 5:45:35 GMT
Excellent documentation, Kimby. People don't always realise what an absolute mess needs to be cleaned up after a hurricane. And you apparently didn't even have any uprooted trees to take care of.
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Post by Kimby on Sept 1, 2023 13:27:30 GMT
Not uprooted, but salt-poisoned. All the shrubs and several large trees turned brown and crispy. Despite a few hopeful tufts of green when we arrived 7 weeks after the storm, any new growth quickly shriveled and died.
Mr. Kimby had brought a new electric chainsaw in checked baggage (!) and we got to use it, taking the trees down while FEMA crews were there to haul them away. (They were not allowed to take down trees, but anything already on the ground could be cut up and removed by the FEMA crews.)
The palms did fine however, and we have a lot of palms.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 1, 2023 17:08:58 GMT
What a sequence! Even though there is a happy ending (& beautiful picture!), it's heartbreaking to see that damage. You all must have started the cleanup completely discouraged.
The floor looks like plywood -- that's a miracle that it wasn't ruined. After you tore out all the trashed insulation, how long did you have wait for the shop roof area to be dry enough to reinstall insulation in it?
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Post by lugg on Sept 1, 2023 20:25:19 GMT
What a nightmare for you Kimbybut so glad you have managed to sort the damage . Lovely sunset picture ...I guess a time for reflection after the chaos.
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Post by Kimby on Sept 1, 2023 20:39:41 GMT
Thanks, it really wasn’t so discouraging once we realized the living quarters were high and dry. We had an oasis we could retreat to when the mud and bugs got to us. (After shedding muddy shoes and socks and washing up arms and legs at washbasins by both doors!)
The biggest discouragement was the screens having all blown out on the lanai, all 20 of them: ten 3x8 feet lowers and ten 4x8 feet uppers. We had JUST replaced all the screens ourselves -what a job! - a year before the hurricane, and were faced with doing it all over again as every screen contractor was busy fixing the thousands of pool cages and lanais that had been wrecked by 150+ mph winds.
But it had to be done, as the wall of sliding doors had no screens and the bugs were fierce with so much standing water. Until we could get it done, we took pieces of ripped-out screen and tacked them over the sliding door openings for air in the house. (Because no AC.)
Luckily winter in Florida is a bit cooler and lower humidity so it was survivable. We worked on the screens for 4 days and then life got a lot better. Replacing the trashed ceiling fans was helpful, too.
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Post by Kimby on Sept 1, 2023 20:50:24 GMT
The insulation was mostly brought down by the flood (and all the floating objects in the shop) and we arrived 7 weeks after the storm, so it already had a good start on drying out. The plywood floor did much better than OSB or waferboard would have. We pulled out and replaced one sheet that had a rotten spot, but that was probably there before the flood.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 2, 2023 0:14:05 GMT
I realize that y'all were "lucky" in the grand scheme of things, but what a major feat you pulled off in repairing everything!
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Post by Kimby on Sept 2, 2023 1:25:12 GMT
We hired someone to repair the stucco breakaway wall. And of course an HVAC company to replace the AC. And the roofers returned to replace shingles missing from the ridge cap under the warranty.
Last thing we need to hire out is the gable end siding, 1/4 of which blew off. The rest of the work we’ve done ourselves. (Next hurricane we’ll be too old.)
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Sept 10, 2023 18:45:03 GMT
Hard work by the looks of things but you seem to have taken it in your stride. Kimbies must be very resilient! You've done a very good job.
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Post by Kimby on Sept 10, 2023 21:26:23 GMT
We will be back early in the winter for a good long visit. Hope to get around to the last jobs that need doing, mostly outdoors. It will be interesting to see what plants are coming back or coming up from seeds deposited by the flood. We could have a yard full of seaside daisies. Or sand burs!
After a failure of the rainy season, just when it was most needed to flush salt from the soil and replace the salt water in the lagoons with fresh water, Sanibel is finally getting rain. Lots of it. Maybe it will wash the muck off our gravel driveway and spare us having to rake and shovel it away.
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Post by Kimby on Oct 29, 2023 1:47:31 GMT
Now that the rainy season is winding down, neighbors sent us photos of some of the new growth. There’s a mailbox in here somewhere. We’ll need to move the railroad vines to use the driveway. Lots more vegetation than there used to be in the front yard. Hope it’s good stuff instead of weeds we’ll have to pull out. Still a lot of mud to deal with. Woodpeckers are trying to live in our walls. There’s still siding to replace in that gable end, if they aren’t nesting in there.
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 29, 2023 3:17:13 GMT
Mother Nature is always pretty quick to erase her destructive instincts.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 29, 2023 15:22:45 GMT
Nice neighbors to send such a full view of your property. I imagine it looks a lot better than you expected (feared). Also looks as though the rains did clean the mud off of the gravel. Pesky woodpeckers! I guess wood siding is more toothsome for them than the palm trees. I'm intrigued by the storm coverings on the windows -- a much, much nicer effect than plywood.
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Post by Kimby on Oct 29, 2023 17:50:28 GMT
Yes Bixa, the honeycombed sheets of polycarbonate that we bought at the big box store are light enough for Mr. Kimby to carry up a ladder and install himself while I’m summerizing the kitchen as we depart for hurricane season. And they let in enough daylight that there’s no rush to pull them down when we arrive. And none of them failed us during the hurricane, even though our windows are flimsy 40-year old single-paned awning windows. Win win win!
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Post by lugg on Oct 29, 2023 19:39:22 GMT
I hope it was good to see and that the next steps are not too daunting. And it may not be what you want to hear but ... how lucky are you re the woodpeckers
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Post by Kimby on Oct 29, 2023 21:58:41 GMT
Re: the woodpeckers. The vinyl siding the storm removed had been installed at least 20 years earlier to attempt to stop the woodpeckers from drilling holes in the siding. You can even see a wooden patch that repaired earlier woodpecker damage. We will have to replace the vinyl, but are having a hard time finding a contractor to do it.
So not feeling too lucky about the woodpeckers, who ignore the bird box we put up in a nearby tree in favor of damaging the house.
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