The Sky is Falling!

I woke up to quite a surprise Friday morning!  I noticed pieces of chalky chunks of plaster on the breakfast room floor and following it into the family room, like following a trail of bread crumbs, I discovered this... 

 

Part of my family room ceiling collapsed, probably due to all the heavy rain we've had in California over the last two weeks and roof flashing failure to divert the rain properly.  What a mess!  My first call, of course, was to the insurance company.  They told me to go ahead and contact a contractor to assess the situation, try to determine the cause, and to take measures as necessary to prevent further damage.  Trying to get someone out on a Friday before Christmas week is challenging!  I've used a terrific contractor, Eric, before but he couldn't make it out until Saturday.  Early Saturday morning the rain clouds moved in again and I was up at 4 a.m., placing a multitude of pots, pans, baking dishes and buckets on black trash bags I had laid out as the water dripped in.   

Eric arrived and checked out the roof and ceiling.  He removed the soggy insulation and now the ceiling hole looks like this...

 

He told me the ceiling for 3-4 feet surrounding the hole is also soft, and as you can see the corner walls have also been affected.  So we are looking at tearing out the soft board, drying it out for a couple days to avoid mold, putting in new insulation and sheet rock, seaming, texturizing, and finally painting.  This will take several days, not to mention the roof repair that will need done.  I've talked to the insurance adjuster and he will be out tomorrow.  I have a good roof -- it's a 40 year roof, installed 12 years ago -- but for some reason this small flashing section wreaked this kind of havoc! 

Thank goodness the sun is out today and it is supposed to be dry for the next several days.