Ceiling Leak Revisited

My vocabulary has expanded in the last month. You may remember that I woke up one December day before Christmas to discover part of my ceiling had collapsed from a roof leak.  It has been almost three weeks now and I'm still in the process of getting this mess cleaned up and learning a great deal about my house.  In case you ever find yourself in a similar predicament, here is what has unfolded:

- The insurance company is paying for the interior damage, but not the roof repair itself.
- Mold grows within a matter of a a few days, so if you are not aware a leak is occurring, you could be in for an additional surprise, as I was:  the dreaded mold in the wall!
- The insurance company is paying for the mold remediation up to a certain dollar amount (my remediation is under that amount).
- Some wood rot was also discovered when the contractor took down the wet sheet rock -- the insurance company does not cover wood rot as it is considered an old issue.  So replacing the header boards in the corner was at my own expense and quite involved. (A second temporary wall had to be built to support the corner so the rotted section could be chipped out and fresh new 2X4's installed, then the temp wall was removed.)
- The mold remediation process takes patience!  First, the environmental (mold) specialist came out and took samples of the air in the corner of the room and outside on the deck.  The point was to determine which molds and fungi are in our Monterey air in general (which we can't control) compared to those that were in my house.  Some were present inside that were not present outside.  Others were present both inside and outside but to greater or lesser degrees in one place vs another.  It took two days to get the results.
- The contractor had to stop working while the mold remediation is happening.  So my family room is still torn up.
- The day before New Year's, the mold remediation company constructed a containment area with a zipper so that I didn't have to breathe the mold this past week.  It's still in my family room -- argh!

- A very noisy dehumidifier ran in the containment area from Dec. 31st until yesterday to remove the excess moisture in the walls and under the floor from water leaking inside from the roof leak.  Drove me crazy as it's in my TV room.  It was supposed to be pulled out on Monday, but the remediation guy came down with the flu.  Finally yesterday afternoon another person from the company came and pulled it out.
- Pasteurization is scheduled for this Friday.  Tonight I prepare -- removing photos and photo albums, DVDs and CDs, candles, and anything that could be damaged by high heat.  This process involves sectioning off the family room and kitchen which have been "exposed" to the mold spores, and bringing in ducts so that very hot (140 degree) air can be pumped into the family room to kill the mold!

- The mold inspector will be back out on Monday to retest to make sure the pasteurization really killed the mold.  Have to wait until Tuesday for the results, and then on Weds. my contractor can resume the ceiling and wall repairs, texturizing the walls, and painting which will take several days as things have to dry between steps.
- When all of that is done, I need to assess the damage to the Pergo flooring which sustained some damage.

This was not exactly how I intended to spend my two week Christmas vacation.  The countless phone calls and coordination are tiresome, but the end is in sight.

I wanted to join in on the 14 Week Challenge through A Bowl Full of Lemons, but I'll be a little behind schedule. Back at work this week, so my time is precious. Patience is required through this process.