jagonjune asked one time that I show some pictures.....
#1
From Fire to Rebirth...my Parent's house
#2 The catwalk we had to walk on to salvage the china from the dining room......cabinet was 5 feet below floor level.
#3 Basement Fireplace.....fire started in the storage room and crossed over in front of the fireplace and headed up the stairs. Also burnt out the floor of the kitchen as well as the ceiling and walls in my old bedroom.
#4 Storage room
#5 Dining room looking down to storage room.
#6 Living room
#7 Ceiling
#8 Where the kitchen was
I'll keep adding pictures once the main beam has been replaced and the addition has been started.
This message was edited Sep 21, 2004 7:21 PM
Wow Pam, I had no idea that your parents even had a fire. I guess that the frame must be structurally sound for you guys to be rebuilding. I assume that all are well, which is the main thing when any disaster happens. I hope the rebuilding goes effortlessly.
Linda in Victoria
My parents are doing fine (even have a sense of humor again)....they weren't in the house when the fire started. Sometimes Dad wishes that he had but then I remind him we could have lost a lot more than just a house.
It is fine...though some of the rafters (above the kitchen) will have to be replaced, as well as the main beam, but since they are adding on an addition they would have to be changed anyhow. As their house was made out of brick it fared reasonably well.......no cracks in it nor the cement basement which shocked everyone.
The fire happened in mid October, 2003....we worked on the house (without heat) until January 2 and started again this spring. BTW stress is great for weight loss...but I don't recommend it! ;)
On the plus side my parents always wanted an addition and Dad had drawn up plans (when I was a youngster).... now they are going to get their huge country style kitchen and an update on the rest of the house as well. Noooooo kidding! ;)
This message was edited Sep 22, 2004 8:16 AM
That was a big fire. I'm glad to hear that you're all seeing the bright side of all this. I know it was devastating at the time. I look forward to seeing the progress.
So do I Liz! :)
This message was edited Sep 21, 2004 6:37 PM
lily................happy to hear everything's on a roll now! I was listening to the radio this am and a house fire started in a hot, hot, dryer! Oh, boy, we have to check on everything, don't we??????????//// E.
Yup....this one started from a faulty florescent light fixture.
This message was edited Sep 22, 2004 9:23 AM
Glad to hear all is coming along well, with a better home to look forward to in the end.
Cheers,
Carol
Thanks Carol.......we are so happy it is finally at this stage and the rebuilding can start!
Pam, how devastating for your parents and you too. Thank God it didn't start in the middle of the night or something; glad your parents are OK. Faulty florescent light tube, eh? Who knew something like that could happen? Tsk.
Donna
Made a mistake, OldFlowerGirl, it was the fixture (ballast?) that caused the problem. I think I had tubes on the brain because we had to remove so many of them. My DH also gouged his leg really badly on a broken one when we were cleaning up. :S
It was very devastating at the time.....I'd rank it just below losing a loved one. Fortunately we were able to salvage some of the family photographs but having to throw some family momentos was very, very difficult.
This message was edited Sep 22, 2004 10:06 AM
Nice touch having the fire extinguisher next to the fireplace in the burnt out ruins. Glad to see you all still have a sense of humour. Keep looking at that glass as half full - an addition will be great. South facing I assume with lots of windows and room for plants???
Thanks for directing me to the thread.
It is the south facing part of the house that they will be putting in more windows...I'm not sure if he will be going all out but it will be a lot sunnier. The huge north facing living room window will be made into three or four narrow ones.
Lynn I must admit I had to laugh as well when I saw where someone (prob Dad) had put the fire extinguishers.
Yee gads! That was one heck of a fire! I wonder will it still smell of smoke even after being rebuilt?
New diet plan: move all existing things out of one house into another.
Oh no...
Everything is gone but l am glad to hear your parents are ok.
Life is not something you can replace.
best wishes for them.
I wondered about that too Connie but as chared materials are removed the smell is disappearing. The cement in the basement will be scrubbed and then they will be using a special paint that will neutralize the smell. The hardwood floor boards will also be sanded and refinished. Of course everything we salvaged will also have to be cleaned extremely well!
Yep moving them back in should have us thin and trim. ;)
Thank you for your kind wishes Yumiko. :)
This message was edited Jun 24, 2005 11:26 PM
Oh my goodness, Lilypon. You have been so sympathic and careing about us hurricane people, and we didn't even know about your trouble! The recovery plans seem great though, and your parents will enjoy their new home.
Believe it or not, along with the hurricanes, I had a bad fire in my house in Miami. It took three months to get the damaged part repaired, but the new rooms and furniture were wonderful!
Hmmmm, now there's a thought. If hurricane Jeanne finishes the roof off this time, I may get a new rug and furniture, WOW!
Pati
LOL...there is always the bright side to look at isn't there Pati!
Welcome to Canada BTW!! :D
p.s.Pati......ya'll better put your parka on, we don't want you freezing here!! ;)
PARKA? Surely you jest! I want one of those fur outfits that the Eskimos wear when they go hunting on the ice....and that is just to get across the parking lot! LOL
BTW, I'm a closet Canadian. I snoop around in here pretty often. *grin*
Pati
LOLOLOL.....but what will you wear when our winter arrives???
My winter wear would be a very fashionable electric blanket with a very long cord plugged into the nearest outlet until spring! This would allow me the run of the house, because, of course, going outside is not an option! I'm nobody's fool...I saw that poor dog with the with the ice on his legs! LOL
Pati
Good plan Pati!! ;D
Wow, that was quite a fire Pam. I'm glad your parents are OK and taking this with some humour. It must have been devastating at the time. I can only imagine.
I'll be watching this thread for any updated pictures that you post.
Joan
It's coming slowly Joan. :( However most of the upstairs wiring is done, the addition is built, insulation is in, some dry wall is up and he's working on putting in a downstairs bathroom. We are now waiting for the temperatures to reach the high 70's (should be this coming week) and then the Kilz (anti-smoke paint) can be sprayed.
Hopefully after that plumbing, furnace ducts, etc. can be done........and the kitchen cabinets made.
This message was edited Jul 2, 2006 3:20 PM
Lilypon:
Just read your thread - my sympathy to you and your family.
One thing I noticed - you said you were having more windows in the south side. This is great for passive solar heating - and a nice tile or wood floor inside to gather and hold the heat.
But then you have to make sure that the overhang of the roof is calculated properly so that when the sun is 'low' in the winter it streams right in, but when it is 'high' in the summer, the overhang blocks the direct rays so you don't get the heat, but just the light.
I know that there is a formula to calculate this, but darned if I know what it is.
Best of luck with the rebuilding. It seems to tke a lifetime before things get finished, eh?
Hey welcome to Dave's Garden Cybercrone! Ü
It must seem strange seeing some of the things we have posted here......originally there were so few Canadian members that we started to discuss events in our daily lives (the winter months tend to be lacking plant discussions ;).
Thank you.....we've adjusted to the situation now and would love to get past this frustrating stage. :b You've piqued my curiosity so I'm going to be checking around to see if someone has the formula. The wooden floor boards that were burned will be replaced with ceramic tile (the hallway, dining room and kitchen)......the living room and bedroom floors escaped with only minor damage. The kitchen is getting a smaller window than we hoped for but it will have glass french doors facing east. Edited to say they are also having 3 light tunnels put in http://www.veluxusa.com/products/sunTunnels/ (two will be upstairs and one will be shining sunlight into one of the basement rooms.....I think that will be really cool :).
Pam
This message was edited Jun 19, 2005 11:50 PM
The formulas are all in The Passive Solar Energy Book: A Complete Guide to Passive Solar Home, Greenhouse and Building Design. by Edward Mazria They use latitude (and some tables) to calculate the sun's angle for winter and summer.
You might find a copy in the local library. I still have my well-used original book from 1979, but bought another 3 years ago because I lost the transparencies tucked in a pocket at the back of the book. It's an extremely valuable book for any building design, with lots of good info on choosing a site and orientation for the most comfortable house (heating, cooling).
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0878572376/qid=1119266696/sr=8-6/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/103-9788321-8677441?v=glance&s=books&n=50784
Thank you soooooo much Darius Ü The title sounds very familiar to me.....I'm pretty sure we have it on our shelves. Somewhere. The library is being recarpeted and painted so I'll search the shelves when I go back to work next week.
... sheepishly she said, "LOL, I forgot you work in the library!"
LOLOL.....in reference department to boot! I say sheepishly ;) ....since I didn't know where to look for that formula!
LOL... I guess we're even, then... and can BOTH crawl under a rock!