So as you all know, I was flooded out quite badly during storm Christoph in January. Although there was no dispute with the insurance and everything was covered no problem, it’s still taken eight months to make the downstairs liveable again. Having watched the horrific floods in Germany and then New York, my heart felt heavy for those people as I know how terrible and disorienting a flood can be. Myself, Mally, my family, neighbours and strangers battled for hours to keep the flood waters from totally engulfing the house, but once the beck breached the wall there was nothing that could be done. At least my house was left standing and no one died during my flood.
Virtually every piece of furniture downstairs had to be thrown away by the insurance team who came in. It was a health hazard due to the sludge that came in with the flood water. Nearly everything downstairs had been virtually destroyed including the telephone lines and electrical sockets. The house was ripped apart in an attempt to dry it out. It took months. The kitchen had to go as it had been damaged by the flood water. We have lived upstairs for months.
However, the long slog is now nearly over, the kitchen has been replaced and the downstairs is now ready to receive furniture.
Below are a few photos taken around four weeks ago just before work started
The kitchen is now up and running which I’m extremely pleased with. I can finally return to making proper Sunday dinners. I wanted to get a country look kitchen and I hope I’ve succeeded, I like it anyway.
It hasn’t gone without issues, the decorators only did half the job that the insurance were paying them handsomely for, so that’s in the process of some backside kicking. But on the whole I am really pleased. The guy who fitted the kitchen was a real professional craftsman and was painstaking in everything he did, even things I wouldn’t have noticed. He was sad as he couldn’t get it finished on time before he went on holiday and another chap took over. But even on holiday he kept phoning the other joiner to make sure he was finishing it correctly. So it’s been a game of two halves really, unhappy with the decorators but over the moon with joiners. I guess you can’t have it all. I’m actually ecstatic to have a kitchen and downstairs. It’s only when it’s not there do you truly appreciate something.
In the country not in the country 