pixiesis
Cathlete
DH and I closed on our first home yesterday. Yesterday definitely was Friday the 13th for reasons I'll explain. The night before we closed, our area had a massive storm the likes of which this area has never seen. We got between 8-10 inches of rain, we've been declared a state of emergency, roads and bridges are washed out, etc. Like so many other places, it's very very bad.
We did a walk-through before closing. There was water in the basement but there were lots of people there working on it. The house didn't have as much water as most people got, so we were upset but also felt lucky. So we went ahead with the closing, making an addendum to the contract that the water cleanup be finished and the flooring be replaced. It seemed like the only job was to get the water out and get the flooring replaced; we were told that the source of the leak had been found and fixed. Last night we checked on the progress and there was more water than there was in the morning, but it was obvious that they had been working on it (flooring had been ripped up, etc). Late this morning we drove by and someone was there working on the situation. We came back at night to check up and were again disappointed. There was less water in some places but there was still quite a bit in others and we were really hoping it would be gone. We're worried about damage to the walls and other things that are still in various stages of wetness. The basement is a significant part of the living space so this is bad news. Does anyone know if it's possible to avoid and/or clean up the mold and other water damage?
Also, does anyone know if there's a period within which we can cancel the whole deal? We're in Michigan btw. We'd like to have this option, but mostly we're worried that now that we've closed the sellers aren't motivated to get this done asap, and if we had the possibility to get out of it we could tell them this to light a fire under their butts.
Another horrible thing that happened is that our rented condo has an underground parking garage where we have 2 storage lockers. Well, the area flooded and because of water main and sewer breaks there is partially treated sewage water down there. We got out our most valuable stuff and attempted to clean it up, but it was so gross! We haven't cleaned out the stuff that we don't care about, and it's pretty harrowing to think about how we still have to do that! ;(
Back to the house, we do trust that they'll get it done, and we hope that everything will dry out without too much damage, but I'm so worried. To their credit, the woman is pregnant and she's close to her due date, so it's possible that cleanup didn't progress much because she's having the baby. I am sympathetic to their situation, but to be honest I'm more worried that we're gonna get screwed.
Another worry: because of the sewage break the city is saying to stay away from flood waters. Well, we've been around the regular flood waters at the house as well as the bad stuff at our condo. This is freaking me out since I'm a bit of a hypochondriac. I'm thinking I'll go get some hep b and tetanus shots on Monday (my last tetanus shot was about 13 yrs ago and I don't recall ever having a hep shot).
I'm sorry for the long post. I'm a bit of a mess right now. Sometimes happy and excited about the new house and hopeful that it'll get cleaned up and be as good as before; sometimes terrified that we made a mistake that we can't get out of. Any advice is welcome. Thanks.
We did a walk-through before closing. There was water in the basement but there were lots of people there working on it. The house didn't have as much water as most people got, so we were upset but also felt lucky. So we went ahead with the closing, making an addendum to the contract that the water cleanup be finished and the flooring be replaced. It seemed like the only job was to get the water out and get the flooring replaced; we were told that the source of the leak had been found and fixed. Last night we checked on the progress and there was more water than there was in the morning, but it was obvious that they had been working on it (flooring had been ripped up, etc). Late this morning we drove by and someone was there working on the situation. We came back at night to check up and were again disappointed. There was less water in some places but there was still quite a bit in others and we were really hoping it would be gone. We're worried about damage to the walls and other things that are still in various stages of wetness. The basement is a significant part of the living space so this is bad news. Does anyone know if it's possible to avoid and/or clean up the mold and other water damage?
Also, does anyone know if there's a period within which we can cancel the whole deal? We're in Michigan btw. We'd like to have this option, but mostly we're worried that now that we've closed the sellers aren't motivated to get this done asap, and if we had the possibility to get out of it we could tell them this to light a fire under their butts.
Another horrible thing that happened is that our rented condo has an underground parking garage where we have 2 storage lockers. Well, the area flooded and because of water main and sewer breaks there is partially treated sewage water down there. We got out our most valuable stuff and attempted to clean it up, but it was so gross! We haven't cleaned out the stuff that we don't care about, and it's pretty harrowing to think about how we still have to do that! ;(
Back to the house, we do trust that they'll get it done, and we hope that everything will dry out without too much damage, but I'm so worried. To their credit, the woman is pregnant and she's close to her due date, so it's possible that cleanup didn't progress much because she's having the baby. I am sympathetic to their situation, but to be honest I'm more worried that we're gonna get screwed.
Another worry: because of the sewage break the city is saying to stay away from flood waters. Well, we've been around the regular flood waters at the house as well as the bad stuff at our condo. This is freaking me out since I'm a bit of a hypochondriac. I'm thinking I'll go get some hep b and tetanus shots on Monday (my last tetanus shot was about 13 yrs ago and I don't recall ever having a hep shot).
I'm sorry for the long post. I'm a bit of a mess right now. Sometimes happy and excited about the new house and hopeful that it'll get cleaned up and be as good as before; sometimes terrified that we made a mistake that we can't get out of. Any advice is welcome. Thanks.
