Three Years Ago Today......

Three years ago today, we looked like this!  Ughhh!



That's right, it has been three years since the "Flood of 2008". I thought it would be nice to do a little recap of the last three years and our recovery since the flood.

So, for those of you who don't know the story.....In May of 2008 Todd and I owned three pieces of property in Cedar Rapids, Iowa that we considered investment properties. A small house located at 908 7th St. SW, a duplex which also had a small guesthouse on the property located at 914 7th St. SW and another duplex located at 700 6th St. SW. That's six separate rental spaces, all fully occupied.

We had started purchasing the properties in 2001, we were able to purchase them at below market value prices most of the time (usually due to their condition) and had worked very hard to remodel and restore them. Lots of painting, landscaping, refinishing etc. They were nice, Life was good.

I am realizing I could really write a book here, but I will try to give you the condensed version. So......it was the second week of June in 2008, let me back up a little, we had had over three feet of snow the winter before. The week before, it rained 9 inches up in the northern part of our state {Iowa} and it just wouldn't stop. It rained 6 inches in one day!! That monday our well flooded, the old copper pipes were rusted and broke. The tanks were floating in the pumphouse and the water all came out into our yard, flooding the pumphouse and shorting out the electrical system in there. It was a mess! It kept raining, and raining and raining some more the water in the Cedar River was rising. It went over its banks and flooded sooo many home and businesses, including ALL of our rental properties. I couldn't believe it and we were kind of in shock and definately unsure what we would do and how things would end up. And best part of all, we had NO flood insurance!! I take that back, I now realize that the best part was that our own home {where we live} DID NOT flood, thank goodness. So.... let's get to some pictures.

914 7th St. SW {the Guesthouse} - BEFORE

Here are some pictures shortly after the flood:

It was so overwhelming, pretty much all of the tenants belongings were ruined. It was such a mess, over four feet of dirty, stinky sewer water. Everything was covered in gunk.

Everything had to be removed immediately. Furniture, cabinetry, carpet, bathroom fixtures, {EVERYTHING} all hauled to the curb for the garbage man. It was depressing, it was hot out, and it smelled BAD.

All of the drywall had to be removed and the studs had to be sprayed with bleach and hosed off.

Remembering, I am going to try and give you the short version,

Here is how it finally looks today.

It is so nice now, all brand new. This guesthouse has been finished and rented since may of 2009. Even the windows and door and the siding are new. I can't believe all that we have been through to get to this point. Thank you so much to everyone that has helped us in anyway. We could not have done it without you!

That brings us to our second property. Our small house at 908 7th St. SW. It is right next door to the one shown above.

Here is 908 7th St. SW {shortly after the flood}

And here it is during the cleanup and renovation process:

And here it is after:

I love the color, especially the front door. This property has been finished and rented since September 2009.

700 6th St. SW Before the Flood:

This duplex was marked as unsafe two weeks after the flood because the entire foundation wall along the front of the house {under the porch} washed into the basement leaving no support on that side of the house. It was accross the street from an elementary school and very dangerous so a year and half after the flood the city demolished it. We no longer own this property.

So that leaves one other property, we have the duplex at 914 7th St. SW. That property is about 60-70% completed and has just been sitting there since we stopped working on it about the middle of 2010. It has brand new furnaces, water heaters, central air and wiring and some odd other things completed, but the loan that we recieved from the SBA {Small Business Administration} was not sufficient to complete the project. They would not loan us anymore money and since we already had a loan out on the property we could not accept any other form of monetary help due to "duplication of benefits". Basically we have been trying to get through A LOT of red tape with the city of Cedar Rapids, and the SBA. We hope to wrap it up by the end of this year. We have a contractor on stand by.  It has been VERY VERY  frustrating working through this and I, for one, CANNOT WAIT until the day that we are 100% back to normal.

Then, the day after the flood in Cedar Rapids this is what happened at our own home:

You can see where we were testing stain colors to see which one to stain the deck, LOL, before this week happened that was our biggest worry, little did we know what lied ahead.

We had a hailstorm! It ripped our pool liner to shreds and our roof began to leak! Happy to report that after two years of fighting with the insurance company and one more hailstorm { it was the size of hockey pucks }on April 3rd 2011, almost three years to the day, we finally have a new roof. 

So, there you have it, an update on the worst weather week in the history of my life!!

On the Up side of things, we have been so blessed by the loving people of this community, our church family {Shueyville United Methodist Church}, our own family and friends and so many groups of people all across the country that have reached out to help us. We have so many new friends and we are so thankful for each and every one of you and we could not have come as far as we have without you!!!

Hopefully by this time next year we will be able to report that we are 100% finished!