The first steps & a much needed vacation

Well, we are now officially officially rebuilding. While we wait to see what additional help we may get, we have received our FEMA grant. That money must be used to rebuild the house, so we feel confident in spending that money on the house while we decide on our long-term plans.

This last weekend, my dad Paul and my uncle Jim came down to help with a little remodeling project. We successfully moved some walls around to create a back hallway closet (perfect for coats and boots in the winter) and a laundry room big enough to add doors to. It’s a nice simple little upgrade. We also turned a wall in the bathroom into a half wall to open it up and sheetrocked our utility closet so that we could fill it with goodies (furnaces and water heaters and the like).

Those projects went as planned with only a few little hiccups (I now know how to cut tile…and how NOT to cut tile). The plumber came yesterday and put in a new water heater, set up a new washing machine hookup, and raised the shower (now suitable for a 6 foot man, thank goodness!).

I’ll add some photos later on.

Our story was also featured on the SmartyPIg blog. They thought it was great that we could use their tool to help us raise money for rebuilding. We do too. Here’s the link to the post: http://blog.smartypig.com/read/friends-and-family-catching-on

Finally, we’re off for a much-needed vacation in Glacier National Park. The crisp mountain air and time away from all this stuff should serve us well. We’ll update the blog when we get back with vacation photos and house updates. Thanks again for all your thoughts.

Moving forward

Tuesday marked the official end of clean-up when Americlean came to clean and sanitize our ductwork. The house is now ready to be worked on, and Sunday will be our first little project in the rebuilding phase.

After carefully considering doing some major remodeling inside, we decided that it would be too much work, and we didn’t think it would add enough to the home. Moving one wall would set in forth a chain reaction of wiring, plumbing, and tiling projects. Nothign is simple. But this weekend we’re moving one wall abck about 8 inches into the garage so that we can close off our laundry room with French doors. We’re also sheetrocking the utility closet so we can prepare for our HVAC and water heater fixtures. Finally, we’re turning a doorway into a half wall in the bathroom to let more light in and open up the space. Small things, but it marks the first real rebuilding efforts, so we’re excited.

For those of you who might be interested. We’re rebuilding green. We’ve got EnergyStar rated appliances coming in and we’re hoping to use a new form of concrete insulation for the house, called Air Krete. It’s mold free, healthy and green. Even Al Gore uses it!

And lastly, a big thank you to everyone who has given to us on our SmartyPig account or by sending a check. We don’t expect anything from anyone, but it sure is wonderful to know that so many people out there are thinking of us. We’ve got formal thank yous to send too, they’ll be in the mail soon.

I think we’re Rebuilding now

Wow, time flies when you’re really, super busy.

The last month has been quite a blur. In addition to our flood saga, Andrew is working on distribution for Pond Hockey and relaunching Little Village, Iowa City’s News and Culture magazine. Liz has celebrated her one year anniversary at the University of Iowa Hospitals and is taking on more responsibilities there.

Of course, the main thread that has woven it’s way through our lives is the flood. Since our last post, we’ve nearly finished the clean-up process, thanks to help from friends and family, including visits from our parents (Thanks again!). The house is now clean (except a final round of mold killer and our nasty HVAC ductwork) and ready to rebuild if we so choose. My first appointment with a potential contractor is with Kelly Heating and Air tomorrow. They will take a look at our ductwork and recommend how we can clean or replace it as well as make recommendations for replacing our HVAC systems.

No word yet on our buyout status, but the city is supposedly looking into it. Until we hear otherwise, we’re going to move forward with rebuilding.

One thing that we’ve been spending much time discussing is how to rebuild responsibly. That means a number of things…remodeling to suit our needs and improve the floorplan of the house, mitigating future flood risk and building Green without outspending our budget. We would like to build a green home and are considering LEED certification and/or the ReGreen remodeling guidelines put forth by the USGBC. It’s potentially a lot of decision making and oversight but could result in a healthier, happier home with greater resale value…if anyone would ever want to buy down there again anyway (that’s a question that weighs heavily on us now).

Of course, rebuilding and refurnishing green (or otherwise) costs money. We’re happy to report that FEMA did give us money, although they fell $7,000 or so short of the maximum grant of $28,800. This grant money and an offer of a low-interest loan of up to $60,000 from the SBA will be what we can use to rebuild. That and the generous gifts from family and friends (and even strangers!).

Since many have asked how they can support us in the rebuilding effort, we’ve set up an account at SmartyPig an online savings account that can accept donations. If you would like to donate something to our cause, we would be grateful. Visit SmartyPig and search for “andrewsherburne@gmail.com” under friends goals to find our savings plan (also below).

Of course, we have also received assistance from the American Red Cross and our neighbors have been helped by Habitat for Humanity and United Way. If you would prefer to direct your donations to these charitable organizations I can personally vouch for their effectiveness. Please think about giving as so many have been left homeless and jobless by this disaster.

We’ll keep you updated on the latest with more posts and photos soon. Thanks again for all of the love.

Please do not feel obligated to send money, but if you would like to, you can make a donation by…

Sending a check to: Andrew and Liz, 1004 Cambria Ct., iowa City, IA 52246

Or give online to “andrewsherburne@gmail.com” at SmartyPig:

Returning home

Well, its been awhile since our last post, but that isn’t for a lack of happenings. In fact, quite the opposite. Story and photos at the end.

As the waters receded over the last week, it became apparent that we could return to our home much sooner than we originally thought. On Sunday night we made our first trip back to check out the house, along with our friend John. Coming back to our neighborhood was a bit surreal. From the street, everything looked normal…a peaceful neighborhood with well-kept houses lining the streets. But once we stepped inside the house, we found a more expected sight

The floors of our home were caked with a dark black mud, the leftovers from 33 inches of river water which had been there for nearly a week. Couches and beds were stained and heavy with water. Inexpensive furniture made of particle board had disintegrated, snapped in half or fallen over. The few books which didn’t make it out were bloated with water and splayed out on the carpet like victims of a back-alley homicide.

That first night back was, as I mentioned, expected, but no less difficult. It was hard to see our first-home so brutally battered by the raging river. We spent a few hours there, meeting with the FEMA inspector and knocking out a few walls to let the damp wood begin to breathe.

I returned on Monday morning with a crew of three (John, Tom and Steven). There was considerable experience in demolition with this crew. John had been a contractor and lived in New Orleans during Katrina. Steven was a fix-it-all type by trade. And Tom’s tennis swing proved just as good with an ax. In just over four hours, the four of us knocked out all of the drywall from the house, removed all the damaged furniture, unhooked the appliances and pulled the wet insulation from the walls. It was an impressive wrecking job.

I got some more help later from my friend Nick and by the end of the day we were the first house on the block that was stripped to it’s frame. No walls, no carpet, just 2″x4″s and siding. The whole thing was oddly gratifying and still left me feeling a bit empty inside. Nothing seems better right now than sitting in my backyard around a fire, grilling summer vegetables and playing fetch with the dog. But that will all have to wait for another day.

Still, on the bright side, unexpected gestures of help and friendship have lifted our spirits. From assistance from the Red Cross, to meals from Liz’s co-wrokers, to letters and checks from old friends in the mail, it has made every day bearable if not joyful. While we sit and wait for the city to plot the future of our neighborhood, at least we do so in the company of good people.

View our photos from the return home.

We’re famous!

One of the strangest things about having our home destroyed three weeks after we bought it has been the attention we’ve gotten from the news media. On Friday of last week our story made the front page of the Iowa City Press-Citizen. We also made the on-line flood picture gallery for the press-citizen. And we were even in the Des Moines Register. Andrew submitted our flood footage to cnn.com iReport and within 20 minutes he was receiving phone calls from 5 different producers wanting to interview him. Our story has now been featured on cnn, cnn.com, and will play on Headline News this weekend.

In clinic yesterday a patient said she was so glad she could come in despite all the flooding and asked if it was hard for me to get to work. I mentioned that my house was underwater- the one I’d just bought 3 weeks ago- and she knew my whole story. Andrew said he was walking around downtown yesterday selling ads for his Little Village magazine and everyone knew who Andrew Sherburne was because of the news media coverage. So, I guess we’re famous! I mean, not celebrity status, but it sure is interesting. Here are links to some of the media coverage if you’re interested:

CNN Interview

CNN iReport

Press-Citizen story

Press-Citizen photo

Des Moines Register photo

A new home

One week after we left 800 Normandy Drive, life is settling back into normal.

For five days we stayed with our friends Lindsay and John. We really couldn’t have asked for better friends, or should I say caretakers. From giving us a roof over our heads, to feeding us at least one meal a day, helping us run errands, loaning us a canoe…they did it all. We’re incredibly grateful.

Also, thankfully, we’ve been able to leave before we overstayed our welcome. We’re now living in the home of the mother of another one of Liz’s coworkers (Amy).  Its a lovely, fully furnished townhome which is usually home to two older women. It comes complete with gumdrops and all of the Christmas decorations (they won’t be coming back til October). It’s cozy and ready for living in. If you need to send us a postcard or something, we’re at 1004 Cambria Ct., Iowa City, IA 52246.

Also, I posted our story on the iReport area of CNN.com and it got picked up by a lot of their producers. I was called by three shows to have me on and appeared live on CNN.com’s streaming TV show, on CNN television this afternoon, and then our story will appear on CNN Headline News as well this weekend.

My CNN.com interview is still on their site, you can watch it on CNN.com here.

Into the Floodwaters

Three nights after we were unceremoniously expelled from our house, we made our fourth return to our home, this time with cameras in tow.

Liz had the still camera or most of the time and took some more great flood photos. The first 40 are from our sandbagging days, but skip to the last third and you can see the inside and outside of our flooded house as well as a few shots of the surrounding neighborhood.

With Iowa City on the brink of being split in two, literally and metaphorically, Liz and I are trying to stitch our lives back together. Our friends John and Lindsay have been incredibly generous hosts and now we’ve been lucky enough to get an offer of a furnished home to live in. We’ve registered with FEMA now that the area has been deemed a Presidential Disaster area (thanks George!) and we’re already beginning to plan our return.

The last few days have been trying, but the hectic pace of life during this catastrophe has kept our motors running and our spirits high. There’s simply no time to be depressed when you’re going hard all day.

The waters here are expected to crest in the next three days, and then the river will begin its slow recession bank inside its banks. Who knows how many of our neighbors will return or what will become of our new hood, but we plan on moving back and starting the massive rebuilding project that our home now requires.

If you couldn’t tell from the photos, our furniture is gone, the appliances are toast and the interior will need some major work. But our most valuable things are with us, and well–I know it sounds cliche–we’ve got each other and that’s what matters.

Still, even though our spirits are high, I can’t help but wonder what could have been done differently, better, by the officials. I’ve started to document our experiences and our search for answers. For the moment, that footage has given me the chance to let you all see inside our lives. Have a look:

And for more mainstream media coverage of our story, check this Press-Citizen story, this P-C photo, or this more whimsical Des Moines Register photo.

Thank you again to everyone for the well wishes and the offers of help. It means a lot.

Andrew & Liz

Saturday, June 14th

An update is forthcoming!  We have a long story to share- check back tomorrow for the entirety.

Liz and Andrew