Happy Anniversary!

Christ, what a mess! House insurance?

Still, with critters around, laminate’s a great solution. We have precisely ONE (if rather large) cat, and I can never believe the amount of underfur etc. the vacuum snorts up.

Betty,
  Make sure you dry the sub floor well before doing the laminate, run fans.  Also pull back the baseboards and check that the dry wall at the base is dry (older drywall sucks up water like crazy) other wise you will get mold.

Thanks, Teri. That’s excellent advice. I think we’ll be walking on concrete for the next few days.

Brit, I dare not make a claim. Today’s the first day of hurricane season. ;-)

I had a fun incident in my apartment a few years ago where the kitchen sink blew up. A jet of water bored through the ceiling and the entire kitchen got flooded. After mopping and shop-vaccing and cleaning the kitchen all day, I woke up the next morning to find that all the water had caused the ceiling in the kitchen to collapse. Fun times, fun times…  :)

Ooo, I’ve got a good horror story.  In DC, builders ran dryer exhaust vent line over AC vent.  No noticeable problem until you’ve done several loads of laundry in the middle of summer. Hot, wet air circulates next to cold air. Hot air cools, loses ability to hold water.  Water leaves air, soaks ceiling. 

On the upside, it didn’t screw up the carpet.

Tom65 beat me in the very first comment!  Just remember, the family that pulls up carpet together…uh, stinks together?

Happy Anniversary to the Crackers.

Happy Anniversary!

That sums it up because nothing says “I love you” more than new, laminate flooring.

Heh, and I thought my 3-month old grand-niece peeing on the guest bed was a mini-disaster.

I live in a place where you can count on getting a new roof and a totally pounded into mush garden every 6 - 7 years thanks to hail. I can deal with that; big stuff like hurricanes and tornadoes scare the crap outta me.  Betty, you are a braver woman than I*. 

* wet stinky carpet thanks to a flood obviously requires courage and good humor as well. 

Pro Tip:  The moisture aspect has been well-covered above, but for laminate I can offer the following advice: buy the best you can afford and it will look exponentially better than the bottom-of-the-line stuff, guaranteed.  Also, geriatric dogs (just thinking ahead) can have trouble with slick floors like that, but buying some cheap runner carpet at Lowes helps considerably with their traction needs.

Ugh. My condolences on the mess.

What a mess! I feel for ya, Betty. Our never-before flooded basement broke a ten year tradition and water seeped in everywhere. It’s a semi-finished basement, so carpet had to be yanked out and pitched and a fuckton of stored stuff had to be hauled out.  Our dehumidifier has been running and we have three fans going ful blast to move the air up and out the back door. It’s gross.

Insurance wouldn’t cover it; no dough for a remodel. Sigh.

Enjoy the new laminate; it will be wonderful!

Ugh ugh ugh. That soaks.

Betty-
We had something similar happen with the refrigerator.  All the wood flooring in my kitchen, dining room, living room, and front hall buckled.  Insurance covered almost all of it.  Call your insurance guy before you give up.