Winter is fast approaching
Alright since we left off last time, we have moved out of the Airbnb a couple times and back in. If you haven’t checked out my previous post read click here to read “A burden too heavy and a few new places to stay short term.” If you are just joining us you can click here “Fire Safety and Protections from the flames” to go back to the beginning. The beginning is always a good place to start don’t you think? So, by now, I’m on a first name basis with the people at our local U-Haul. In Morgantown WV, it being a college town, there isn’t much temporary housing available. Most everything wants a one-year lease. Well, that is probably what we should’ve looked for. Because now at the time I’m writing this it has been over a year since the initial fire and almost a year since we moved out for the “three-to-six-month remediation” to take place.
Alright we are in the Airbnb. Nothing has really happened with the house since the end of October 2024. Yeah, it is supposed to be winterized, right? TRC just laughed at me. My tractor has always lived in the basement garage of the house with heat in the winter, so my tires are just filled with water. I’ll need to fill the tires with something, so they don’t freeze either. It got cold during November cold enough to freeze, would you let a remediation company cause extra damage to your house because of their negligence? Would you let them cause all the plumbing and fixtures to burst due to freezing temperatures? You wouldn’t? Okay, I wouldn’t either and I didn’t. RV antifreeze pumped through all the plumbing system that I could get the RV antifreeze through. Some of the lines had already burst in the first freeze prior to this. Before the RV antifreeze I had opened all the valves and drained the water heater and used an air compressor to blow out what moisture I could. RV antifreeze is different from washer fluid and regular antifreeze in several areas, but the key differences are that RV antifreeze is non-toxic and that it doesn’t expand when it freezes. Yes, RV antifreeze will freeze. It does not have the low freezing point that regular antifreeze has but it won’t expand. So, with your lines filled with RV antifreeze you can close the valves and leave it in the lines, and it protects until it is time to flush the line out and put it back in service.
So now that winter has arrived what used to be just walking out in the yard to take care of our chickens and geese is now an event. Bundle up, drive to the “old house” as we call it. We actually had some snow this winter so on top of traveling to the old house to get the car back out once there the driveway would need to be plowed. So now I’ve got to fire the tractor up, get the tractor out, put the blade on, clear the driveway, take the blade back off, put the tractor away, and finally get to go back to the Airbnb. Sound tiring? It is believe me!
Heat Pumps usually aren’t made for this kind of cold temperatures. Emergency or Supplemental heat would be beneficial to maintain the temperatures in the living space.
Sidebar here about Heat Pumps. Heat Pumps are good for heating and cooling. You basically get an A/C and furnace in one unit. The condenser and coil can swap roles by using a reversing valve. In the summer the hot air is vented outside and the cool air to inside your home. In the winter the reversing valve allows the heat to be captured inside the home and the cold air is vented outside. There is a downside…. When it gets too cold the Heat Pump cannot keep up. In climates like ours you’ll need an emergency heat option. Some people use the electric option, but electric heat is expensive and, in our area, unreliable. I would prefer natural gas, but gas isn’t always available in all areas. Propane would be my next option. Depending upon your propane supplier you can rent tanks, buy tanks, some offer a summer buy program where you can purchase so many gallons in the summer at a discounted rate and use them through the winter. The first year it might be difficult to judge how many gallons you need, but after a couple years you should have a fairly, decent idea of how much propane it takes to heat throughout the year. If you are somewhere with a mild climate a heat pump might work great all by itself but the colder the winters get the more, you will need some sort of emergency heat system to go along with the heat pump.
Okay, back to our regularly scheduled program… November goes by…. Nothing done to the house…. December goes by…. Still nothing. January…. It is a new year, maybe now things will happen? Near the end of January some work happens, not much, just looking at some Asbestos tape that was on the old duct work. February is when the stuff really starts to happen.
Get your boots on stuff is going to start flying and get deep quick…. Forget the boots get chest waders, maybe a boat.
My daughter’s birthday is in February and I get a phone call from a subcontractor for TRC lets call him M^D. M^D calls and absolutely starts cussing me out about moving stuff back in the home… Wait? What? What are you talking about? He says when he looked at it in January it was empty and now there are beds, and couches, etc. Ugh? Dude? That stuff was in there all along! No it hasn’t you moved it in he says. He tells me he called the contact with TRC let’s call him BLAH. M^D tells me that BLAH told him the house was completely empty. I’m like you both know it was full of stuff it has been full of the same things all winter long. My dad and I call BLAH. BLAH tries to tell my dad that I moved that stuff into the house. My dad and I both know better. BLAH finally agrees that the stuff was in there all along and he will make sure M^D covers everything with drop cloths to protect it from paint spatter.
I’m thinking to myself. No wonder they were so dead set on leaving things in the house… This was a set up. TRC was acting like they’d save me money just so they could use this to get out of doing the work later. WOW!
Okay so M^D does some work to the house, did I mention I stop by almost everyday and document what work has been done? If you follow my advice you won’t need to stop by every day because you’ll have people you know and trust helping you out and watching out for you. You’ll even have an on-site representative there watching but I still recommend you personally are involved as much as possible with your contractor and your lawyer there also.
I stop by on my birthday…. What do I find? So, the lady who was there for the demo work from TRC had made sure everything was on furniture dollies to be moved from one area to the other. I find all the items have been removed from the shelves and the dollies and just thrown into a pile. Not just thrown into a pile the items also were covered with paint spray. Was this intentional? Who would do something like this?
I’m going to leave this installment here. If you are asking yourself, is this painful to re-live?” I’ll just let you know, yes! Very much so!
At this point I feel like Job and am thinking “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me” Job 3:25
Know this dear reader even if you are in similar circumstances no matter how dark or how bleak things look. God promises to Never leave nor forsake us – “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Hebrews 13:5 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” Psalms 46:1
In times of trouble like these you need a support group. People who can help you and encourage you. People you can confide in. Like your contractor I mentioned earlier and your lawyer.
And who better to turn to than Jesus Christ King of Kings, Lord of Lord, Jesus sits on the right hand of God in Heaven. He was made in the likeness of men, he knows exactly what it is like to live here on this earth and to endure hardships and temptations. Who could possibly know more about enduring hardship than the one who died on the Cross for the sins of the world and God rose from the dead to be our salvation.
