Last Thursday I got a call....my house was on fire. I arrived to this: PXL_20230601_173530588 by Numbchux, on Flickr PXL_20230601_191809828 by Numbchux, on Flickr No humans were home, but our 2 cats could not escape and did not make it. Kitchen is decimated. PXL_20230601_172647994 by Numbchux, on Flickr PXL_20230601_172645275 by Numbchux, on Flickr Roof and ceiling joists above the kitchen are gone, the only thing above there was the metal roof. But, the fire didn't proceed beyond the kitchen. The antique heirloom dining room set, which was only a foot or so through the doorway from the kitchen, is fine. Smoke and soot damage is considerable throughout the house. Water damage from the fire fighting efforts are considerable. The door to my daughter's room was closed, so the smoke damage in there is minimal, but the water in the attic collapsed the sheetrock in the ceiling of her room, so there's still a ton of water and debris in there. I ran the generator so I could plug in the sump pump last Friday, because there was about 3 inches of water in the basement. The heat was so intense that plastic picture frames higher up on the walls melted and fell apart. Here's the wall-mounted TV in our bedroom (probably 20 feet from the doorway to the kitchen). PXL_20230603_200916294~2 by Numbchux, on Flickr So far, Auto Owners Insurance and our agents at the broker Young and Associates have been great to deal with. Getting the house boarded up, advancing us some money on the claim, getting us into an extended stay hotel with a 2 bedroom suite with a kitchen, so we can live a little more comfortably. And they've arranged a townhouse starting July 1st, where we will be able to stay until we can move home again (this is all paid up front, we only have to put down damage deposits and utilities at the townhouse). A fire investigation team spent most of the day there on Friday, they are trying to find the remains of 2 Amazon Fire (ahem) kids tablets that were in the cupboard, and the USB power adapter that one was plugged into.
Holy phuck! I am so sorry. That **** has to be the worst to deal with...so many messes on so many different levels...charred, smoke damage, water damage, etc. I hope you had some documentation as to personal possessions. I'll be interested to hear what the investigation comes up with. Charging batteries in so many things nowadays makes me nervous. Where we moved from last summer in Eden Prairie was about 2 blocks away from the Lee Drive fires/explosions in EP that has been on the news recently.
Oh no! That's terrible! I'm very glad you and your family are unharmed. Sorry you have to go through this.
Man, that sucks Matt. I am grateful that it sounds to have been a smooth interaction with your insurance. I did fire restoration’s for a little over a decade. It is a long and meticulous process. We’ll be praying for you guys.
Wow! Praying for wisdom and favor with everything involved and that your family will supernaturally be provided for and restored better than before. Keep faith and hope at the forefront of your mind.
Thanks guys, certainly a nightmare. We toured a townhouse that has availability as of July 1st, today, and it'll work for us. So apparently the housing company is going to secure it for us. They're also going to rent furniture for us, so we don't have to worry about that right now. Fire investigators and Electrical engineer still have too many questions. Sounds like the next step involves putting all of the debris from the kitchen into totes, and take it to the engineers lab for processing, and they will X-ray and CT scan the batteries to try to determine whether they failed internally or externally. Hopefully that will happen next week, and we can really start the process of removing what's worth rescuing, and inventorying what is ruined.
If you ever need any consulting Chux, let me know. I was a certified fire restoration technician for over a decade. I’m here if you have any questions about the process or anything else.
Oh man this is my worst nightmare. Poor cats I always worry this will happen and my dogs wont be able to escape. Sorry to hear hope it all turns out ok. So they think the tablets caused the fire? Lithium ion batteries are scary and dangerous and in EVERYTHING these days.
They seem to think so. I think they're just excited at the prospect of making Amazon pay for it. From what I heard the engineer say last week, it's very difficult to prove that they caused the fire, and even if they do, they were charged with an aftermarket charger (was also bought from Amazon, even though it was a cheap one), which makes it almost impossible to prove anything. Good news is the charger survived pretty well (likely knocked out of the plug and covered by falling debris fairly early in the fire), and I bought 2 at the same time, so we still have a working one. So they might be able to prove that it was providing the correct voltage and amperage at the time. But it seems like a long shot. In other news, we heard from the housing company, and we can move into the townhouse early, so by the end of next week, we can really settle into a space we'll be in until the house is ready, one way or the other.
Holy crap! Sorry this happened. Hopefully everything goes smoothly with insurance and rebuild or whatever is next.
I hope daddy Bezos is forced to buy you a nice new house! lol He bought his mom a $40M mansion in Miami, whats a modest house in MN to him? Literally pocket change.
Finally some news. They are not going to try to subrogate, the cost to determine and prove the cause of the fire would likely be more than any reimbursement they might get. So, it's officially a write-off. The contents adjuster has inventoried everything but the clothes on the main floor, so we did that yesterday. Pretty depressing putting most of our belongings on a spreadsheet and a garbage bag. We are going to have a restoration company work on many of our belongings, but the cost of restoration is more than the cost of replacement on most things, so unless it's sentimental, it's getting tossed. That said, I found these: PXL_20230717_182600978 by Numbchux, on Flickr And another MNSubaru shirt from another run. And the melted TV out in the sunlight PXL_20230717_172559752 by Numbchux, on Flickr In somewhat related news, we bought a "new" house. We're moving to the cities, it's 3.5 miles down the road from where my parents live (and I grew up). 2+ acres, smallish house, but still 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms (1 of each are unfinished), 2 oversized 2 car garages, and a farmall tractor with a front loader on it.
Hope the cataloging and claim goes smooth for you and doesn't turn into a bunch of back and forth squabbling with the insurer. And congrats on finding a new place to call your own.
So I gotta ask. Do you mean "the cities" as in Minneapolis? Cuz aren't you currently up by Duluth or something? And with a pretty massive collection of yard goodies? What happens with all that stuff?
Who are you working with for the fire mitigation? And what part of the “cities”? Speaking of, will you be in the twin cities next Thursday/Friday?(unrelated topic)
PS, don’t toss your cruise shirts. Give them a couple of good washes with Dawn(a drop), baking soda, and detergent. Then repeat.
Yep and yep, I've been in the Duluth area for 19 years next month. And yes, 21 cars will have to be dealt-with (and a boat, and jet ski, and canoe, and a bunch of other ****). Many of the cars are not worth transporting, so they will be parted out, sold and/or scrapped. The property won't be ready to sell until spring at the earliest, so there's some time to deal with all that. Good news is I will still have some acreage, and garage space for about 5 cars, so I can keep the good ones. DryCo. Outer western suburbs where I grew up, the place we bought is about a mile into the Mound Westonka school district, but we open enrolled them into Orono where I went. No, I'll definitely be up here next week. I'm definitely not throwing them. I saved probably 40 T shirts that I'll be making some attempt to salvage. We'll see what the bill from DryCo is with the more important stuff (heirlooms, my wife's wedding dress, etc.), and I might have them just do an Ozone treatment on them. Otherwise we've already had good luck with a vinegar soak before washing.
I'm bringing my RX8 project. Drifting is not my goal for it, but being front engine RWD and 350ish hp (Toyota 2GR V6, MR2 guys are getting 300rwhp with a MAF housing and a tune, and 400RWHP with intake manifold and cams), it wouldn't take much of a setup change to do that. Most of the crusty subarus will get parted/sold/crushed. My Brat will come along, even though it's horrifically crusty, because Brat. Definitely coming with '04 Outback VDC, DD '03 Odyssey, DD '02 Outback VDC, future DD '04 Baja, wife's future toy car '01 Outback VDC, wiring/electronics donor for the Baja '87 4Runner '91 Celica '03 Tacoma fabricobbled crane truck '05 RX8 project '84 Brat '09 Kia Rio (technically my in-laws, they gave it to us so they would have something to drive when they visit) Maybe '97 SVX '89 XT6 '94 Ford E150 Conversion van '12 Impreza (mom's salvage titled oil burner with a blown CVT former DD) '04 Outback H6 35th anniversary Definitely go away 2 '00 Outbacks '92 SVX Other '94 E150 Conversion van '00 Forester
Do Phase 2 EZ30. More power, newer, more support, more common, just plain better. I love the EG33, but it's an unsupported dinosaur.
Filled up 2 dumpsters in the last 2 days. Over 30 totes of stuff and some furniture we're saving as-is, and 2 vans full of stuff to go to DryCo to be restored. I'm really tired....physically and mentally. 0 out of 10, do not recommend. Have an interview at Lexus of Wayzata on Monday....
Good luck with the interview. I would like to think a Lexus store would be a good one to work for. Do they belong to one of the big automotive groups? Edit: Napleton Automotive Group out of Chicago...never heard of them...appear to be a big player. Interesting.
Yea, sounds like Napleton bought them about 4 years ago. Had a pretty good interview at Lexus, the parts manager at Hopkins Honda pulled me in to his office and was very excited to get me in there. Dropped my resume at a few other places. My daughter got to tour her new school. My son got to visit the new daycare. I got to sit in a weekday 169 parking lot....
That is just part of its charm!? Lmao. I wouldn’t think that you’d ever have to deal with too much traffic on a daily basis from Mound to Wayzata though. So hopefully Lexus works out!
Agreed! That'd be a pretty easy commute. We'll see what the offer actually is. Filled out background check information for Hopkins Honda....so I guess you could say it's getting serious.
It's already been nearly a month down here.....still constant work/phone calls/etc. to deal with the insurance/real estate agent/contractor. "New" house is every bit of a basket case that we expected. That's also been a constant project. But we're living there, the new septic is in, basement bathroom is gutted and nearly ready for reconstruction. All main floor rooms are painted. 1950 Farmall H tractor with front loader that came with the house runs great, and has been hugely helpful with the basement (walkout) demolition. We're slowly gathering furniture and really settling in. 2023-09-25_12-19-02 by Numbchux, on Flickr I'm working at Bloomington Subaru. It's further than I wanted to commute, and I actually didn't apply there. But after my interview at Hopkins Honda (both Luther dealers), my resume was handed up the chain, and I got a call from a corporate parts guy, who made it worth my while. I'm liking it a lot, but learning their systems and blowing off the Subaru dust is taking some time. 4 cars are moved. Might buy a Suburban for bringing more stuff.
Offer still stands to borrow my truck and trailer if you need too as well as my offer to help one weekend if you cover the gas in the truck for me.
Thanks man, I appreciate it, and will keep you in mind. Plan A is still to get something of my own to simplify logistics and such. I was up there last weekend, and I have SO much $#!+ to move....
Bought this on Saturday 2023-10-02_10-50-10 by Numbchux, on Flickr Rusty, leaks oil, leaks power steering fluid, A/C doesn't work, RR door handle is broken, fan clutch is seized, front end is a little loose (that's what she said). Only has a 3500 lb universal hitch on it (good news is it hasn't worked very hard) and 210k miles. But runs and drives great. A whole lot of truck for $1500. $1500 GMT800s up north are beat to the edge of their life! It will probably just stay hooked up to my car trailer....
My parents had a Tahoe from this year and they hardly drove it but was drove alot on dirt. Despite only having about 140k miles the body rusted away from the driveline. Great long running motors.
