A snail's pace, but bit by bit...

What a full day. For starters, again, I awoke way too early - about 4:00 a.m. - finally got up, and put the second coat of paint on my tables before daylight. About 9:00 Jim called. Jim is the guy from mold inspection, and said he would be here at 11:00. Great. So, a quick bath, dressed, my yard man came and went to pay him and he wanted to visit about the storm. Then Jim drove up.
No instruments, no testing devices - only his measuring tape and a table of paper. Some inspection. I kept asking about what about testing, well, he didn't have any more of the testing equipment - blah, blah. Basically it seems his idea of mold inspection is if it looks supicious, tear it out! Doesn't matter what it is! Some inspection, huh!

But he did understand about the ceiling and said that it can be cut and then joined with normal Sheetrock and textured. We went though all the places and he measured and diagramed and photographed everything. He showed me an estimate he did of another customer, and it will look similar to what the insurance company does, which is better than just picking a number out of the blue. He said he'd have it ready hopefully Friday. I called my insurance lady and let her talk to him and ask whatever questions she had. So, that worked out well too. He commented after the call what a nice lady she is and how she seemed to be a real pleasure to work with.

As soon as he was gone, I left to go with my mom to get her car inspected and oil changed and stuff. Got back to her house and I got a call from James. James is the guy I contacted on SoutheastTexas.com about tearing off my room and my roof. He wanted to come out, so, I had to hurry to get back home.

He stayed a couple hours looking at the roof, the patio, the room. He said the room is in such good condition, that if he takes it down, he most definitely will put it on his own property and use it himself! All it needs is a good roof! (He said the blue roof that I have two layers of now and that leaked the first hint of rain - he said it's not put on very well. Not sure if it will hold up very long! Surprise!) So, since I'm 50/50 on keep it/get rid of it, I thought maybe I do want to keep it. His estimate on the house roof is reasonable and his ideas about the patio were good. So, I think I'll probably be working with him on all the roof issues. He doesn't seem to be a fly-by-night roofer, seems to be a little higher caliber than some others that are out there.

I really cannot decide what to do on my room! This is an extremely stressful decision. But I'll wait and see what the bid comes back for the inside work Friday, see how my numbers are all stacking up, and maybe then it will help me decide. Even to have the room as a work room is nice and the extra storage. And it does add value to my house, not that I would sell it anyway. But on the other hand, the roof is a real problem, and I do have to pay extra heating and cooling bills. Either way, I can't get rid of it till after my insurance has sent me the funds. I can see it now, "No, we won't give you money to fix something you don't have!" So, I have some time to think about it... enie, meenie, miney, mo...

All in all, I feel like things are shaping up. I've talked to several people, gotten a good handle on what my issues are and feel like I can make some more informed decisions about ceilings and things like that. This last man, James, being in real estate, too, has seen the fiascos that mold can cause and grief in people's lives, has the philosophy it's a lot of politics involved, and I do agree with that. I mean, this is S.E. Texas and we have mold and mildew. We always have and we always will.

Still, I know my house has the smell. I think the bad places I will fix, and the not so bad places I'll wash with clorox or get some industrial strength mold stuff and paint and call it a day. I figure it's about half to fix of what we've looked at and the other half will be okay.

In the meantime, while waiting on these things to come through, I guess I'll do my last coat of varnish, put my desk together when they've had plenty of time for the varnish to cure, and continue the spring cleaning.