Work on Bungalow – April 2012 – Part 2

The work on the cold water has been successful! Everything on the cold water side  is ok to the valves in the bathrooms and kitchen. Except for a possible small drip above the dining room ceiling. Ron still has to determine if this is still leaking.

The attachment to the outside faucet will need to be addressed later. There is still a 2-3 inch gap in the pipes. And remember this is cold water only. The water to the hot water heater has not been addressed. We’re pretty sure that the hot water heater will need to be replaced and some of the pipes are likely broken on that side, too. But for now, WE HAVE WATER! Next, Ron will be doing some demolition in the main story bathroom so he can install the new toilet & sink.

OK. That was the beginning of the next blog that I had already written in preparation for posting today. And then, Ron went to the property on Sunday to mow the lawns and found the front door of the bungalow standing open. We have yet another break-in and this time the damage is so much worse.

We’re still not sure how they got in but the thieves managed to cut the alarm wires so that we were not notified. Then they proceeded to remove ALL the copper wiring in the basement. They just cut the wires off as they left the fuse box. Then they either snipped them off at the other end or pulled the full length of it out. It will take a lot of time to determine where new wiring needs to be ran. This is such an awful mess now.

 They also removed all the copper water pipes in the basement. Luckily, Ron had turned off the water at the main before leaving on Friday, just in case he had missed any small water leaks. New water pipes will need to be installed everywhere and attached to the stubs they left.

Sorry there are no pictures in this blog but it's hard to take them in absolute darkness. Hopefully, by time we post again, we'll at least have enough light to take some pictures.

And to add insult to injury, they even ran over the end of the downspout Ron installed to dry out the basement. Now that needs to be replaced, too.

The police report has been filed and arrangements made for security services at the house until we can get the electric to the alarms fixed. We need to re-evaluate the security/alarm setup we had installed and determine what all is needed to ensure we're alerted next time. It is so frustrating that we thought we were covered by the alarm system but they found a way in and destroyed so much.

We also need to adjust our project plan and make some major revisions to the overall timeline. And of course, this is a major blow to the budget and funds we’re working with. As we’ve said before, we don’t just have a couple hundred thousand dollars waiting around to be spent. (Estimated damage is $7,000 - $10,000 of damage/loss since they also took some of Ron's tools.) 

Normally, I’m not easily discouraged, however, this break-in has hit me hard. All that Ron accomplished over the past month has been destroyed and more. He’s estimated the damage will set him back hundreds of hours worth of work. Why do people do this? We’re just average people trying to save a couple wonderful old homes and hopefully help the neighborhood.