Un-Natural Disaster.....

Sunday - November 11th brought in a nasty storm. It was blowing 50 knots in the harbour with gusts up to 80 knots. (1 knot = 1.16miles/hour). Our house took a beating & got a few scrapes & gnashes. We are ever so thankful that we have builder's insurance, but this is setting us back a few more weeks so we will more than likely not be moved in before Christmas........

We awoke Monday, the 12th to a wonderfully sunny day - NO POWER & a horror show over at the house. As you see, this is the east side of the roof with chunks missing. We found all the shingles (yes, someone asked me if we found the missing ones....) & they were shattered all over the lawn & around the house.

This is the west side of the house with only a few smaller chunks missing. Looking at it all in the bright sunshine was a bit unreal, but we quickly got the camera in action & called the insurance agent to see if we would be covered for replacement material. As it turns out, we have excellent coverage that also includes cost of labour!

By-the-by - the shingles are warranteed for 35 years in 145 kph winds, so there really wasn't any reason for them to rip off like they did. The carpenter spoke with his roofer buddy & was reassured that he did put them on correctly......

This is the sliding glass door frame which was damaged also. It will need to be replaced but we can still use the old one for a shed or something (greenhouse??). We are lucky that none of the windows shattered because then the house would be even more wet!

This is the 2 x 5 foot window directly above the sliding glass door. It has a nasty scratch & a hole punched in the frame. It will be replaced as well.

This is the dining room window beside the sliding glass door. The taped areas indicate some nasty scratches that I don't think I could live with for the next 25 years. It will be replaced as well, but with tempered glass.

By Tuesday night (this photo taken at 5 pm when I returned from work) the boys had come & put up a huge blue tarp that can be seen very plainly from across the harbour. While the paper under the shingles did not rip off, any extra protection is extra protection.

The end of the tarp flaps & is keeping me up at night. I can't tell if it's just flapping gently in the wind or being ripped right off the roof!!

The power was off from sometime early-early Monday morning til Wednesday at 3 pm. Lucky us to have it back on for a few hours - we are quickly washing laundry, dishes & ourselves. When I left work & stopped by the store, there were about 300 sea gulls in the harbour seeking protection around the docks. You may find it interesting to note that while we are a coastal community, our typical sea gull population is very small - only a dozen or so. That's why, when we see very large numbers in the harbour - we know that it's going to be a nasty night. Hurricane force winds are being called for on the north part of the island & the rains have returned.

I'm not sure how much more of this house-building stuff I can take. Just when we seem to be moving forward, something keeps us from getting too far (either lazy-ass workers or forces of mother nature).