# Rebuilding the Land Yacht



## kwikfishron (Mar 11, 2010)

Welcome to the forum. :thumbsup:

I've been through three floods myself (never again) so I feel your pain.

Just be sure to post your questions in the appropriate sub forums on this site and just post the pretty after pictures and stories here.


----------



## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

RJ, that is heart breaking, I can only imagine how you and your family felt. Looking forward to seeing your progress.


----------



## forcedreno2012 (Nov 9, 2012)

Todays efforts.....did some replacement of siding and some priming....I HATE bare wood siding just sucks up the paint like no tomorrow. 

Going to attack the trim, soffit and fascia over the next few days and then get some real color up. The gutters had fallen on this side before we bought the house so the fascia rotted so this is the only area to be replaces thankfully.

Robyn


----------



## forcedreno2012 (Nov 9, 2012)

And todays effort...some color finally. Then a shot of tomorrows work lol.


----------



## forcedreno2012 (Nov 9, 2012)

*We have trim!!*

Got most of the trim up today and replaced the rotting fascia. 

Caulk Caulk Caulk...gosh I hate that stuff. 

Stupid tube back snapped in two and caulk all over me, the house, the grass and the dog. Got it done with the exception of the end pieces that will wait till the other wall is done. Supposed to rain tomorrow so will clean up and sand the older fascia and hopefully get a coat of primer up before it rains.


----------



## forcedreno2012 (Nov 9, 2012)

looking MUCH better. Have to do one more coat on the trim but looks heaps better than when we started.


----------



## Jim McClain (Dec 2, 2006)

Can't tell too much from the first "before" picture, but I'm bettin' this is looking nicer than the original homestead. Right? Caulking is messy, but it is the great protector - from water and from bugs. I have used a ton of caulk on my recent project, but I think it's gonna be worth the hassle.










Jim


----------



## forcedreno2012 (Nov 9, 2012)

Jim - Just realized you are right. Here is a crappy before picture. The storm tore up the gutters and there was a single old window that we replaced with the two. We also had to replace half the siding because of flood damage. 

I broke the misters caulking gun so had to get a new one today. Can't complain it was a cheap $1.50 one that has lasted over 13 years. Now I have to break in a new one. But yes caulking makes all the difference. Something I wish I had learned years ago.


----------



## forcedreno2012 (Nov 9, 2012)

Getting there..... First coat on the porch and other wall and trim. Busted my rear end the last couple of days but really starting to see progress.

I have been in a Mexican stand off with a kamikaze flying lizard the last two days. He would jump from the bush to the house and vice versa, well today he jumped on my brush and I just reacted on instinct and lets just say he went where no lizard has gone before...as in across the yard.

Robyn


----------



## Arlo (Jan 17, 2008)

This must be so frustrating for you but the house is looking good with new windows, siding and paint!

I have one of those houses on stilts in NC. The laundry room and garage are at ground level and the house is 8' up. The laundry and garage got 14" with Hurricane Irene so I had a tiny percent of damage compared to what you had. Just curious if you had Federal Flood insurance? If so did they take care of you? I did not make a claim since laundry/garage were in the flood plain. I'm curious whether all the folks in N.J. that are still devastated from Sandy had flood insurance. It seems like the ones profiled on TV inherited their house or have owned them more than 30 years thus no mortgage company would be hounding them to stay insured.


----------



## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

forcedreno2012 said:


> I have been in a Mexican stand off with a kamikaze flying lizard the last two days. He would jump from the bush to the house and vice versa, well today he jumped on my brush and I just reacted on instinct and lets just say he went where no lizard has gone before...as in across the yard.
> 
> Robyn


:laughing::laughing::laughing:


----------



## forcedreno2012 (Nov 9, 2012)

Arlo, Thanks for the kind words. 

With regards to your questions no, we did not have flood insurance. We had just moved down here, hadn't even unpacked the boxes. Had hurricane and everything else but no flood. Hindsight's 20/20 

We are not in a flood zone and are 10 miles from the ocean. (I'm sure we soon will be though :laughing:.) The house withstood georges and Katrina. Our flooding issue was caused by a slow moving storm with 19 inches of rain and a certain city nearby opening their floodgates without warning. Ended up with over 600 families with a minimum of 4 feet of water. We had more damage than the folks with storm surge.

I am not sure on the folks up north, there was a lot of political shenanigans that went on. Rumor has it that if they did not have flood insurance then they could purchase it and it would be back dated to prior to Sandy. Not sure if that is true or not but I hope it is true as there are many people in a world of hurt up there. 

I know that the NFIP does a good job with what they have. We were down here just after Katrina helping out and from what we saw they took care of things as best they could with the sheer volume they were dealing with.

We are lucky, we retired young, have the tools and technology and a willingness to getterdone. I feel for the young families that are trying to deal with this while working and supporting their families. Compared to them, we have it easy.

Robyn


----------



## forcedreno2012 (Nov 9, 2012)

Well 13 inches of rain in less than 24 hours...yes I said 13 INCHES. Was getting ready to dust off the sandbags again but luckily things worked as they should and no one opened their floodgates. On a sad note there are a few families that are still rebuilding down here that got another 4 feet of water yesterday. I'm not sure I could have coped with that. 

Soooooo being as its wet outside I was stuck inside. We insulated 2 rooms and started fixing up the drywall prior to the new stuff getting hung. I think we are about a week away from getting the inspection done so we can close up the back half of the house. 

Below is a picture of one my hard at work helpers while I was putting up the insulation. As you can see they are overworked and underfed and generally mistreated.

Robyn


----------



## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

I would be gun shy about now, that much rain I would have sure been sweating it. You should build a 5 foot stone wall around your house to keep the water out. If I was building down there I would have a 5 foot concrete wall for my exterior walls of my house and build the regular walls on the concrete walls. I would keep the house at the regular height from the ground. When it started to rain hard just slide in a metal plate in at the door openings and it would be good to go, no flooding the house.


----------



## forcedreno2012 (Nov 9, 2012)

Trust me Jim I have thought about putting up a wall. 

They have approved major infrastructure improvements where all the other families were that flooded again so that is good. I think we were just in nervous Nellie mode there for a while.

The sun came out today for the first time in like a week but things are still wet outside so we continued on inside. Below are a few shots from what we have doing 

The first is where we tore out a wall and had someone put up the infamous beam. I now have a walk in closet. The left hand side is where we will be extending out and re-doing the master bath but that is waaaay in the future. 

The second shows what I have been doing while locked in the house. I don't know why but when they put up the drywall in the house they ran the tape but didn't mud out the tape or feather it out so there is this massive ditch and then the tape. I have been fixing all of that so when we hang the new stuff its all level and neat. They also liked pictures. A LOT of pictures and pink walls. And if they missed the stud with the nail for said pictures..thats okay we will try another 30 times till we get it right and leave the holes there. You can also see the firring strips where we removed all the older than me ceiling tiles. I then had to go back and remove 9 million staples.

The third shot is one of these holes that keep getting cut in my drywall. If I catch the bastard that keeps doing it there will be hell to pay :laughing:. If I hear "its only gong to be a small hole honey" one more time...I told him today, okay come here and let me put a small hole in your head!! 

Moving along though. Only have to wire in the bathroom fan and put up the smoke alarms and then I think we can get inspected. 

Robyn


----------



## forcedreno2012 (Nov 9, 2012)

*My My doesnt time fly when you are not having fun...*

Gah cannot believe it has been over a year since I updated this. Things have been a little crazy round the land yacht. Rebuild came to a screeching halt towards the end of last year due to some medical issues but we are back on track now. 

The outside of the house is complete with the exception of a few pieces of trim and Is looking good. Still have gutters to go but those will have to wait.

We have all but finished the back half of the house on the inside and have moved everything back there and are now working on the front fun part.....to include actually having a freaking kitchen. Camp stove is getting REALLY old. 

I am pretty stoked with my drywall finishing. It has been 6 months since we finished the back half and not a singe drywall pop and no sagging etc. Trim and doors look awesome and the paint job isn't too shabby either. 

Will update with some pics when I find the dam camera...keep moving things around and I cannot find anything but I know where every stinkin tool is :laughing:. 

Again a big fat thank you to you all. You have been patient with my silly questions and willing with your advice and couldn't have come this far without your help.


----------



## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

Good to see you back, we were thinking of sending out a search party for you. LOL


----------



## forcedreno2012 (Nov 9, 2012)

Thanks Jim....Man it is sooooo good to be able to get back into things. Been so crazy sitting on my ass not being able to do anything. 

Today I got ticked off at the floor so did some demo.....nothing like breaking things to ease the tension. 

The first picture is where we are opening up the living area and getting a beam. We had the beam work sized and blessed by an engineer and will have someone else put It in....suckers a little to heavy for me. Amazing what opening up a wall with do for the lighting. Note the "dedicated" fridge circuit that was jerry rigged in the past. No box cover not in the wall it was just hanging down behind a cupboard. :laughing:

The second boring picture will have an after shot in a day or two with two new windows then I can rip out the nasty ceiling tiles and work some sheetrock magic. Planning now for kitchen electric so getting closer. 

Robyn


----------

