We had just come back from a trip to town about 6:00 PM and had stoked the fire in the wood stove before we sat down to watch a video on the TV. After a few minutes Lori said she smelled smoke, so I went to check the stove. Everything seemed to be fine so I closed the vents on the stove and went back to watch the video. Within a few more minutes Lori said the smoke seemed to be getting worse. She went to look out the bedroom window at the chimney and noticed a 'glow' coming from under the eves of the roof. She called 911 right away while I got the dogs outside and we grabbed a few items including our laptop computers because we knew we had most of our family photos stored on mine.
Our next door neighbor was the first to arrive and started to fight the fire using our garden hose. Soon a couple other neighbors arrived and helped Lori to get more things out of the house before the rest of the Volunteer Fire Department began to arrive.
But the fire quickly burned through the roof of the west end of the house and what had been our original cabin was soon fully engulfed.
The roof soon collapsed into the building. At this point this part of the house is a total loss and they just want to keep it from spreading to the main section.
The neighbor who was first to arrive was able to keep the fire from spreading to the main floor of the main house by using the garden hose. But the fire had already spread up into the attic of the main house and it burned the full length of the attic destroying the structural integrity of the rafters.
You can see how the roofing metal is discolored and warped in this next photo.
Here is what was left of our 'stuff'.
Doesn't look much better from this angle, does it?
This is a view of the attic of the main house looking out the end where the fire got in.
So in addition to the west end of the house having to be rebuilt from the ground up, the entire roof of the main house has to be torn off.
What you can't tell from these photos is that the whole place smells like a cold, damp campfire pit
We had to spend several days inside the house taking inventory of all the food from the refrigerator and pantry, as well as other things we had to throw away because the toxic smoke had contaminated it all.
We had to do this inside... in the cold and the dark... because the power had been cut off during the fire and the only source of heat had been that wood stove that caused the fire in the first place. It was only 20 degrees inside the house when we had to do this. Even the toilets are frozen solid.
The contents have all been removed from the house and everything is being cleaned and deoderized in Spokane. Everything that can be salvaged will be stored in Spokane until the repairs to the house are complete and then it will all be hauled back home again..
Here you can see the demoltion has begun upstairs. This is looking the same direction as the photo in the attic above. The windows seen in the far room had been blown out by the fire and that room suffered major water damage. Some water got down into our bedroom below as well.
The destroyed section of our home has been demolished and the dumpter is being filled with debris from that structure as well as the debris from upstairs.
This next photo shows the construction workers have already replaced the posts for the new structure, placing them deeper and within poured concrete forms to meet the building code requirements, They are also taking advantage of the sunny weather to begin replacing the roof structure on the main house. The old unused concrete block chimney has already been removed and the outdoor temperature is still well below freezing.
This photo was taken February 7th, 2012.
The new roof is being installed and the floor of the new structure is getting built.
February 17th and they just got the roof done and the walls up on the new structure before the snow came again.
The upstairs is now enclosed
We're going to have windows in this west end wall (below) once they figure where the new structure's roof trusses come up to.
The 3 foot high knee walls will contain wire runs and have plenty of electrical outlets.
Here's another angle looking up from the lower road... It's going to be awsome!
February 23rd. The inspector said the framing is good to go. The facia board is up on the new construction and it's wrapped and ready for siding.
The crap upstairs has been cleaned up, the electrical is roughed in and the upstairs is almost ready for insulation and sheetrock.
March 8th update: Here are a few shots of the inside of the new shop,which replaces the end of the house that burned to the ground. There are four 2X4 single hung windows on the south wall, one on the west wall and one on the north wall. In the first photo, Lori is standing approximately where the new wood stove will be installed. The dogs like it! They left that hole in the wall on the right to bring the sheetrock in rather than try to maneuver it thru the kitchen and living room at the other end of the house.
Here you can see three of the four south wall windows from the inside. the fourth is to the left of the frame.
And here is a shot of the outside of that same wall.
Here is another shot from the lower road. It's coming along!
April 2nd already! A lot of sheetrockig and taping and mudding has been going on both in the new shop and upstairs. Finally we get to come in and do some work ourselves. The texture was put on the new sheetrock walls this last week and we get to come in and paint on the weekend. This first shot is of the new shop looking in from the living room (which is still a mess) The shop is all primered and ready for color.
Lori is a master painter!
We brought our laptop computer and speakers with us so we had music to work by. The kitchen stove is working again thanks to the electrician so we also had hot pizza and cold beer to keep us going.
Saturday we put a second coat of primer over the texture, then a light green color on the ceiling. The next day we masked the ceiling and windows and put a darker green on the walls. The platform on the right is for the new wood stove.
This is the new electrical panel which is now in the shop. Much better than having to go outside and into the basement to get to it like we used to have to do.
Here the electrician is installing the lights after putting in all the outlets and switches.
Here's a view of the east end of the house from above.
Next weekend we'll start painting the upstairs.
Hey!... Time has flown and here is our daughter Lora painting the upstairs.
Next comes the "Pale Honey" color.
The weather has improved. Here is the construction crew finishing the gable end.
Next comes the installation of the new woodstove.
More to come!