Day two 24/12/10:
I arrived at the house the day after settlement to find that the previously closed doors were all open, and my bathroom had gone from this:
to this:
I became aware that there was a problem when stepping through the half open back door, rather than the unpleasant cruch of broken glass beneath my feet I could hear gushing water. I made my way through the house to the bathroom and found it flooded with water cascading from the now mangled pipes. unfortunately when I got to the water mains out the front to turn the water off I found that the mains valve had been damaged as well so that at best I could slow the water to a gentle stream. I began to feel uneasy like perhaps I had bitten off more than I could chew, but It was Christmas eve so I did what I could to try and keep the doors closed and I drove away to finish my Christmas shopping and get ready for Christmas.
Work begins (27/12/10)
Christmas and boxing day were great, they came and went and it was time to get to work on the house. it was mid morning, I was approaching my house and the first thing I saw was a shinny red fire engine blocking part of the road, my brother was in the car with me and I asked 'is that my house', I don't remember his reply but by that time it was pretty clear so I circled around and parked outside my back gate. we walked up beside the house and into the front yard; the older of two cops saw us and in what I would call a slightly sarcastic tone asked if he could help us. at this point I wasn't sure how bad it was but I was presented with an opportunity to use a line I have always wanted to use; I shot a quick look over at the house and then back to him, 'I own the place' I said and I watched the expression on the officers face change.
The damage to the building wasn't too bad, the back bedroom was the only room affected and as the following photos show it wasn't wide spread;
Before:
After:
We had spoken to the cops and fire fighters had given the all clear, we looked around the house and then got to work. I got up on the roof and cleaned out the gutters, a job apparently neglected for far too long. Looking out across Bidwill I will admit that I was beginning to wish I'd bought a house somewhere else, the police told me that unless I got someone staying in the house ASAP there was no chance that the fire would be the last of the damage. They were not very positive, in fact they were quite negative about the area. there was something almost hateful in their tones as the spoke about the kids in the area. I was sitting on the roof scooping muck out of the gutters thinking the mornings events over and a voice came from below; some guy I had never met before was offering to have a go at fixing the water, turns out he was unable to but he showed us how to drain the water through an outside tap so that it stopped running into the Bathroom. A small part of my faith was restored by this anonymous stranger in a fluorescent yellow tradesman shirt. Later My new next door neighbor offered to make me up some 'private property, Keep out' signs, I politely declined his offer but I can honestly say it was the first time has ever offered to do that for me.
After this excitement the rest of the day was spent tidying up the house (broken glass etc) and securing all the windows and doors properly.
I decided to use aluminum angle to reinforce the door jambs that have been kicked in repeatedly and now appeared to have very little strength left to give. it was a case of temporary bolt locks and padlocks to round out our current security solution.
My family had spent the day out helping with variouse jobs and My mother worked all day getting the whole place a lot tidyer, towards the end of the day she and my brother were blocking a hole in the floor when she tripped and knocked a large piece of plasterboard out of the already extencively damaged walls, this is mum holding her handy work;
Thanks Mum!
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