Blow up on Navarre Beach
This is a sad story. Hurricane Ivan did a lot of damage in 2004. The incompetent contractor that Mrs. Adams hired did a poor job of attempting to repair it then abandoned the job leaving the owner with a 20% finished job and out a lot of money.
Then hurricane Rita hit in 2005 and ripped it apart even more. This home sat open to the weather for almost 2 years before I tackled it. No one wanted to touch it. Thieves had ripped all the copper pipes and wires out of the walls and raccoons had moved in.
I was working on a job down the street at the time and I was dreading doing this job. I would not look at this house when I drove by. Finally, Mrs. Adam’s insurance company authorized me to do the repairs a year and a half after the initial damage.
Once I got started it was like, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. I couldn’t believe it myself, how well it turned out.
“I can’t tell you how happy I am to be back in my home. I never thought this would happen. The insurance company wore me down and I never thought they would give me enough money to fix this house or even that it could be fixed at all. Thank you so much for stepping in and handling the situation. “
~ Debra Adams
Hurricane Ivan really did a job on this home. Inadequate straps and clips, poor structural design, and faulty construction were responsible for this total structural failure.
I re-engineered the 20' tall breakfast nook bay window you see under construction here. That was a weak point. Once that part failed it was like dominos and the whole corner came apart. I built a horizontal beam just above the windows and warped it around the bay like a plant ledge to give that tall wall some strength against high winds.
Most of the sheathing was rotted away from before the storm by water intrusion caused by a poor siding and flashing job. You can see the stained wood around the window openings where water was getting in. The storm just exposed it all.
I replaced all the sheathing and properly wraped, flashed, and installed the windows and siding.
This home was a disaster inside and out. Look at it now! I can't tell you how happy Mrs. Adams was to move back in after 2 years of being displaced and losing all her household goods.