About 2.30 am there was a sound like an explosion, we leapt up....An enormous branch had come down on the roof & knocked a hole in it directly over Toddly's cot. He slept on, covered in dust and masonite (!!!!!!) I picked him up & got him & Kid A out of the room ,her asking all the questions...he fast asleep on my shoulder. Hub grabbed the torch.
We had tree specialists cut back our huge elm tree next to the house about 3 months ago. They removed all of the branches that were potentially dangerous, they said, & to be fair, it could have been much much much worse- there's nothing left to fall now & if it had happened before we'd had it cut back we wouldnt have a house at all & Toddly would have been covered with a lot more roof. From what we can see tonight we'll need the SES to cut us out, but there's no structural damage; it's punched a hole in the masonite & roof sheeting but not damaged any beams, wiring, KIDS, etc.
Husband has just gone back to bed. I dont have the nerve to sleep on that side of the house tonight, even if there's nothing left to fall, just in case there's structural damage to the roof we cant see at the moment. So I've pulled a futon mattress out into the lounge & I'm camping out in here with the 2 kids for the evening. But I'm in shock & rushing with adrenalin- I keep seeing Bubby lying there in his cot, still asleep, covered in roofing...bluddy farking hell, mate. So so so close.
Bluddy frightening! With all of the other hullabaloo that we carry on with, that safety of our kiddies remains the ultimate concern for us parents. We had a tree last year with an increasingly diseased trunk. Every time the wind picked up, I was anxious. We scraped up the bucks & had it lopped at the base. Much as I love our oxygenising yard,stories like yours are scary.(((hugs)))
ReplyDeleteSome practical notes:
ReplyDelete- will you claim on your insurance? check what the excess is on a claim
- you will probably need a structural engineer to check the integrity of the structure. Get someone close by to minimise their travel charge, as they probably charge by the hour. Have a ladder ready for the engineer. Based on an hour for the inspection, an hour for travel there and back, and an hour for writing up a report, it could be $500.
- dig out the original house plans if you can.
- the builder will be able to quote for the repairs based on the instructions in the engineer's report. The insurance coy will want possibly 2-3 quotes.
- take photos
many many thanks Betts xxx.
ReplyDeleteUpdate: I took the kids over to my parents today (leaving via a side exit), husbot hung around to deal with State Emergency Service. Bless their yellow overalls. Remind me to donate to their next fundraiser; they're fabulous. They cleared the (half a tree- the rest is still standing upright, glaring at us threateningly). They even patched our corrugated iron roof, so at least we dont have to deal with leaks.
re your notes, Bett- yes, we're claiming on insurance, we've already written to them. We have photos, etc. SES told us that there's very little chance of major structural damage & they didnt mention a structural engineer (but I can see that the insurance co might). We have a builder we trust, so we were thinking of calling him first off.
We've all calmed down (ish). My family and the SES couldnt get over the fact that our dusty 2 year old managed to sleep right through a roof falling on top of him. Takes forever to get him to sleep, then once he is...
A great story for "show & tell" or "what I did in the holidays"!
ReplyDeletejeebers macgeebers, wilms!
ReplyDeletegosh gosh gosh, as well. falling limbs are such a flippin worry when you reside amongst bigguns (trees, not humans. though that would be equally worrying ...)
can imagine you replaying all the what ifs while waiting for non-existant sleep :(
lastly, kids sleep through the darndest things :)