Not again!

Current state of our dining room

Last week we had an unfortunate plumbing incident that resulted in water damage to our master bathroom and dining room downstairs. A toilet leak developed while we were sleeping. Because the water was from a toilet, the flood repair folks treated it as biohazard, so all the wet stuff had to be removed.

The short version is that we have to get new floors in the master bath, and new sheet rock in the dining room. The demolition and repair work is underway. Since some of the upstairs carpet had to be removed, we took this opportunity to install hardwood floors on the whole upstairs level.

Events like this are very disruptive. We have spent a large portion of our time moving and covering furniture, organizing  clean up crews, finding contractors, selecting materials, purchasing supplies, waiting for insurance adjusters, etc. I had to cancel an op session last weekend because the house is in disarray as furniture is either moved or covered to prevent dust.

The basement has proven to be the one place where we can find relative peace and a sense of normalcy. A small amount of water reached the basement, but did not cause any damage as it went to the drain in the utility space without touching anything that could be damaged. The layout was not damaged at all.

I am using the "free time" I have in this period to work on the large side wheel steam ship kit. I have discussed this kit before. As I have stated before, the kit is spectacularly bad. It is so bad, that each time I start work on it, I get demotivated, and I look for something else to do.  The kit is oriented toward building a pond model so the level of detail and construction techniques tend more to robust toy versus fine scale model. The instructions in particular are very poor, despite being voluminous. So I am discarding most of the kit and making my own parts to better match photos of paddle wheelers that were at Aquia Landing or in use in the ACW.  It remains to be seen how it all comes out.

I also built some new paint racks for my model work bench to try to get a handle on the myriad bottles of paint, washes and weathering powders I have accumulated.



Hopefully by next week, the house will be put back in normal operation and I can prepare for visitors for North East Interchange.