More Mold, Less Patience

I never blogged about all of the problems we've encountered since we bought this house.  And I never in my wildest dreams would have expected to pump so much money into this house the first year and a half of owning it.  It was built in 1968 so it's not like it's crumbling or anything...it's just a piece of sh*t.  Let me recap what we've had to do since we've moved in (not including painting the entire house and replacing the carpet which ended up being way more money than we expected too).

-We replaced 80% of the windows since they started molding and rotting during the extreme cold last winter.

-Fixed leak in kitchen that resulted in "raining" in the laundry room Christmas Eve morning.

-Gutted the hallway bathroom due to a moldy air jet tub.

-Mold removal in the attic.

-Knocked all of the walls down in the master bedroom due to a smell caused by water getting in the attic (again from the extreme cold winter).

- Spent over $2000 in landscaping services...mainly yard cleanup and weed removal since the previous owners didn't maintain the yard AT ALL.

-Dealt with the laundry room drain flooding several times before finding a plumber that could identify the issue.

-Dealt with water in our lower level air ducts due to improper yard drainage (this issue still needs a permanent fix).

I'm feel like I'm forgetting something, but you get the idea.  Our home inspector only found minor issues with our house when we bought it.  We knew eventually the windows would need to be replaced, but we weren't planning on doing it right after we moved in.  This house was on the high end of our budget, and we bought it thinking we wouldn't have to do much right away.  That, obviously, couldn't have been further from the truth.  The amount of money we have put into the house is disgusting.  I love our house, but at the same time I hate it.  The floors are slanted in many areas and I really wish we would have a structural engineer inspect the house before we bought it.  Now every time I walk over humps and down little slopes I get so pissed off.  Nothing like having a daily reminder that we bought a crappy house.

Anyway, because a lot of our issues were a direct result from the extreme cold last year, we filed a claim with insurance and had USAA come out and do a full inspection.  They gave us very little money, and told us that everything looked fine and after replacing the windows we would be ok.  Fast forward to present day, and we are in the same situation again.  This time, the mold and terrible smell is coming from the nursery.  USAA has been dragging their feet.  It's been 3 weeks since the damage from the below zero temps and they have yet to get someone out here.  Not only were the walls in the nursery growing mold, the exterior wall is literally bowed.  We know that it happened as a result of an ice dam forming on the roof in that area.  The water got under the roof and into the attic and dripped behind the walls. The siding in the same area is bulging outside.  So we pretty much know we will have to add insulation to the attic...but I don't know what we will have to do with the wall and siding.  UGH.  The stress of dealing with this crap is overwhelming and I'm losing my patience.  Paying a mortgage with one income is tricky enough, but add all of these extra expenses and things have gotten real tight.  Now add a baby to the mix and new repairs that could have been avoided if the inspector from USAA actually did his job thoroughly last year....Ugh. So stressful. And the fact that Brevin is extremely allergic to mold and the insurance company is taking their sweet ass time really gets me mad.

If you look closely, you can see the wall curve near the top.  

On the bad days, I need to remind myself how blessed we are to have a house.  The kids love it here, and it's far nicer than what Andy and I grew up in.  We have 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, plenty of living space, a huge yard, and we are located in a quiet, safe subdivision.  But seriously.  I cannot take much more of this.  I can't wait to move, but after all of the money we put into this house, I don't think we will ever be able to afford to!