Ideas Needed! The Great Flood of 2026

[Kassiani]

A couple of Fridays ago, I woke to water fountaining out from under my kitchen sink and about 2 inches of standing water on my kitchen floor bleeding to adjacent hardwood floors. Long story short, I've had a parade through my home including a plumber, insurance adjuster, remediation company, and environmental company (testing for asbestos etc.).

Ultimately, I will have to have hardwood floor sanded and refinished, and my kitchen floor will have to be removed to the studs and completely rebuilt. But before that, I will have to have the asbestos and any other hazards remediated.

And...I have birds. So far, I've had them sealed behind plastic barriers while giant dehumidifers were running, and that seemed to work ok, but I'm worried about the upcoming demolition and other work.

To keep them safe, I have thought of:

1. Moving their cages upstairs and still behind a plastic barrier.
2. Renting a camper to keep in the driveway and house them in it temporarily.
3. Have them all tested for psittacosis and board them--although I don't know how long it would be and hate to put them through that.
4. Move us all to a hotel during the work.

What I don't have is a friend or family member locally with whome we could stay.

If anyone has any other ideas/thoughts/suggestions, I would be grateful!

 

[merlinsmom13]

I'm so sorry this happened to you! I have used the polyurethane that's required for your floor top coat and it has very strong fumes. I vote hotel. Its better for you and the birds. Refinishing hw floors produces lots of dust too. I know the equipment is better than when I did but still very dusty. It will also take days to finish. Would your insurance pay with a letter from the vet?

 

[MommyBird]

Train of thought on your options listed above........
1. Have you had other work done on your home? How were they with the noise?
There will be lots of noise, dust, and probably VOCs. But I think the least worry would be asbestos because all that must be so sealed off when they are working.
2. Would you be reliably able to adequately heat or cool the camper?
3. I think boarding them would be the most upsetting for them.
4. Do you know of a hotel that will let you bring the birds and also maybe only enter the room for cleaning while you are there?
I know when a neighbor's dishwasher caused a huge mold problem the insurance paid for them to take a short term rental.
I recently had to abscond with everyone for 5 days because our power company turned off power due to wind and wildfire concerns.
I was so proud of all of them how well they did in their travel cages in one small room.
If you can find a hotel, that would be my choice.

 

[Mizzely]

What a nightmare! Me personally I think I would go with the camper option if the temperature wouldn't be an issue. Feels like you have a bit more control that way and would feel a little less disruptive to your routine.

 

[Toy]

I'd also suggest a camper. The floor sander, which is very loud, will have a collection bag, but you still have dust. The sealer has very strong fumes & may day a few days to cure dry. Even then it may take longer for the smell to go away. Asbestos needs to be professionally removed by licensed pros. They tape off the area, wet the asbestos down & then remove it. I used to work for the Laborers Union & we had members that did that. Also new kitchen flooring will also have odors. So it may take a few plus weeks to get this all done. A camper, if you can control the temp, would allow you to have better control of who comes & goes.

 

[Clueless]

I'm so so sorry you're living through this. I hate having my house worked on....

While the trailer might be nice because it's close, you'd still have to figure out how to monitor heat and air conditioning AND make sure each of those things are bird safe too.

 

[conurehrdr]

Just wanted to send a Hugs and a loud 'Yikes!'. Scary stuff!!

 

[Neoandme]

Ooh I'm so sorry that is horrible! Personally I agree with Mizzely the camper sounds like a great idea if the temperature wouldn't be a problem. Good luck!

 

[Kassiani]

Thank you so much for "talking this out" with me. I'm still researching and pondering my options. I haven't heard from anyone from the asbestos removal team or the remediation team. It's been 2 weeks. I've purchased two additional Levoit air cleaners, too. Large ones to run in the mean time, because I'm worried about mold. I'm keeping the birds separated from the flooded area as best I can for now.

I''ll keep a record of what I do so that it might be helpful in the future for anyone else going through this.

p.s. Listening to Gregorian Chant at the moment and trying to 'go to my happy place'. lol!

 

[LozBin]

Thank you so much for "talking this out" with me. I'm still researching and pondering my options. I haven't heard from anyone from the asbestos removal team or the remediation team. It's been 2 weeks. I've purchased two additional Levoit air cleaners, too. Large ones to run in the mean time, because I'm worried about mold. I'm keeping the birds separated from the flooded area as best I can for now.

I''ll keep a record of what I do so that it might be helpful in the future for anyone else going through this.

p.s. Listening to Gregorian Chant at the moment and trying to 'go to my happy place'. lol!

I don't like what you are going through but I do like your attitude towards it!

Best of luck getting everything back in order, there are a lot of moving parts there.