A few months ago, our church basement was flooded when our water heater sprung a leak, and our sump pump didn’t work. One of our young men came up to church on Saturday afternoon and found eight inches of warmish water in the basement. We lost our kitchen, and the whole basement has to be redone. The first thing they did was to tear up the carpet, but that left a residue on the floor that needed to be ground off. Tonight was the night when our church was called together for a work night to work on it. We ladies washed off chairs, and even cleaned some of the classrooms upstairs in preparation for Bible School in a few weeks. The men, with the help of a rented surface grinder, worked at the basement floor. It was a royal mess!
Some of the area had to be done by hand. Robert works at a patch to see how effective a scraper is (L) and J.R.
and Joel converse in the middle of a very wet floor.
This is how the operation of the scraper pretty much went. Someone had to dampen the floor ahead of the person who was running the machine. Here Dale makes the floor wet while Caleb runs the unwieldy beast.
John Ivan and Certain Man discuss the dilemma while Amy looks on. Henry takes a break to handle some phone calls, but most of the evening, he was in the basement helping to keep things going.
There were times when we were all rather discouraged, and there were times when all the males found it necessary to discuss the possibility that maybe we were not going to finish tonight.
Gary was terribly tired tonight, and Certain Man had a viewing that he attended and then came back to work, but they stuck at it even when they didn’t feel like it. Here, they’re working on the ceiling.
Most of the men there took their turns at running this floor scraper thing-a-ma-jig, and I got different pictures of them, but these two were the clearest pictures.
This was the set up outside where the many chairs were wiped off. Chris and Loretta and Ilva did most of that work while Raymond, Matthew and Amy helped to carry chairs. And there were some snacks available, but most of the work was done before anyone stopped for food.
When the guys were working at getting the basement ready for remodeling, they realized that the stairway leading down to the basement was in grave need of help. So they tore it out, only to find that apparently, the only things that has been holding that stairway up while they carried some of our older members up and down in their wheelchairs were the hands of angels! There were places that were actually rotted through and there is no earthly explanation for the safety we have enjoyed going up and down these steps. This is what it looks like now. Thankfully, we have another stairway into the basement. We would not have had much fun lugging everything up and down this dirt pile!
Looking over these pictures later, I realize that somehow, Pete escaped from every picture I took. This is sad, indeed, since he and Caleb and Joel were the ones who stayed until the bitter end to make sure the job got done. Sorry, Pete. I’ll be more careful the next time!
And that’s it for tonight, Folks! Maybe I can post some pictures of our progress eventually.
Oh, and just so you know, they DID get done with the floor scraper tonight, and it can go back to the rental place tomorrow! For this, we thank God!
Delaware Grammy 
Oh, how hopeless looking, such a big job! But little by little progress is being made but what alot of work. That is sure a shame this damage happened. It is nice to see all ages pitching in. It’ll be of interest to me to see the progress. I imagine you’ll sleep well tonight!
I am enjoying your journal entries. I hadn’t known of Xanga until after Mark and Polly were here. Since Loretta and I don’t talk very often, it was interesting to see her among your pictures. It looks like you had an awful mess at church and I’m glad you found the steps that needed fixing before there was a serious accident. God Bless! Ruth
I hope you were able to relax and sleep well last night! I am thinking it’s a good thing that you had as many people help as you did, or it could have been even more discouraging. It’s amazing how much can get done in an evening with willing help! Do you think the angels were glad you saw that the stairs were structurally unsafe? 🙂 I am thankful that no one suffered an accident there.
Looks like you had a good turn out of helpers Hope the work will be able toget done more quickly from here on out. Some thingsa like a little water leak can sure make a BIG mess
Those steps sound terrifying!! I always thought that they creaked and gave a lot, but never thought that they might be unsafe. =o[ I hope that the repairs can be finished in good time and you all will have the use of the basement once again.
Thank you for posting those pictures. It’s hard being out of the loop, so to speak, but these glimpses into what went on yesterday explained clearly why I was without hubby from 2:00 until after 10 PM. He was blessed when so many showed up to help and lend support to what he feels is nearly overwhelming. Love, as always.
There was another person missing in those pictures… YOU!
And really I had not thought of discouragement very much, but I was so blessed by everyone who came last night… I’m so amazed at how these different people can work together…It’s just wunnerful nice. Thanks for all the ‘stuff’ you brought to complement the snacks. Kudos to Daniel for putting in the hot water heater beforehand.
I just wanna thank everybody.
That looked like quite a job! Thanks for subscribing and for the encouraging words. I subscribed to you too. That way I won’t miss any of your entries. I enjoy my Xanga friendships.
Can you believe dh left here before lunch and called this afternoon to say he wouldn’t be home for supper either? The dusk-to-dawn at church needed replacing (when it rains it pours … it didn’t help to put a new sensor in) before the contractor took the extension thingy away early afternoon. Then he started power washing the basement walls. That church project has him feelin’ antsy about gettin’ done what needs to be asap. At least Caleb is helping him this evening. My dd is in and out, doing juicing.
Wow! That was some job! Do you have a mold problem after such happenings? The condo I am looking after for the friend whose husband died and she had to move to Ill. had wter damage from the condo next to it. Now before it is sold it has to be inspected for mold. Even out here where it is so dry, mold grows. (BTW, BEG, your questions on my site bout the bird were answered in the comments section.)