From one crisis to the next
- fyffer
- Posts: 1032
- Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2005 11:27 am
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: Rhode Island, USA
- Contact:
From one crisis to the next
You may recall a couple of weeks back I posted about the lovely "smash and grab" I experienced while on vacation.
Here cometh the next crisis:
Wednesday morning, I woke up around 6 am. It was still a little dark in the house. Went to the privy for my normal morning rituals, and noticed that my nostrils were all black. I blew my nose, and discovered that my sinuses were black as well. Overnight, the exhaust from my oil burner became detached from the chimney flue, and vented the exhaust into my basement all night, which in turn blew through all our heating vents all night, which left my house full of heaing oil smoke, and everything covered with a fine, oily, carcinogous soot. Unless you've had this sort of thing happen to you before (a fire'll do it, too), you really have no idea how insidious this sort of thing is. There is soot *EVERYWHERE*! Luckily, our homeowners insurance covers the remediation aspect of the cleanup, and we have had a team of "disaster reparation specialists" here, going on three days today. They are cleaning everything from ceiling to floor, every nook, cranny, nick-nack, dish, spoon, pot, pan, etc. needs to be cleaned by hand. Additionally, a textile specialist has been here, and has taken all clothing, bedding, drapery, rugs, table linens, and what-have-you from every drawer, closet, shelf, pantry ... and had them professionally cleaned. To top it off, we're living in the house at the same time, and let me tell you, it's no picnic, as I'm sure you can imagine.
Now, the bright side:
Luckily, by the grace of God, no one was injured by this. We could easily have all been poisoned by CO, and never woken up. I do thank God for this.
And most importantly, when the cleaning crews are out of here, my house will be cleaner than it has EVER BEEN BEFORE ! Talk about your "forced spring cleaning" (even though it's still 19 degrees F outside). We'll also have the opportunity to purge a bit -- you know - get rid of stuff we should have gotten rid of long ago. I think this was God's way of telling to get off our a** and finally clean up this dump!
Here cometh the next crisis:
Wednesday morning, I woke up around 6 am. It was still a little dark in the house. Went to the privy for my normal morning rituals, and noticed that my nostrils were all black. I blew my nose, and discovered that my sinuses were black as well. Overnight, the exhaust from my oil burner became detached from the chimney flue, and vented the exhaust into my basement all night, which in turn blew through all our heating vents all night, which left my house full of heaing oil smoke, and everything covered with a fine, oily, carcinogous soot. Unless you've had this sort of thing happen to you before (a fire'll do it, too), you really have no idea how insidious this sort of thing is. There is soot *EVERYWHERE*! Luckily, our homeowners insurance covers the remediation aspect of the cleanup, and we have had a team of "disaster reparation specialists" here, going on three days today. They are cleaning everything from ceiling to floor, every nook, cranny, nick-nack, dish, spoon, pot, pan, etc. needs to be cleaned by hand. Additionally, a textile specialist has been here, and has taken all clothing, bedding, drapery, rugs, table linens, and what-have-you from every drawer, closet, shelf, pantry ... and had them professionally cleaned. To top it off, we're living in the house at the same time, and let me tell you, it's no picnic, as I'm sure you can imagine.
Now, the bright side:
Luckily, by the grace of God, no one was injured by this. We could easily have all been poisoned by CO, and never woken up. I do thank God for this.
And most importantly, when the cleaning crews are out of here, my house will be cleaner than it has EVER BEEN BEFORE ! Talk about your "forced spring cleaning" (even though it's still 19 degrees F outside). We'll also have the opportunity to purge a bit -- you know - get rid of stuff we should have gotten rid of long ago. I think this was God's way of telling to get off our a** and finally clean up this dump!
___\|/______________________________
|___O____|_O_O_o_|_o_O__O__|_O__O__|
|___O____|_O_O_o_|_o_O__O__|_O__O__|
- fyffer
- Posts: 1032
- Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2005 11:27 am
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: Rhode Island, USA
- Contact:
You know what really scares me is the whole "Bad things happen in threes" aphorism. I'm thinking of driving my car into a wall just to get it over with.fearfaoin wrote:Good grief! Glad everyone's fine.
I hope you're getting some Carbon Monoxide detectors today.
P.S., it seems like 2007 is shaping up to be a real crapfest.
Or is that just me?
___\|/______________________________
|___O____|_O_O_o_|_o_O__O__|_O__O__|
|___O____|_O_O_o_|_o_O__O__|_O__O__|
Yikes. Though, they never said it had to be 3 equally bad things.
Maybe the kid at Wendy's will just shortchange you or something.
...Much like Homer Simpson's version of The Monkey's Paw.
The first 2 wishes result in global disaster, so Homer's 3rd
wish is for a "non-zombie" turkey sandwich. It was a little dry.
Said Homer, "What demon from the depths of hell created thee!"
Maybe the kid at Wendy's will just shortchange you or something.
...Much like Homer Simpson's version of The Monkey's Paw.
The first 2 wishes result in global disaster, so Homer's 3rd
wish is for a "non-zombie" turkey sandwich. It was a little dry.
Said Homer, "What demon from the depths of hell created thee!"
- anniemcu
- Posts: 8024
- Joined: Thu Sep 11, 2003 8:42 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 10
- Location: A little left of center, and 100 miles from St. Louis
- Contact:
Cripes! So glad you are all OK, and I need the same level of cleaning but don't think I'll wait for that incentive!!
anniemcu
---
"You are what you do, not what you claim to believe." -Gene A. Statler
---
"Olé to you, none-the-less!" - Elizabeth Gilbert
---
http://www.sassafrassgrove.com
---
"You are what you do, not what you claim to believe." -Gene A. Statler
---
"Olé to you, none-the-less!" - Elizabeth Gilbert
---
http://www.sassafrassgrove.com
- Innocent Bystander
- Posts: 6816
- Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2005 12:51 pm
- antispam: No
- Location: Directly above the centre of the Earth (UK)
- djm
- Posts: 17853
- Joined: Sat May 31, 2003 5:47 am
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: Canadia
- Contact:
I went through similar a couple of times in the past. The last one was with a wood-burning space heater. Despite all the professional cleaning, we never could get rid of the smell. I hope you have better success with this.
As for your 3x bad luck .... hmmm ..... now, where did I put that tornado button ....
djm
As for your 3x bad luck .... hmmm ..... now, where did I put that tornado button ....
djm
I'd rather be atop the foothills than beneath them.
- Doug_Tipple
- Posts: 3829
- Joined: Wed Mar 31, 2004 8:49 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 10
- Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
- Contact:
This may be an old wive's tale, but I have heard that playing a few of the highest notes on the fife can clean a home of just about any kind of impurity, even oil smoke. On a more practical note, however, I'm sorry that this sooty mess happened to you. I hope that the cleanup is completely successful.
- crookedtune
- Posts: 4255
- Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2006 7:02 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Location: Raleigh, NC / Cape Cod, MA
- chas
- Posts: 7707
- Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2001 6:00 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 10
- Location: East Coast US
Ick. I worked for awhile for a company that cleaned up that sort of soot damage. Done properly you can get rid of the smell. Make sure they inspect stuff like beds and sofas -- it sounds as though the smoke may have been around long enough to penetrate beyond where it can be cleaned out of stuffing. If that happens, when the hot humid days of summer come around, you'll notice it.
Best of luck.
Best of luck.
Charlie
Whorfin Woods
"Our work puts heavy metal where it belongs -- as a music genre and not a pollutant in drinking water." -- Prof Ali Miserez.
Whorfin Woods
"Our work puts heavy metal where it belongs -- as a music genre and not a pollutant in drinking water." -- Prof Ali Miserez.
- Cynth
- Posts: 6703
- Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:58 pm
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: Iowa, USA
Oh, that thing about bad stuff happening in three's is just a story put out by people who are annoyed at the people who have gotten their two bad things over with. Bad things happen in two's, so you are done.
I cannot even imagine such a mess. But that CO business is even more worrisome. Are there some consultants that can advise you what to do to make sure this doesn't happen again? The CO monitors sound like a good idea and we have those, but I hope that something can be done so you don't have to go through all this again.
I'm really starting to think you should write a novel. You are collecting a lot of good material this year.
I cannot even imagine such a mess. But that CO business is even more worrisome. Are there some consultants that can advise you what to do to make sure this doesn't happen again? The CO monitors sound like a good idea and we have those, but I hope that something can be done so you don't have to go through all this again.
I'm really starting to think you should write a novel. You are collecting a lot of good material this year.
Diligentia maximum etiam mediocris ingeni subsidium. ~ Diligence is a very great help even to a mediocre intelligence.----Seneca
- Jennie
- Posts: 761
- Joined: Mon May 24, 2004 7:02 pm
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: Valdez, Alaska
Eeew. Don't come and sit on my couch, not in those pants.
And I bet it's still black under your fingernails or in any other creases you care to inspect. The stuff is impossible! Our first ancient oil stove in the cabin had an "event" we dealt with for weeks afterward.
Fyffer, it is a treat to hear someone dealing with something so nasty in such a positive way. Hats off to you! (Or better, keep it on, your hair will stay cleaner.)
Jennie
And I bet it's still black under your fingernails or in any other creases you care to inspect. The stuff is impossible! Our first ancient oil stove in the cabin had an "event" we dealt with for weeks afterward.
Fyffer, it is a treat to hear someone dealing with something so nasty in such a positive way. Hats off to you! (Or better, keep it on, your hair will stay cleaner.)
Jennie