The wife tried to burn down the house yesterday...

[HowardH]

And almost succeeded!  Left an 8 quart pot on the burner cooking some ground beef and forgot about it and left the house for 4 hours.  It didn't catch on fire but it smoked up the entire house.  It was, thick, acrid smoke that almost knocked you over.  If your smeller didn't work, you'd think nothing was wrong.  No visible signs of damage but the protein residue is in and over EVERYTHING!  We have a restoration crew hard at work now.  We stayed last night and will tonight at a nice hotel courtesy of our insurance company.  The adjuster was great.  She told the restoration guy to clean what ever he could and what he couldn't clean, replace.  I think she is so friendly because of she liked our yellow lab.  Hard not to like a friendly yellow lab!  ;D  It's still a god awful mess though.  The rugs have to be sent out to be cleaned, the microwave has to be replaced since it was the source of the fire, the air ducts have to be cleaned, the ceiling in the kitchen repainted, all our clothes may have to be cleaned, it's bad.  For some reason, the smoke detector the monitoring company installed didn't work.  They are coming out to see what's what with that.  The bill is going to be north of $15k... ouch!

 

[Neill]

Howard,

So sorry to hear about your problem.  I am so glad that no one was hurt and nothing was damaged that could not be repaired or replaced.

I guess she decided it was not hot enough so she would warm things up a bit more. 

Neill

 

[rwdawson]

She should have put the 8 quart pot in your garage.  That would have been a nice, slow cook.  No problem. ;D

(Arthur, to the left, has the same effect as your yellow lab.)

 

[ForumMFG]

How many pounds of ground beef was in the pot?  You think it would of just burnt up?  I can't believe it did that much damage

 

[HowardH]

I think it was just a couple of pounds.  It doesn't take much.  Our house is one level and about 2500 sqft.  The restoration guy said they do this everyday.  It's much more common than one might guess.  The problem was exascerbated by the central A/C as it circulated the stuff throughout the house.  In fact, the guy said he's doesn't think they will be able to get the smell out of the paint in the kitchen cabinets so they will have to be sealed somehow and then repainted.  I was going to reface them anyway so if that is what they are going to do, it's time for me to go get some new doors and put my new T-15 to work!  ;D  We were much more worried about the dog as he was in the house the whole time.  The wife called the vet and he said the dog would be fine since he was so low to the ground and the smoke was up top.

 

[HowardH]

update.  what a mess.  Contractors have been in the house all day.  They tried to get cheap on me by giving me a $200 microwave/vent hood allowance. Bullcorn on that!  Called the insurance adjustor who promptly doubled the allowance.  They are cleaning the carpets as I type.  They thought they might finish by 7:30 so I told them to finish what they are doing and come back on monday to complete the job.  The house has never been so clean!  Now I have buy all new cabinet hinges and pulls since bright brass isn't in style anymore.  :  I found a pretty good deal with the Amerock folks.  Retail at my local hardware store is $5.00 for a hinge set and they have it online for $3.19.  Pays to look around.  I have to do the prep or they will just paint as is.  I'm giving my T15 a pretty good workout removing hinges and pulls.  It doesn't get tiring at all since it is so light.  I hope to have all these people outta my house soon.  I hope...

 

[Wonderwino]

Have you considered just eating out?  LOL!  ;D

 

[peter halle]

Howard,

I empathize with you.  It is not fun.  About eight years ago my Canon fax machine decided to catch on fire.  It was about 5:00 AM and the smoke detector went off.  I went downstairs to see flaming globs of plastic dripping onto my paper filled desk.  Stupid me opened up the window and threw the thing outside.  Window screen - what window screen?  Second attempt worked after ripping the screen out.  Telephone cord - what telephone cord?  Disconnected the cord and the electrical cord and watered it down outside while waiting for the fire dept and their exhaust fans to arrive.  Asking the first volunteer responder to have the trucks turn off the sirens so as not to wake up the neighborhood is akin to asking a Fogger to loan out a tool for a month.  We count our blessings that this didn't happen two hours later while we were at work.

Although I have dealt with numerous insurance claims in business situations, it was interesting and a pain to see the process personally.  The most interesting thing that we had done was the every piece of electronic equipment had to be taken apart and cleaned of soot - the soot from a plastic fire is attracted to electronics and will ruin them over time.

My insurance people handled everything well - the contractor cleaned everything - even the dishes in the cabinets.  Canon hired a forensic investigator to inspect the fax machine - a model that was part of a recall for of all things - catching on fire - and sent two senior engineers to attend the inspection meeting - one from Tokyo and one from Pleasanton, California.  Yep the serial number and the model number matched the recall series.  Canon made my insurance company whole, my deductible was refunded, and I gave away the replacement fax machine I received from Canon and got a different brand.

For months we went to work worried about what if.  Years from now we can partially laugh the situation - maybe you will too.  Stand up for your rights while your repairs are being performed.  You only get one shot.

Peter

 

[HowardH]

$15k later, all is well.  Got the kitchen painted, new microwave is in, used the opportunity to update all the hardware to satin nickel.  Also gave me a chance to use my new T15!  ;D  I knew I could find a good use for it.  The other contractors looked at it kinda funny as they had never seen a Festool before.  They did ruin a couple of oriental rugs for which we'll get reimbursed.  My wife decided to unpack the kitchen boxes (80!) and for that labor the ins. company paid her almost a $1000!  Woo hoo!  I think that's enough insurance claims for awhile.  Speaking of insurance claims, Lake Travis near Austin is so low from the drought, its 45' down from normal, that the authorities have been finding cars and boats at the bottom that were claimed as stolen.  This could be interesting as the Vin #'s are checked.  :

 

[ForumMFG]

Howard,

Good to hear all is well.  None of that sounded like fun, except for using your T15.