My house burned down

[Steve W]

Hey Carl,
Checking in to see how things are going. Are you back in your home & getting back to normal? Is the rower alive ? Hope things are improving and stabilizing.
Best,
Steve W.

[mitchel674]

Just read this and sorry to hear the news.

My home burned down while I was in medical school. Many things I thought could be salvaged were damaged by smoke. It's almost impossible to get that smell out of most items.

Keep your chin up. You will get past this horrible event.

[Carl Watts]

Just got back into rowing on the Erg in the garage.

One of the first things to do after calling the emergency services is to shut all your internal doors on the way out, it really helps slow the spread of the fire and reduces smoke damage considerably.

Different things can survive depending on their height in the room, solid wood furniture can be wiped down and cleaned, clothes that were in the wardrobe with the doors shut can be washed. The entire back of the TV just melted off and various things high up on the walls just melted and fell off. PVC pipework under the house was damaged by just the heat trapped under the floor that was trying to get out, it was nowhere near the actual flames.

Even though the house has to be rebuilt because of fire and then the water damage, life goes on.

Post fire analysis was sadly quite morbidly fascinating for me, it highlighted some major design flaws in the building that I would not repeat in another. Open cavities in the roof design lead to the very rapid spread of the fire. Had they had the thick floorboards and the Gib fire resistant lining, the end result would have been quite different.

[Steve W]

Good to hear that life is moving forward and erg is in motion. Lots of lessons in retrospect, just glad there is that option and something that can be recovered from. Wishing you well in rising from the ashes.