Hurricane Ida Damage

Ida was a Category 4 hurricane that hit the United States through the Gulf Coast in August, devastating the city of New Orleans and many other towns in its path. By the time the natural disaster passed through Annapolis MD on September 2nd, it was downgraded to a tropical storm, but it still had enough power to demolish one of Property Improvement Enterprises’ renovation projects. The property at 1623 Millstone Road in Edgewater recently had the second-story wall framed, and the chimney had been extended above the new roofline to meet the construction code. When Tropical Storm Ida came, the roof trusses were not in place yet, so the wind toppled the chimney into the house. This caused the collapse of the newly built second floor and created a huge hole in the first floor. The twenty new windows that were being stored inside the house fell into the basement, shattering them completely. In addition, the weight of the chimney pulled the ledger boards on the opposite wall with enough force to shift the basement walls. Needless to say, some significant foundation repairs will need to be done before we can get back to framing the house.

Luckily, the Property Improvement Enterprises team plans for situations like this and has a builder’s insurance policy in place with Liberty Mutual. It took Liberty Mutual 11 days to send a claims adjuster to evaluate the situation, and over 15 days to get an estimate of the repair cost. Due to these setbacks, we have lost about three weeks of construction time. We hope to continue with the renovation by the end of the month, once we figure out how much of the damage Liberty Mutual will be reimbursing. The attached pictures only begin to describe the extent of the damage on the property.
The Property Improvement Enterprises team and Red Anchor Renovations hope to get this project back on track in the next week and have a beautifully renovated new home in Edgewater by the end of the year.