It is good to be back again. What a relief to have a new roof fixed over our dining room and the internet cable restored again. Those were stressful and sleepless 10 whole days for me.
The weather has been hot for the past few weeks and there was bad haze in most major towns and cities. 17th April afternoon, I took my bath after I had lunch and was resting in the living room. The sky started to darken and rain started to fall. I was thinking to myself that the rain will wash away some of the haze and the weather will be cooler. But then, the wind started to get very strong and heavy rain was pouring. One of our neighbours mentioned that the wind was like crazy, coming from many directions. A few minutes later, there was a loud noise which I couldn't describe and we found out that our dining room roof was totally blown off. The dining room was in a total mess with fallen broken bricks and small pieces of concrete and dirt! We had to wait for the rain to stop before we can try to clean up the mess as best as we could.
#1
Our dining room used to be an air well. We had a roof fixed over it and turned it into our dining room. This photo shows the outside of the air well. When the roof was blown off, some of the broken bricks fell into our dining hall. I am thankful I was sitting at the dining table at that time when the roof was blown off.
#2
We have to move everything away from the dining room. Those days when we don't have a roof over the dining room, the mornings were sunny but the afternoon was dark, with strong wind and heavy rain. We had to be on the standby to sweep the rain water from entering other rooms in the house.
#3
There was a delay in getting the right contractor with the right price which we and our neighbours could agree upon because our roof is joined in one piece and we shared the cost for fixing the roof. The concreting work to repair the missing bricks and concrete for both houses costs RM1k.
#4
This is the row of houses behind our house. Our blown off roof landed on their roofs and damaged their roofs. That 17th evening when the storm happened, the local authorities came to visit some of the victims of the storm. We were told to make individual reports and each household affected was paid RM200. They also offer to fix our roofs for free. But hubby and our neighbour prefer to get our own contractors to fix a more stronger and permanent one.
#5
Finally, after waiting for more than a week, the workers started their work on our roof. The concreting work took 3 days. The fixing of the roof took about 4 days and hubby was glad that they did a good job. The roof job costs RM8k for both houses. So, in total, hubby paid RM5k to fix the roof.
When the roof was blown off, it must have cut off or snap our internet line. The cost for a new cable costs RM120. We have to wait for the roof to be completed before installing the internet cable. Finally after 10 whole days, we get back our internet service.
#6
The days while the work was going on, it rained every afternoon. Thinking back, we have never had such experience as the one we experienced because of the storm.
#7
The day when they finally covered up our dining room, we were really relieved. I can sleep without worrying about rain pouring down our dining room.
#8
While work was going, we closed the kitchen because it was not convenient to cook.
#9
This is our new ceiling for our dining room.
#10
Looks so much cleaner, nicer and definitely much cooler too.
#11
Our new roof with almost 90% finished. With the long weekend holidays, the workers will return to touch up the remaining unfinished work tomorrow (Tuesday, 2nd May).
Looking back, no matter how difficult and challenging it was, God has given us strength to pull through and we came out victorious. All glory to God!
My health fails; my spirits droop, yet God remains!
He is the strength of my heart; he is mine forever!
(Psalm 73:26, The Living Bible-TLB)
Photo credited to Julie Chong,
This is another cute mural drawn by Julie Chong.
See, God has come to save me!
I will trust and not be afraid,
for the Lord is my strength and song;
he is my salvation.
(Isaiah 12:2, The Living Bible-TLB)