When Vandals Strike

 I never thought I’d ever say I am a victim of vandalism. But now I can.

We went on a vacation last week that we have been planning all year (photo post to follow). First we were going in March, then May, then the beginning of August. Finally we were going!! But I guess this vacation wasn’t really meant to happen. Four days into our trip we got a call from the person watching our house that someone had turned on our hose pipe and set it at the foundation of our house. She said the WHOLE basement was wet and smelling, she guessed that the water had been sitting in the carpet 3 days. The walls had sucked up the water 2 feet high in places. Furniture was rusting. And if we didn’t do something the mold would get into the vents soon.                                    

Talk about a bad day. We were 14 hours away and even if we drove all day we wouldn’t be able to work on it until two days later, by that time the mold would be so bad we’d have to gut the whole house. So we did the only thing we could, we hired someone to come in and remove the carpet. At least that would get rid of the worst and we could do the rest when we got home. We let the house air out 48 hours so we could at least sleep at home and headed back.

So we came home last night. It’s about what we expected but boy is it going to be a LOT of work to clean up. We need to Clorox the whole basement twice, we need to go through all our stuff and throw out wet, moldy items, we need to fill out a police report, we need to asses if the walls need to come out too (is there insulation soaked in there?). Mostly we are praying the insurance covers the cost. So pray for us!! It’s crazy how something that took a vandal 3 seconds to do can cost so many hours of work and so much financial setback.

So what does this mean for Kandel Photography? Even though my studio area is not in the basement and thankfully none of my equipment is damaged, I will still be closed indefinitely. If you have a session already booked I will do an on location (park, urban) shoots instead. If you have a consultation or meeting with me I’ll bring my sample albums to the local starbucks and meet you there!! It’s all I can do. Everything salvageable is up in my studio area!!

Oh, and if you go on vacation turn off your main water so this doesn’t happen to you. Let your plants die.