Well, I planned some time off to help my parents go thru their stuff and see what we can eliminate, as they've finally come around to considering assisted living. Both are in their 80's, and live about 6 hours from me. My wife had rented a nice house near them for the week with a fantastic view of the Oregon coastline. We left Saturday morning and got all set up in the rental, then Sunday morning my (good) neighbor called. Saturday night we had a big wind storm near Seattle and my (bad) neighbor, still refuses to take down his tall poplars along the fence line. Three have dropped in my yard in the past couple years, taking out the back fence, and the property owner refuses to acknowledge my many written requests to cut down the rest. We had an arborist and a tree removal company look at them, and they both wrote letters saying that they need to come down.
So the bad news came from (good) neighbor that another one came down Saturday night and hit my house, causing considerable damage. The wife and I say Hello/Goodbye to my folks after a 10 minute visit, and rocket back home, but not in time before nightfall. Found a good portion of my new deck destroyed; both smokers survived, but the Weber kettle has a good sized dent in the lid.
Worse for me, the tree put several holes in my 1-year old, tri-level roof and gutters. It is pretty high, and has a steep pitch. I tried to get a tarp laid down in the dark, but being 61 now with a bad back and bum knee, I failed miserably and barely got back down w/o killing myself. Then of course, it rained last night. Now I have leaks in my master bath on the upper level and family room on the lower level. I called the insurance company and they gave me a claim number. Gee, thanks. I'm probably going to be on the phone all day today trying to get someone out to make emergency repairs, or at least get the tarp down. If that fails, I guess I'll have to give it another shot. Good neighbor is about my age, a retired fireman and he's offered to help, but he's a great guy with a great family, and I'd never forgive myself if something happened to him.
Anyhow, a few pics of the damage.
You can see here that the outer railing was ripped from the deck, along with part of the overhang. This also tore out my outside lighting.
I guess my only recourse now is to hire a lawyer and sue bad neighbor, since Allstate only seems to be interested in reimbursing me for the repair work that I have to find and schedule myself. Should have sued him before all this happened, I guess. But I never wanted to be the litigious type.
So the bad news came from (good) neighbor that another one came down Saturday night and hit my house, causing considerable damage. The wife and I say Hello/Goodbye to my folks after a 10 minute visit, and rocket back home, but not in time before nightfall. Found a good portion of my new deck destroyed; both smokers survived, but the Weber kettle has a good sized dent in the lid.
Worse for me, the tree put several holes in my 1-year old, tri-level roof and gutters. It is pretty high, and has a steep pitch. I tried to get a tarp laid down in the dark, but being 61 now with a bad back and bum knee, I failed miserably and barely got back down w/o killing myself. Then of course, it rained last night. Now I have leaks in my master bath on the upper level and family room on the lower level. I called the insurance company and they gave me a claim number. Gee, thanks. I'm probably going to be on the phone all day today trying to get someone out to make emergency repairs, or at least get the tarp down. If that fails, I guess I'll have to give it another shot. Good neighbor is about my age, a retired fireman and he's offered to help, but he's a great guy with a great family, and I'd never forgive myself if something happened to him.
Anyhow, a few pics of the damage.
You can see here that the outer railing was ripped from the deck, along with part of the overhang. This also tore out my outside lighting.
I guess my only recourse now is to hire a lawyer and sue bad neighbor, since Allstate only seems to be interested in reimbursing me for the repair work that I have to find and schedule myself. Should have sued him before all this happened, I guess. But I never wanted to be the litigious type.
