June 29th my home nearly destroyed, I love the weather but not this.

[BillinMo]

Wow. That's some of the most destructive lightning I've heard about without burning the house down. Glad to hear you and your family are safe, Steve.

 

[glass man]

WOW BROTHER so very sad to read this!I pray no further damage has been done..WE will be praying for yall!I love you!!JAMIE

 

[Poison_Us]

Oh no. Sorry to hear that. GLad your alright. Our thoughts are with you.

 

[JOETHECROW]

Glad you lived to tell the tale Steve.

 

[beendiggin]

Sorry about the damage to your home Steve. Glad you and your family are ok. That's what's really important.

 

[splante]

I second that glad you and your family are ok. Been through a few earthquakes and wild fires in my Calif days, all that counts is you are ok.

 

[Steve/sewell]

Yeah thanks everyone but just more bad news,
I just returned from Canada today and if it could get any worse it did!!
I had a fire recovery specialist come out to look at the roof closer and he is recommending not only the entire sheathed roof come off but all of the trusses as well as he simply put they boiled and then burnt and will break down in a hurry if they are not replaced. This includes the ceiling joists on the second floor as well. He also told me to be on the watch for further damage to electrical appliances that hasn't happened yet but most of the time will such as refrigerators,garage door openers,sump pumps central air,just about anything electrical that was plugged in.I had an electrical engineer friend look at the one surge suppressor that survived in my house and he estimated the following after looking at the raw data recorded on one of my surviving PCs.He estimated that for a nano second of time 10,000 to 200,000 amperes of current passed through my entire house. He is actually suggesting gutting the walls and redoing all of the electric services AC Data Phone Video ect.This is growing by the day and is quite disheartening plus my company's work has been setting an unreal pace of late.No bottles in the foreseeable future I have been consumed by this. On a more positive note I restored network capability to a large camp near my home that caters to the mentally challenged.The same storm that hit my home severely damaged the camp. They have over 55 camp counselors that come from all of Europe and the former Eastern Bloc countries that work with as many as 10 sometimes severely retarded people by themselves all day. These kids all in their late teens and early twenty's are there for three months on a strictly volunteer basis. These kids rely on the internet to email home and use Skype at the end of the day to communicate with their loved ones. They endured no Air conditioning for 5 days,no running water,the well pumps were damaged and no electrical amenities for the same period. When I stop and think about all of the special needs people they are helping gratis I am ashamed to B I T C H about my life's lack of supposed comforts. Truthfully the best part about the whole deal as my wife and I agreed is we dont miss the TVs at ALL!! Thanks again everyone for responding it means a lot. Steve

 

[epackage]

You have a tremendous outlook and spirit Steve, the best thing is none of you were hurt. If you're looking for estimates feel free to let me know and my buddy Paul and I will be happy to take a look and see what we can do. Good luck with everything buddy...[]

 

[bostaurus]

I am glad you were able to get a specialist in there to look at things. Just listened to a guy on the radio the other day, a private insurance inspector.
His point was that most insurance inspectors do not have experience in construction. They tend to estimate on replacing obviously damaged parts. Construction experience would inform them that there would be unseen damage that weakens parts that seem fine or compromises the structure.
He recommended hiring a professional adjuster with construction experience. They work with your insurance company and almost always gets them to raise the amount they pay.
I always assumed the folks sent out by the insurance company were experts, but I thought the same thing about house inspectors. They guy that did this house before we bought missed some big things...like a metal roof that was about to come off in places, Formosan termites, and floor boards that were completely hollow due to termite damage. But like you said...small beans compared to what others put up with everyday.

 

[SAbottles]

Wow, sorry to hear about this, Steve. It must have been a frightening ordeal. Do you not see some grim irony here? You are the guy who gives everyone else heads up about bad weather and then the weather sneaks up on you and WHAM ! Mother Nature plays some nasty jokes ! []