Small Home Gazette, Fall 2023
Letter From the Editor: Restoration’s Evil Twin
I have always thought that restoration meant taking a well-built old house and lovingly bringing back its charm after decades of aging or slow neglect. I recently learned that restoration also has a dark, panicked, fear-filled side after I googled “What to do when it’s raining inside your house.”
Coming downstairs on a late September morning to brew coffee, I was enjoying the patter of rain on the roof after so many weeks of drought. Then I heard the drip, drip, drip. Like the horror movie trope, I realized the sound was coming from inside the house.
Faster than caffeine would have hit my system, I was startled fully awake seeing water dripping from the ceiling of our living room. My rush for buckets and rags was followed by frantic Internet searches about what to do next. As instructed, I poked a hole in the ceiling with a long wood screw to release any pent-up water. No large gush of water meant I could finally have that first cup of coffee and start my search for professional help. Oddly, Google told me I needed a restoration company. A restoration company?
My first thought was, “Not yet. I’ll work on returning the charm after the leaking roof is fixed.” “No, Deb,” Google seemed to be telling me. “Restoration also means repairing homes that have been struck by disaster.” Like the many homes being reroofed in the neighborhood, mine had apparently fallen victim to the August hailstorm, too.
I had always thought of restoration in the romantic sense—as repairing architectural details that were damaged or missing to restore aesthetics. But instead of planning and spending time and money on revealing hidden rafter tails and re-remodeling the kitchen to bring in cabinetry that mimics the built-in buffet’s inset doors, I was planning and spending time and money on having a contractor punch a large hole in our ceiling and baking the house with air movers and dehumidifiers.
As we wait to hear from the insurance adjuster, I am praying for a roof replacement approval and remembering the good old days before disaster struck. I want to go back to that simpler time when home restoration meant restoring my little bungalow’s beauty, not just restoring my bungalow. But first I must contend with restoration’s dark side.
