Oakland House Fire and Rebuild
Before the Fire
This some of the story of my Oakland house fire and rebuild.
When I was 26, I bought a Victorian in West Oakland. It was kind of an impulse buy. That was back when banks were giving money out to pretty much anyone with heart beat and a load application. I closed on Friday, the 13th of December, 2002, and couldn’t believe what I had done. I spent the next several years fixing up the house, and did my best to undo some of the bad remodels that had striped the house of its charm. Housemates helped me pay for the mortgage. By 2007, I was kind of done. The market was turning down, and so I decided I would wrap up unfinished projects and sell before the market totally tanked. Half way into painting the house, it caught fire. Neither the painters nor the wood stove which I used to heat the house caused the fire.
Some Pics from Before the Fire
The Weekend of the Fire
On Friday, June 29th, 2007, my house caught fire. I was out of town shooting a wedding, and didn’t find out what had happened until Sunday morning. I spent the next 3 years rebuilding my house and fighting my insurance company for the money to do so. It was a long hard journey, but many positive and unexpected things came out of it.
That Friday, I packed my photo gear, a small tent, a hammock, my dog and my client’s dog into my car, and headed to Chico, CA. I had met the couple at a dog park, our dogs had hit it off, and it turned out they needed a wedding photographer. They left their dog with me the week before the wedding so they could focus on wedding planning. Our dogs loved each other.
Winnie and Monk
The Wedding and the Bad News
Figuring that nothing important would happen while I was gone, I turned off my phone on Friday afternoon when I arrived at the wedding location in Chico. I threw a hammock in a tree, set up my tiny tent, and began my leisurely weekend of shooting. The wedding was on private property and everyone was pitching in to get things ready. Both wedding and party after were great. There was lots of dancing, laughter, sweet moments, and just a little chaos. I woke up early on Sunday and surveyed the wreckage.
I planned to head back to Oakland after brunch on Sunday, and decided to check my phone to see if anyone had called. There were 13 messages on my voicemail. I am really not that popular. My stomach dropped. One by one, I listened to the messages. Two calls from my 80 something year old neighbor. The firemen wouldn’t let her close to my house. She wanted to make sure everything was alright. A call from several other neighbors and friends. The messages seemed to get more and more somber and serious. But, not one of the messages relayed the direct information that my house had caught fire.
I was so thankful that I hadn’t turned on my phone earlier. Shock, panic, sadness, and confusion set in pretty quickly. My head felt like it was going to explode. I found the bride and asked her if I could talk to her in private. Once she heard what had happened, she gave me a hug and some advice that will stay with me always. She told me to take a breath, take a moment, and try to face the chaos with a sense of calm. I didn’t need to rush back in a state of panic. She told me to take some time and face the situation when I was ready. That advice has stuck with me.
A Few Images from the Wedding
Fire. Insurance. The aftermath.
Through dealing with the insurance company, and contractors, and City officials, and all the rest, a good sense of humor and calm has done me well. My house was fairly severely burned. There was extensive fire, smoke, water, and damage from the fire crews cutting holes in my roof. My neighbor’s house also caught on fire. Firemen who came through in the days after the fire told me that they could see flames from several miles away. I actually feel pretty lucky that I was out of town with my dog and most of my camera gear when the fire happened.
Pics of the Burned House
A Long Slow Rebuild
Fighting the company was tough. I had two people representing me, and it was still a slog. While trying to get them to give me enough money for the rebuild, and continued on. Looking back, it looks quick and easy. In the moment, it was pretty tough.
Tearing Out the Burned Stuff, and Rebuilding
Spray Foam Insulation
At the beginning of this week, the insulation guys came in a started installing spray foam insulation. Not a particularly sexy subject, but the type of insulation I had installed is actually pretty cool. Supposedly a “green” product made from polyurethane and corn or soybean and propelled by water. This fast expanding foam is shot into the wall cavities and expands something like 120 times in size and hardens within seconds. The foam seals and fills any gaps and holes that you might have in your house. Since my house was built in 1889, it needs quite a few gaps to be filled.
Making My House Cozy
Concrete, Electrical, Tiles, Sheetrock, and All the Rest
From framing, electrical, plumbing, concrete, floors, and finishes, it takes a lot to put a house back together. Doesn’t take much to tear it down. A good reminder of how fragile the balance of life can be.
I Put Together a Good Team
My awesome roofer, Pablo, hooked me up with some great concrete guys. But first I had the people who had done a bunch of hauling for me do the demo on the existing slab. They also dug down so I could gain head room in the basement.
Concrete Demo and Pouring New Slab
Before / After of Bathroom, and Sheet Rock
My Buddy Reproduced Victorian Details
My buddy, Hector, offered to reproduce Victorian corner blocks for my house after it caught fire.
The other day I called in the favor. We started out with a trip to the fancy wood store, where we sorted through lumber and picked pieces that were the approximate thickness and width that we needed. From there we returned to his little shop in the garage of his house. A little planing and cutting transformed the boards into squares to be turned on a wood lathe from the 1800’s. Then Hector sharpened his tools, made a template, and began his magic.
From boards of wood to detailed corner blocks took a surprisingly short amount of time. Later Hector also reproduced buttons, and newel posts, balusters, railings, and other details to match what was originally here. It was so nice to smell the wood shavings and saw dust. The smells reminded me of the winter I took a wood working class on a little farm in Massachusetts when I was a kid.
Hector at Work in His Shop
The Oakland house fire was relatively quick, but the process to rebuild was long, and hard. In the end, I had a house that I no longer wanted to sell. My obsession with doing things right, lead me to make a house that was maybe a little too comfortable. But, I am pretty pleased with how things turned out in the end.