[River Wader]

So, while on vacation with my family this past weekend.....
someone ran their car into my house.
it happened around midnight friday night.
He left the street two doors down, and drove across both of my neighbors' lawns. Judging from the tire tracks, he made no effort to turn or avoid my house at all.
My guess is that he was having a nap by this point...


I've a brick house and a big concrete front stoop, so from a head to head standpoint, the driver and car lost that fight. (car totalled, driver with multiple broken bones).
They towed the wreckage, but left all the broken glass and smaller pieces behind.
Nice.


Came home last night from our trip to find that both my front door and coat closet door are jammed shut, and there were quite a few cracks in the plaster along the front wall of the house, so it appears the driver did some serious damage, more so than photos of the exterior led us to believe.

Not sure if we made the news or not, as we were out of town.

If anyone remembers hearing about such an incident that occurred this past friday night in Evergeen Park, be it on TV or in print media, let me know.

In the meantime - we meet with engineers and claims adjustors tomorrow.

Wish us luck.

 

[Raptor]

WOW 6

Never seen a thread like this before.
Good luck.

 

[Fonzie]

man, what a drag.

 

[Captain Jim]

Well, did this individual have insurance? Sure hope so!

Sorry to hear the bad news, maybe it's good you were gone, and nobody was there to be injured.

What a shame and a hassle for you. Good luck, make sure everything is taken care of the right way! 2

 

[Nikster]

B U M M E R :evil:

You may want to get a PRO in there to check it out 100% someone else might see something in a different light 4 . Anyway it will be covered in the overall cost of the claim & might be well worth it.

<----------------hint----look over to the upper corner, top left.

 

[Tubes77]

DEFINTELY get a structural engineer in there to evaluate the damage!!! Believe it or not, I have experience with this on two separate occasions. I did evaluate both, but also insisted on a structural engineer on both occasions.

The problem with hitting the front of the house, is that typical construction has the floor joists running from the front to back of the house. When the car strikes the house, the level of the inpact is right as the level of the rim joist (outer joist connecting the floor joists together) and the floor joists tend to be forced back into the house. In the one case I saw, the impact was great enough to pus the joists in and off the support of the foundation wall, causing the front section of the house to sag. In addition, as those joists fall on one end, they "scissor" up at the other end, causing internal cracking of interior walls and stucture. In the one case, this was the kitchen and the lifting actually broke the granite counter tops in several places!

Sounds like you have this covered, but just thought I would mention some otf the areas that one might not think would be impacted, (pun intended)....

 

[Paul S]

Sorry to hear that River. I hate that you have to do all that work. You should get some payment for time, energy, and grief.

 

[River Wader]

hey, this is the sound off board, for blowing off steam...
And I, uh....had some steam to blow off.

turns out, the driver was doing over 75mph when he left the street, skidded sideways through two yards, and smacked my house.
found this out yesterday when speaking with the arresting officer.

the two drunk minors who were in the back seat, and attempted to flee the scene, are the ones that told the police how fast the car was traveling.

so, that answers the question posed in the title of this thread.


Seem the way he hit, he essentially shifted my front brick wall 2-3 inches to the east.
the stoop took the initial impact, and the car was spun around so that the rear end tapped the corner of my house...

it looks fine until you get up close.
it's brick and block, and the initial report is that the block, under the brick, is undamaged...

a tearing down and putting back together of the front wall will fix this...
new front stoop, gutted and replastered closet, replastered and repainted entrance way and living room, and I'll be good to go...

piece of cake....

That's sarcasm, by the way.

Still waiting for engineer before we move forward, of course.

Anyone here at CLF know the relative cost of brick steps, in comparison to concrete slab?