While coming back from two weeks’ vacation in the Netherlands, I found my house damaged by a water leak that started after the Richmond city water treatment facility was out of service, causing a lot of residents in Richmond, Henrico, Hannover and Chesterfield (Virginia) to be without water for days to come. Some houses require hot water pumped into the furnace to heat up the house, just like mine. Long story short, my furnace heat pump was on while there was no water causing the pump to burn (it need water to lubricate) and so my heat went out. During this time the faucet upstairs was slowly dripping to prevent frozen water pipes. This caused a water drain to freeze up and once the water at the water treatment facility was restored it came back on and caused the water to burst and leak. This happend on or about the 7th of January 2025, I was in the Netherlands, so there was nothing I could do, if I had known anyway. On the 14th of January 2025 I returned home and found this mess. The water leak started in the master bathroom upstairs and this is located above my photography studio.  The costliest damage is in my photo studio, as most of my photography equipment was soaked with water. My insurance placed me in a hotel and temporary housing while my belongings are removed, and the repairs are made. Only half of my house is damaged, and the other half is okay, the half of my house where my train room is located. My train room, as well as my downstairs office and upstairs bedroom, are used to store a lot of my belongings, however they removed two truckloads with my other belongings to their storage facility. So, for about 4 months I will not be able to work in my train room, while this room is full of photography gear and computers used in my photography business. I will have to check each one of my cameras and computers out to see how much damage the water has created.

To be continued