As the repairs are still underway, this blog post is more of an update on the Cottage. To recap, on September 5th a guest accidently drove their car into the wall of the Cottage, it was the kitchen wall. After the accident, the Cottage was not habitable, and we have been temporarily closed since then. Luckily no one was hurt and after a month-long battle with their insurance company, the funds to repair finally came through. I learned a lot during that interaction including to be persistent and to advocate strongly for yourself as the insurance company was only looking out for themselves and their client. Also make sure you understand fully what is going on and if you have a good relationship with your insurance people reach to them so they can help provide clarity. It was this clarity that helped me advocate and, in the end, get the full coverage amount. This was a huge win because the insurance company required me to sign a waiver saying I would not go back and ask for more money from them or their client; that meant I had to make sure that the money they were releasing would cover all unforeseen damage and additional lost income should the repairs run over the original lost income time frame (of which it will.)

With the funds now in the bank, demolition has begun this week. My contractor, the one who built the Airbnb, removed the damaged board and baton from the exterior which exposed the torn waterproofing, insulation and broken paneling that made up the exterior wall. Luckily the two-by-fours that made up the structural framing of the wall were not damaged!

In the interior, the drywall, broken tiles on the backsplash and the damaged cabinets were all removed. My contractor as was able to save the countertop so as of right now we should be able to reuse it. The refrigerator is still in good working order, so I won’t need to replace it.

We got REALLY lucky with both the electrical and the plumbing in the kitchen in that the wires and pipes were not damaged. As there are plugs in the wall that require repair, electrical work will still need to be done but it could have been a whole lot worse. This is where we are to date. The next step is inspection; the county inspector must come and look everything over and sign off on it before my contractor can start putting everything back together. My hope is that by the time this blog post hits, the inspector will have given the ‘all good’ sign and repairs will have started. The replacement cabinets have been ordered as has the tile, of which I am picking up in Denver. My goal is to get the Cottage back to the beautiful state it was in before the accident, while being mindful of the funds it will take to make it happen.

To ensure that nothing like this ever happens again, I’ve ordered steal bike racks that will be installed in front of the exterior wall that faces the driveway. These racks will act as barriers as between the cars and the building. They will also be functional in that they are bike racks, so guests have a place to park and secure their bikes as well as their car. When I ordered them, I took into consideration both the functionality and the aesthetic aspect of the racks so it would not be obvious what the intention was, nor would it take away from the beauty of the Cottage exterior. There is an e-bike company located just down the road from us. One of the jobs on my never ending ‘to do’ list is to reach out to them and see if they would be interested in partnering with me so that I can provide my guests with the ability to rent e-bikes while they stay at the Cottage. More on that in a future blog post… but for now, this is the latest update on the Cottage saga!

Posh Cottage Repair Update

Basil Oil