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Home » Blog » Lifestyle

My House Fire with Before & After Pics

Published: Jul 16, 2020 · Updated: Nov 6, 2021 by Kara · This post may contain affiliate links · This blog generates income via ads

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First I must preface this post with this: This is not my usually type of post. As you know, I blog about all things cake. But, I’ve gotten enough interest from people wanting to know about my house fire and how the reconstruction was coming along, that I felt like it was time to share pictures.

My house fire pic collage with text overlay.

Some background: First I have to say that this little house was like my baby. It’s very small, but it was perfect for me when I bought it. I was a single parent and 27 years old and I was so proud of myself for being grown-up enough to buy my own house.

I did the yard all on my own and lived there for a little over five years with my son until I got married. I married someone who had three kids and my little house just wasn’t going to cut it, so we moved and I rented this one out.

A few years ago, after all the kids grew up, we decided to move back into this house as we just didn’t need that much space and frankly it’s SO much cheaper to live in a smaller house with a smaller mortgage.

Ok, now to what happened: In November 2019, about a week before Thanksgiving, my house caught fire in the garage. The cause of the fire was officially undetermined.

My husband was home at the time, while I was at work. He called me in a panic and I could hear the fire burning in the background. He said he was trying to spray it with the water hose and that he’d gotten the dog out of the house.

I work downtown in my city and live on the complete opposite side of town just outside the city limits. It took me about 40 minutes to get home and it was the longest drive of my life.

By the time I got home, firemen had already put most of the fire out. Since I work for our county government, I knew the county fire marshal, who was there at the scene. I’m thankful for his calm demeanor and for everything he did that day.

I’m also extremely thankful to the local volunteer fire departments. They came from the surrounding towns and were able to save parts of my house and kept the fire from migrating to other homes.

Since the fire started in the garage, everything there was destroyed. I had just replaced my washer, dryer and water heater. I had keepsake items from my parents in there, all of my holiday decor was there and my husband lost all of his woodworking equipment, a pool table and some keepsakes.

The house was left standing. It could have been much worse and we could have lost everything. We thought at first, since it looked like it was mostly contained to the garage, that all of the rest of the house might be okay and that we would be able to save our furniture and other items.

The smoke, soot and water damage was so bad that that was not the case. The fire had burned the entire roof of the house and ceiling and black soot covered every square inch of everything. We lost all of our electronics and furniture and the flooring we’d just put in was destroyed as well.

The only pieces of furniture I could keep were pieces I had gotten from my parents. A restoration company came and picked them up right away and tried to clean them, but the damage was so much that I’ve had to restore them. (Which is what I mention in my emails sometimes.)

Essentially the entire attic and roof and ceiling burned plus all the walls and insulation was severely smoke and soot damaged. Basically to restore my house, they had to take everything down to the studs.

The only thing they didn’t tear down was the brick and most of my windows. Oh and one toilet survived. They had to redo all the plumbing and all the electrical, which I was actually happy about.

House with roof and sides being rebuilt.
The rebuilding of my roof.

I was glad about them taking down all the walls, because I was afraid if they just went through and sealed the walls and repainted them, that I would be breathing in smoke damaged materials, so I was very thankful for my insurance company for doing what was right.

This is not a commercial for State Farm insurance, but I am truly thankful that they stepped up and took care of things.

So, my insurance paid for me to live in a hotel for several weeks and then I moved to a rental house where I stayed until May of 2020. My house was mostly finished when I moved back in. (That was pretty stressful).

We were in the middle of the COVID pandemic, so it made purchasing needed items for the house and appliances a real challenge, but it worked out in the end.

So that’s the backstory. I could say lot’s more and if you ever go through something like this (I really hope you don’t), I’d be happy to answer questions about the process.

I had the most trouble out of my mortgage company, who essentially made a bad situation even worse. I am still trying to get my escrow account straightened out with them and it looks like I will probably end up having to file a complaint with the consumer financial protection bureau.

Alright, so let’s get to the pictures, which is probably what you came here to see. I had way more pictures than this, but I just can’t add them all here.

Also, I don’t have many outside shots of my house on this post for security reasons as I still need to keep a little bit of privacy. I know you get that.

Graphic of house fire with text overlay that says before and after from teh fire.

Fire Damage:

Fire damage from the garage with fireman.
Left pic: I’m thankful for the firefighters. They saved other houses on the street from getting burned and this situation could have been much worse without them.
Right pic: The roof in my entry way.
Fire damage in garage and house entrance.
Left pic: Entryway and living room ceiling.
Right pic: Burned attic
Fire damage to washer and dryer and entrance.
Left pic: My entryway to the garage and to the front of the house.
Right pic: The new washer and dryer I had just purchased less than a month before.
Fire damage in garage and way to kitchen.
Left pic: My garage. The black thing on the ground to the left was our garage fridge.
Right: This is the floor in the entryway/living room. You can see where the firemen added blocks under the feet of my china cabinet. That china cabinet was my mom’s when she was alive, so they did what they could to keep it from getting water damaged.
Fire damage to front of house.
Left pic: More of the entryway leading out to the garage.
Right pic: Our driveway where the firefighters had to drag the contents of the garage out and my husbands SUV that was melted across the back.
Fire damage to side of house.
Left pic: Black smoke and soot came out of anywhere air could leak through. It was like this all around the house since the attic completely burned up.
Right pic: Another pic of the entryway. There was this white dusty char all over the place.
Fire damage in garage and utility room.
Left pic: The garage.
Right pic: This was the area where my washer and dryer were. Just to get more perspective, that area was white before the fire. Everything looked like it had been painted black…even the ceilings in the living room.
Fire damage in kitchen and beams.
Left pic: This is a close up of one of the rafters in the attic. It’s charred black.
Right pic: This is the kitchen. There was black soot everywhere…even in the drawers that were closed. I lost both my KitchenAid mixers!
Fire damage to back of car and top of garage.
Left pic: This is just a pic of the area above and to the left of the garage. It just shows how crispy the gutters got.
Right pic: This is the back of my husband’s car. It totally melted. He had no time to move it as he was trying to do the best he could to contain the fire with the water hose until the firefighters showed up and he also had to get the dog out.

After Reconstruction:

After pic of front door and garage.
Left pic: Front entry door.
Right pic: The right side of the garage. You can see that they were able to get the black soot off the brick. They had to acid wash it. I also got all new wood trim on the house, gutters and a garage door.
After pic of left side of house with windows.
Left pic: This is just the left side of the house. The smoke and soot were acid washed off, one of the windows had to be replaced and new roof and trim.
Right pic: All the wood is new and they acid washed the brick to clean it.
After pic of white kitchen with white table.
These are pics of the new kitchen. I went with white cabinets, instead of the dark cabinets I had before. I also decided to have my cabinets go all the way to the ceiling for more space. I have a tiny little kitchen, so I definitely need the space.
I also had to replace all my appliances. The white table had to be repainted…it was my mom’s and I haven’t yet finished the chairs that I have to re-stain and recover.
After pic with wood floors and living room with sofa and curtains.
Left pic: This is the entryway and part of the living room.
Right pic: This is the other side of the living room. The french doors lead to the third bedroom, which I actually use as an office (hence the french doors on it.)
After pic of white bathroom cabinets and bedroom with bed and new floors.
Left pic: This is the new cabinets and floors for the master bathroom. The 2nd bathroom in the hallway has the same floor and cabinet.
Right pic: This is a small pic of my bedroom. I don’t really want to show the entire room here, just because hey, it’s my bedroom. 😉

I didn’t get pics of the hallway, the third bedroom and second bathroom, but I think you get the idea.

I love the simplicity of it and am really in love with my floors.

I hope you enjoyed looking through the pics here. As I said earlier, this was so hard to go through and I lost a lot of sentimental things I’ll never get back, but it could have been so much worse had it not been for the wonderful volunteer firefighters in our area.

I also want to say thanks to the readers who sent me lovely, supportive emails while I was going through all this. That was wonderful to receive.

I learned that so many people have gone through house fires…way more than I realized. About three months before the fire, part of my house had flooded because of my washing machine (which was why I had just replaced it).

Anyway, the amount of stress last year was huge, but I got through it. That’s the thing with people…we’re resilient and we can make it though some tough things. Having supportive people around you though really helps.

This blog was my lifeline as well. It’s something that I very much enjoy doing and it provides me with a creative outlet and I think that’s very important too.

My biggest advice for anyone right now is to take your phone and take a video, or just tons of pictures of everything in your house. I mean everything. Open the cabinets and closets and get pics or videos of the items in them…don’t forget to do that.

We think we know what we have, but if you had to sit down and list out everything you had for an insurance company right now, could you? Most likely you would miss a ton of stuff. It’s even harder to remember everything under times of stress.

So go and take videos and pics of all of your possessions and save that to the cloud or something so you can access it. It’s just good to be prepared…not scared, just prepared.

Thanks for reading and thanks again for all your support!

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Comments

  1. Oluwakemi

    July 17, 2020 at 8:22 am

    I am sorry about all the things you lost. It’s a whole lot. But I am so glad it wasn’t more than that and most importantly, you survived it. You are alive.
    Your place looks quite beautiful now. Well done.
    Thanks for sharing with us.

    Reply
    • Kara Jane

      July 17, 2020 at 9:04 am

      Thank you so much for your kind words! You’re right…I am so glad it wasn’t worse and am glad no one got hurt. Thanks again for your wonderful comment. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Deb

    July 17, 2020 at 9:06 am

    I am fairly new to your blog and had no idea you went through all this!
    I’m so glad you were able to rebuild your beautiful home!
    Thank you for sharing this and all the great tips and recipes for cakes!

    Reply
    • Kara Jane

      July 17, 2020 at 9:27 am

      Hi Deb! I’m glad to have you here and thank you so much for your kind words…it means a lot. ? And I hope you enjoy all the cake recipes!

      Reply
  3. Sheila

    July 17, 2020 at 1:07 pm

    Reading your emails makes me happy and grateful for what I do have. I am SO happy that you, your hubby and dog are safe and back to your lovely home! Thank you for sharing all you do with us readers! Take care n have an awesome safe weekend!

    Reply
    • Kara Jane

      July 17, 2020 at 7:55 pm

      Thanks so much Sheila! Yes, I’m so grateful everyone was safe and we’re finally back home. Thanks again for your wonderful comment. 🙂

      Reply
  4. Robin

    July 17, 2020 at 1:39 pm

    Thanks for sharing this with us. What a hard thing to go through! It’s a bit scary to think of how quickly everything can go up in flames, literally. I love your new floors, too!

    Reply
    • Kara Jane

      July 17, 2020 at 7:57 pm

      Thanks Robin! Yes things can change so quickly, it really is scary. And yes I’m in love with the floors. I like them even more than the floors we had just put in before the fire! lol!

      Reply
  5. Joan-MyCookieClinic

    July 21, 2020 at 9:46 am

    Hi Kara Jane, Thank you for sharing your difficult experience and I’m glad life is getting back to normal for you. I wish you smooth sailing and many more happy memories in your home. Take care, Joan

    Reply
    • Kara Jane

      July 21, 2020 at 6:48 pm

      Hi Joan, thanks so much! We’re working on making new happy memories! 🙂

      Reply
  6. Mona

    July 24, 2020 at 3:05 pm

    You’re such a wonderful person, to be able to talk about it makes you exceptionally brave. My heart was bleeding reading your story but all the same, we remain grateful to God for keep you alive. Very proud of you ?? Remain blessed ?

    Reply
    • Kara Jane

      July 24, 2020 at 7:06 pm

      Mona, thank you so much for those lovely words! They mean a lot to me.❤️

      Reply
  7. Nancy Johnson

    November 20, 2020 at 11:09 am

    I’m so sorry you went through such a traumatic experience. It turned out so beautiful after the reconstruction. I’m admiring your beautiful flooring. Are they hardwood?

    Reply
    • Kara Jane

      November 20, 2020 at 6:57 pm

      Oh thanks Nancy! No they’re not real hardwood…just the laminate wood slats we had in here before, but a different color. I had originally picked out a different color, but everyone was out of everything during the start of COVID, so I had to change direction, but I really like how it ended up.

      Reply

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Hey there, I’m Kara!

Hi, I'm so glad you're here! Cake shows up at our most important and happiest moments in life, like birthdays, weddings, baby showers and holidays. It's also for those everyday moments...it makes them even better. Put simply, cake just makes us happy! I love trying out new cake flavor combinations and decorating ideas. Have a look around and I bet you can find a cake recipe or tutorial for any of life's big moments and those everyday moments too. Click here if you want to learn more about me!

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