What follows is an account of the violence visited upon our garage by nature in July 2024, and the long road to recovery. It is somewhat abridged, but still a long read.
Prologue
Previous Garage Work
I should begin with the backstory of work that has been done to this garage in the 11 years we have lived here.
Around 2017, with the help of my Dad, Mom, and brother-in-law Tony, I tore the roof down to the plywood and installed new underlayment and shingles.
In 2020 we switched home insurance providers, and they were less than impressed with the rotted Masonite siding, so in 2021 we had new siding installed, which ended up a slight debacle.
We signed a contract in Februrary, but due to supply chain issues and general mismanagement/dropping of the ball, I was prodding in late fall and finally got a December installation. The siding was prepainted in their warehouse, but a few days after installation it was already bubbling. They offered to refund all charges for the paint and pressure wash the siding, but I was still left with some sanding and a paint job I did all by myself in 2022.
July 2024
Colorado/Utah
The setting in July 2024: Our kids had spent a week at Camp Grandma and Grandpa (my parents) in Pennsylvania, while I was able to take a road trip through southern Colorado and Utah with my good friend and road trip buddy Mike and his brother. We are probably approaching some 20,000 miles driven together, and this was our first road trip in around 10 years, mostly attributed to having young kids, COVID, and distance. We had a wonderful trip, saw many beautiful locations, and made great memories.
I was back in Pennsylvania with my kids and parents, on the last night (Monday July 15) before heading back. We had packed most everything up for an early departure, and we were excited to be home and see Lisa again.
The Storm
The Approach
Sometime late Monday evening, Lisa texts me that the sirens are going off. She is at Pour Brothers for her skee-ball league, and she realizes this is not the usual tornado event that requires immediate shelter, but instead a derecho that is 30 to 45 minutes out. Rather than shelter in a bar, she opts to travel home and shore things up before the storm arrives.
Once home, she brings in the flag, patio umbrella, and deck chairs, and she pulls the Altima into the garage to protect it from hail. This is our standard Midwestern practice. She even goes to the basement with flashlight, phone charger, etc. as the storm nears. She is a professional in natural hazard preparation and mitigation, and it shows.
I should say that, watching from Pennsylvania, it was apparent this was going to hit, as it was hitting everything across a span of hundreds of miles.
I just hoped that Lisa would stay safe, and the 60-70mph winds wouldn’t blow everything away.
The Hit
This was the text exchange:
Good news first: Lisa is safe and unharmed. The house seems okay, but the power is obviously out. The pool has no major breaches, but are there slow leaks? I really want a good night of sleep before driving home tomorrow, but I can only conjure images of the damage and imagine what lies ahead.
The kids are pretty upset as well, but I tell them that “it’s just stuff, Mommy is safe, and we will work through this together.” It’s true: the garage is pretty much just stuff — utilitarian equipment that can be replaced.
Lisa and I text back and forth until maybe 2 or 3 a.m. (I’m hazy on specifics, and I was on Eastern time). Obviously there is adrenaline at play, but on Lisa’s side the Altima’s car alarm is going off, and it doesn’t stop until the battery dies.
Kids and I left before 7 a.m. Tuesday morning. Dad let us borrow his generator, because I didn’t know how long we would be without power, and given the expanse of the storm, I thought the whole community could be devastated.
Returning Home
I really thought C-U would be a disaster area, but I didn’t see cornfields lying flat, nor any extensive damage. It was kind of a regular cloudy day, although there was some debris (small limbs, etc.) that we normally see with a wind storm.
We arrive home just after noon, and my sister and brother-in-law have been helping and cleaning all morning.
We hooked up the generator to power our refrigerator and freezer, then continued cleaning. Power came back around 4 or 5 p.m.
Some of our friends asked about the driveway tree — the “Hoosier Palm” as I like to call it. Like any good weed, of course it survived. But I think it may have proved useful by protecting the deck from the front wall of the garage. This may have also kept the east wall upright, and kept the deck from pushing too far into the pool frame.
Removing the Tree
Turns out, insurance wants the tree gone before they send an adjuster. They can’t assess what they can’t see. Insurance said they would pay for tree removal “as long as it was reasonable.” What’s reasonable, I asked? “We’ve had invoices for $10,000 — that isn’t reasonable.” Under half of that? “That’s reasonable.”
Once the tree was removed, we could see the outline of the Altima (left) and the bakfiets (center right).
My own personal opinion is that there was a small tornado that hit our general area. Our neighbor described the tulip tree blowing around in a circular motion before falling, and the grey apartments two addresses to the east had major tree damage as well.
The Adjuster
“Yeah, that’s a complete rebuild. I’ll get ya as much as I can.”
In Central Illinois, wearing Cardinals gear can be hit or miss, a 50/50 proposition at best. In this case, the adjuster was also a Cardinals fan. I think he would have done a thorough and fair job either way, but we certainly connected over my hat.
All of the work I did in the previous years was not completely lost, as it improved the current value of the garage and helped to recover more money from insurance.
Removing the Contents
I really cannot overstate how much work this was, physically and mentally. After a nearly two week vacation to Utah, I took more time off work for cleanup, and carefully entered the garage to look for contents. Broken glass, nails, and shards of wood lurked amongst the wreckage. I had to photograph everything in situ for insurance, then assess whether it was salvageable. Some of this gear was heavy. Also, many of the tools I would want to use for this type of cleanup were in the garage.
One of the biggest surprises was in the rafters, which kept it safe. It’s some old glass for our front screen door, which keeps the foyer a bit warmer in winter than the screen. I didn’t even know it was up there, but was glad to have discovered it.
The back right corner of the garage seemed to survive okay.
The bakfiets was probably the most sentimental and valuable thing we lost (aside from the Altima). Lisa and I spent our honeymoon and a couple other vacations in Amsterdam, and although our kids had mostly outgrown the utility of this bike, it still brought back nice memories when riding it around town. That is the most taco’ed wheel I have ever seen.
Reviving the Pool #1
After several days, the pool had started to green up a bit. Fortunately, the pump and filter appeared to be intact, but there was no power. I purchased a heavy duty 100′ cord to run power to the pump (as the electric box was destroyed), and it worked! One pool shock later, the water is clear again.
Removing the Garage
It was time to plan for a new garage, so we called a couple contractors. The first to arrive on Tuesday, Chuck Routh from Coach House Garages, was the first to offer to remove the garage. “I’ll do it tomorrow afternoon after work; I’ll be by around 4:30.” I thought, either this guy has no idea of what he is doing, or he knows exactly what he is doing. Regardless, I was blown away by the speed and initiative. The second contractor arrived, and I told them if they can’t remove the garage by the end of next week, I’ve already got someone. They couldn’t.
It ended up raining the next day, so Chuck postponed one day to Thursday, and showed up at 10:30 with a dump truck and giant trailer to remove the garage. 10 minutes in and he has already placed one wall on the trailer. He was done in under four hours, maybe three.
Somehow he nicked my 100′ cord for the pump, and when I pointed it out, he gave me cash on the spot for a new cord. I know he was wanting me to buy a new garage from him too, but I was really grateful for the way he treated me to make things right.
Once the garage was removed, we could really see the damage to the Altima, which was now a “drop-top.” No hail damage! (LOL) Every external panel was damaged. The tempered glass shattered by design into a million tiny pieces, and it was everywhere.
One other aspect of the cleanup: I am pretty sure that something died in the tree collapse. My nose told me this, and the thousands of flies that appeared corroborated my hunch. If you ever need to dispose of thousands of flies, I can highly recommend these fly traps. They have a little funk, but it was no worse than the pre-existing funk, and they worked really well.
Constructing the Tarp Shed
I still wanted to protect the pool equipment and stuff like a cabinet, a welder, and my mower, so I bought a 10′ x 10′ tarp shed from Harbor Freight. It went together in a long evening and did exactly what I wanted/needed it to do.
Reviving the Pool #2
Although Chuck had promised to keep the pool equipment intact, in the process his son was using a sledge to break things apart, and dinged the return PVC line, much to Chuck’s chagrin. They patched it up so that it wouldn’t leak too much from hydrostatic pressure, but running the pump would blow the lines out, so I had to do a PVC repair.
Good-bye, Altima!
Retrieving the contents from the Altima was a bit of a challenge. First of all, there was glass everywhere. I managed to get things out of the center console, but the trunk was a challenge: the latch was electronically operated, and the battery went dead from the alarm when the tree fell on it. After forced entry failed, I hooked up the battery to the trickle charger and provided enough juice to open the trunk and get our emergency kit.
I was trying to maximize the return I could get out of the Altima, realizing that it is totaled. Mack’s Recycling accepted my offer, and arrived to remove the car. We only had it for a short four months. 🙁
Once the car was gone, I could finally begin the joyous task of vacuuming up the broken glass left on the pad and driveway.
August 2024
Reviving the Pool #3
This was a new one: we came back from family vacation in Wisconsin, and I thought “Hmm, I don’t hear the pool pump running.” Upon closer inspection, the electrical joint between cord and pump was completely melted apart. What happened? I had to get another 100′ power cord, and after firing up the pump, I realized that the hose between the pump and filter had sprung a pinhole leak, which was perfectly aimed at where the suspended power cord was placed — it was several feet off the ground in order to avoid water. Now I had to order and replace a new hose between the pump and filter. Arrrgh!
New Car
After one month as a one-car family (which wasn’t terribly bad; we had only one car from 2010 to 2018, and I was working remotely full-time in 2024), we ambled into Serra Honda, and came home with a Hybrid Accord. We love it! We are not a his and hers auto situation; we use the van for hauling lots of people or stuff, or traveling a long distance. The Accord is great for driving around town. Easy to park, and easy on the gasoline.
September 2024
Contract for a New Garage
There was a lot of back and forth with insurance about what they would pay, but we finally nailed down their offer, and could then proceed to get a new garage under contract. We signed on Sept 15.
Relocating the Tarp Shed and Contents
Pool season was now over, and we needed to make way for a new concrete pad and garage, so we moved the tarp shed and ALL of the contents to the east side of the house. The sand filter and welder are both around 150 lbs each, and there were cinder blocks for ballast to prevent winds from blowing the shed away. Quite a lot of work. I should have invested in a better hand truck, but how often do I use that anyway?
I also had to enlist the aid of Champaign Public Works to get this abandoned utility pole removed. None of the utilities (Comcast, AT&T, Ameren) used it after repairing the neighborhood, but nobody wanted to claim ownership of it either. Thanks, Champaign Public Works!
Surveying the Property
I needed to have a property survey done before the garage could be built, so we knew exactly where the property lines were. Chuck provided me with contact for a surveyor who was able to find our property pins just fine. Not the funnest way to spend cash, but necessary!
Distance to property line is also used to determine whether to put drywall/fireproofing the in garage. I needed it on two walls.
October 2024
Removing the Concrete Pad
The last big thing to remove before we can being to build back was the damaged concrete pad. Chuck was able to get this out in just under an hour, and he deftly maneuvered around the pool lines to not damage them.
I am downright amazed at what one can accomplish with heavy machinery.
Installing the Concrete Pad
November 2024
Building the New Garage
The concrete needed a few weeks to cure, but soon it was new garage day. Coach House arrived with a team of 6 to 8 people.
Relocating the Contents and Breaking Down Tarp Shed
Now I had a permanent structure for storage, which means it’s time to lug everything back across the yard, then break down the tarp shed.
I couldn’t start putting everything back completely, because I needed to keep the walls and a lot of space free for the electrical outlets, lights, and panel installation.
Painting the New Garage
Knowing how to paint the garage, and all that entailed from my previous experience, I decided to DIY this again. It was nice to start with a primed surface.
Painting this garage is a 20 hour job, in case you were curious.
December 2024
Installing Electric
This one was pretty straightforward: I had to remove three planks from the pool deck so the electrician could access wires and stuff. He was a great guy — White Sox fan. “I only wore long pants three days last year.” Although it had warmed up to slightly above freezing, he ended the day in coveralls for this job.
Organizing Garage
This is an ongoing job, but around March I got the shelving installed in the garage, and I’m settling back in slowly.
May 2025
Pouring Concrete, Installing Drainage Trench
The new garage was installed about two feet back from the previous spot, since the surveyor provided us with that info. This led to a gap between the existing driveway and the new garage. I temporarily placed some concrete blocks there for use in winter, but long term plans were to install a drainage trench and fill with concrete.
This ended up being a 45 concrete bag job. I never would have completed it without the help of Bracken and Tony, so big thanks to you guys! Thanks also to Chan and others who offered assistance, but the timing of this weekend was slower than I thought.
I also want to credit my Dad for installing a new section of fence on the deck, which was needed due to relocation of the garage footprint. He also straightened up the fence post next to the Hoosier Palm. Thanks, Dad — it looks great!
June 2025
New Pump, New Chlorinator, New Lines
Although our old pool pump was still technically functioning, the power switch had broken off (stuck in ON position), and I discovered the bottom was completely rusted out. It had a good 20 year run. I ordered a new one ahead of the tariffs and crossed my fingers it would work.
The inline chlorinator didn’t have enough PVC pipe available to reuse in the new setup, so I got a new one of those, too.
I made an equipment pad out of patio pavers, with the hope that it would provide the stability needed, while allowing for flexibility to move/rearrange equipment. I am not a real engineer, I just play one on TV.
I was fearful there could be undiscovered damage to the suction lines coming from the skimmer and main drain, but it successfully powered on with no leaks!
Conclusion, for now
All of this is to say that it has been a long road, and I’m grateful to the friends and family that have been there to support us all along this journey. Some have offered labor, some a welcome relief from the labor, and some both. Most, if not all, of you reading this have provided more support than you realize.
It feels like we’re back to almost-normal now, and we’re so excited to make some new memories. To Pool Season 2025!