[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]For Spencer Gould and his family, Hurricane Harvey was a devastating storm that inundated their home with 6 to 8 inches of floodwater and displaced them for nearly three months. With the help of Houston interior painting company Pro Painters, the Goulds were able to move back into their home in time to celebrate the holidays.
Late Aug. 25, Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Rockport, TX as a category 4 storm. By the afternoon on Aug. 26, Houston had received nearly 16 inches of rain, filling bayous and rivers to the top of their banks. Unfortunately, the deluge didn?t stop and more rain fell that night, dumping nearly 30 inches of rain on the city.
Soon, the Gould family found themselves under a mandatory evacuation order because of their home?s proximity to one of the levees.
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In the path of the storm
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]?What we did was, we tried to get all our low-lying things up on top of the furniture, everything that we could off of the ground,? Gould said. ?We couldn?t get it all. We stuffed tiles and things like that in the door jams thinking that might help us a little bit. We basically packed as much as we could in the three hours notice we had.?
In the fews years they lived in their home, Mr. and Mrs. Gould never thought something like this could happen to them.
?My wife and I were both kind of in shock. Deep down we really didn?t think we were going to flood because we had the levee behind our house so we felt like we would be safe. We weren?t expecting the river to really be a problem for us. We didn?t realize that the actual flooding would be from the creek water that feeds into our neighborhood. We were shocked. We found out three to four days later that the neighborhood had flooded.?
Gould turned off the power before he left, so he wasn?t able to check images from his security system. Soon, he received photos taken by a neighbor floating through his neighborhood in a canoe. Among the photos was an image of their flooded hallway.
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The aftermath
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]?When they cleared us to go back home, we got wading boots and started wading through our neighborhood streets to get back to our home,? Gould said. ?The rest of it was a pretty big blur of people coming over to our house and helping us tear down walls and pull a lot of stuff out of the house so we could try to salvage what we could.?
The Goulds were able to save a few pieces of their furniture, but they lost nearly everything else. Fortunately Mr. Gould was able to back up family photos and put them safely out of the water?s reach.
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Time to rebuild
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]As part of the rebuilding process, the Goulds hired Pro Painters to repaint the interior of their home. They communicated primarily with the manager, Elias.
?Pro Painters did a really good job of painting the rooms.? Mr. Gould said. ?It really made the girls? day to come home to a house that looked different but was a little more fun.?
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”1932″ img_size=”full” title=”Before:”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”1934″ img_size=”full” title=”After:”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Mr. and Mrs. Gould let their two daughters, ages 4 and 7, pick out some of the new paint colors.The girls picked a silvery purple color for the room they share. After the first coat was applied, the paint looked too purple for his oldest daughter. Some of the other rooms in the house had already been painted different shades of purple, so since the younger daughter?s favorite color was purple, the older daughter felt outnumbered.
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]?I had to go back and ask Elias to see if they wouldn?t mind repainting it a different color. He was really kind about letting me change it,? Mr. Gould said. ?They?d only put on one coat so, they changed it to a bluish color.?
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Home for the holidays
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]The Goulds were thankful for the hard work of the Pro Painters team in their hurricane recovery efforts. From coming at night to ensure they weren?t in the way of the other contractors, to being flexible about the start date for the recovery work, our team wanted to be considerate of the Gould family?s situation.
?We were really impressed with their group,? Mr. Gould said. ?We thought they were really nice and that they worked really hard. Elias was really good at contacting me and getting back to me whenever I left him a message. They were one of the bright spots in the rebuild.?
The Gould family is thankful they were able to move back into their home at the beginning of December, in time for the holidays.
?We?ll be unpacking for most of it, but it?ll be nice to be home,? Mr. Gould said.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]If you experience water damage in your home, let our team at Pro Painters guide you through the rebuilding process. We offer a variety of services for repairing your home including cleanup, carpet removal, drywall removal, moisture testing, drywall installation and painting.
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