Houston - you answered the call for help in a big way for a Missouri City woman.
KPRC 2′s Bill Spencer told us about a woman who was living in a home with serious damage after a car slammed into the living room. She was desperate for help, and called Bill Spencer. An entire team of people stepped up.
At 79-years-old Loraine Baly reads the bible to her great grandkids, reminding them how God is always protecting them.
Loraine believes God actually saved her life, when an out-of-control driver smashed his car right into the side of her Missouri City home, causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage and nearly killing Lorraine in the process.
“I never heard anything that loud in my love life. It was so loud. I said, oh my God, I said, it’s a car just came in the house,” said Baly.
The damage to Loraine’s house was massive, the entire front corner of the home’s brick exterior was destroyed inside the framing, the walls and part of the ceiling were shattered.
But, the most crushing part for Loraine is that she had no homeowners insurance to cover the damage, she let it lapse after her husband died.
Not only that, the driver that hit her home, also had no insurance.
Meaning Loraine, a retired HISD bus driver’s aid, living off a small pension and social security would be looking at paying close to $15,000 to fix that giant hole in her house.
“I don’t know what to do, you know. And I’m afraid to stay here because I don’t think it’s safe.”
“I can’t get it fixed. I can’t pay to get it fits. And it’s it’s just a hole in the house and I don’t know what to do,” she said.
That’s when Loraine wrote to the Spencer Solves It team.
And that’s when we went to work bringing in workmen and materials from no less than workmen from 5 different companies to entirely rebuild this section of Lorraine’s house.
- Red River Brick - supplying brick and mortar
- Ranch Masonry - doing the actual brick installation
- All State Brick - also supplying brick
- Motion Construction - doing the inside reconstruction
- Lennar Homes - doing the painting, pressure washing and paying some of the cost
Tom Evans with Red River Brick helping put this team together.
“Well, I think that just anybody that’s in a situation that she is needs some help. You know, every once in a while. I mean, you know, we’ve been in positions throughout our lives and just hoped that somebody could come and help,” said Tom Evans, with Red River Brick.
“On the inside... We’re replacing the framing, the insulation, and all of the drywall.”
“So we have to do the demolition. We have to install the new starts. The new two by fours, put new drywall, tape them, float and then texture the walls, make them look like nothing happened,” Alejandro Lopez, Motion Construction.
And outside, the difficult job of redoing all the masonry work. The work takes days to complete, but in the end just look at the difference.
From disaster to delight Loraine can hardly believe it.
“It’s just beautiful. It’s just a beautiful job. I really, really appreciate it. I love it so much. I am so happy. Thank you so very much,” she said.
Teamwork is what made all of this happen! If you need help or would like to pitch in on a future project, email the Spencer Solves It team here.