After a long 19 months, Tahlia and Matt Keech have opened the doors to their freshly renovated Rochester home.
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During the October 2022 floods, the home was inundated with more than 20mm of water, damaging most of the family’s belongings and making the property unliveable.
Mr and Mrs Keech, along with Max, 6, Amelia, 5, and Grace, 2, lived in their caravan and shed, along with their two dogs, while their house was being fixed.
“We were out of our house for just over 19 months,” Mrs Keech said.
“Now looking at it, it’s a positive out of a negative.
“We did plan to have renovations; we were halfway through the bathroom tiling the day before.
“It’s nice now, it’s fresh. It’s what we wanted, finally.”
The entire house underwent renovations, including all three bedrooms, two bathrooms, the living room, kitchen, dining room and laundry.
Many of the resources used for the renovations came via the Keech family’s connections or locals.
“My brother-in-law is a builder, which was good. He could just do two days here, a week there,” Mr Keech said.
“As you can see, he’s pretty particular with what he does.
“Cabinet-making was all local. We tried to keep it with as many locals as we could.”
The Keeches were hoping to be back in their home by the first of June. They opened the doors on May 18.
“We have Amelia’s birthday (June 7), then mine the next week and (Grace’s) on the 24th,” Mr Keech said.
The damage to the house was extensive, with the water creating an ideal environment for mould.
“It was just enough to wet everything,” Mrs Keech said.
“Black mould was flying up the walls within three days,” Mr Keech said.
“We lost everything. The sheds were a write-off.
“The only thing that survived out of here was the fridge, which is what we’ve been using in our shed.
“The dishwasher got flooded. Everything did, pretty much.
“We were classed as a write-off.”
The Keech family had insurance, which helped fund their renovation. They felt supported directly after the floods.
“They were really good in the start,” Mrs Keech said.
“The way they were talking to us and everything was very mindful.”
Their experience with their insurer was not always easy, though, with delays in response and occasional resistance making the recovery process challenging.
“They pushed pretty hard against the caravan,” Mr Keech said.
“They were probably two months late in telling us we could because we already spent $10,000 for the shed to start doing it up.
“They were good by giving us our contents money, they said ‘we’ll just pay it out because you’re classed as a total loss’.
“We were well under-insured.”
The Keeches, like many people in Rochester, never expected the floods to hit as hard as they did.
“We didn’t think this was going to happen,” Mrs Keech said.
“You think it might just come up the street and that’s it, like last time.”
While furnishing and renovating, the family took significant steps to “flood-proof” their home.
“All the beds were a write-off, that’s why there are legs on most things,” Mr Keech said.
“Kickers under the cupboards, they’re a special frame. All solid doors.
“You’ve got to think about it.”
Mrs Keech noticed that many of the items they packed up during the floods were not reached for while they were living out of the caravan and shed. While styling their renovated house, they decided to prioritise the essentials.
“We tried to keep it simple and basic of what we need,” Mrs Keech said.
“Half the stuff we packed up, we haven’t needed.
“We’ve still got boxes of stuff ... we’ve got all the essential stuff.”
During the renovation process, Mr and Mrs Keech were able to spend time on their design choices, not sparing any details.
“We changed a heap of stuff in the house,” Mr Keech said.
“Doorways, walkways. We put in power points where we wanted power points, all down lights.
“Certain things, like (the painter) has done the doors and trims in gloss, everything else is in a low sheen.
“Just the little things ... Tahlia did all the colours and styling.
“We had $200,000, and I’ll tell you, there was not much left of that $200,000.”
Since moving back in, the experience has been overwhelming for the family.
“I think I broke down the other day, and I was just like, ‘we’re finally back in’,” Mrs Keech said.
She said she was thrilled to see the children settling in and enjoying their renovated home, especially with more space for themselves.
“What I’ve found with the kids, coming back in here, they’re much more mellow with their own spaces,” Mrs Keech said.
“The other night we were sitting on the couch, and we could hear them all giggling and playing, it was so nice.
“I’m like, ‘this is it, this is what I want’.
“Grateful that we’ve been able to get to here.”
Cadet Journalist