Apr 04, 2015: KITCHENER — Occupancy permitted? Yes.
This century-old Duke Street house, once gutted by fire and tagged for a wrecking ball, was ready to be lived in again.
Earl Martin, tape-measure in hand and Elmira Sugar Kings cap on head, proudly showed off that electronic message from the City of Kitchener on Thursday afternoon.
The simple but satisfying three-word message lit up the display on his mobile phone. It lit up the Mennonite Disaster Service volunteer's face, too.
Occupancy permitted? Yes.
"The city was preparing to demolish this place," Martin said before his buzz-saw cut off a slab of underlay destined for one of the staircase landings.
That was last fall. Now, work still remaining, it is ready to become a home again.
"I never lost hope," said Sat Seetal, carpenter and drywaller who has owned the home since 1999 and lived there with his mom Surjit until the fire Nov. 13, 2013.
Seetal had no insurance. Interior damage was pegged at $250,000. A space heater was blamed. Three cats perished in the blaze, too. No people were hurt.
"It was a freak accident," Seetal said.
The yellow bricks outside were smoke-stained above the window slots but still sturdy. Everything inside the structure had to be removed and rebuilt.
Seetal and his mother found places to stay over the past year and a half. Strangers were kind. Friends of friends took them in. His mom recently stayed in the women's shelter just up the street. They wondered if they would ever return to 123 Duke St.
So much work needed to be done and the city seemed to be getting antsy.
Initially, Seetal pecked away at the jobs himself. But he couldn't move quickly enough and he was running out of money. Demolition seemed inevitable.
But a neighbour got the Mennonite Disaster Service involved and donated all their labour. That was last fall. Now they have their occupancy permit.
"We just got final inspection just two minutes ago," said Orland Martin, the project manager just before noon on Thursday.
He promises a grander re-opening for the Seetal home on April 10 at 3 p.m.
By then, the new front porch will be finished. The hand-drawn number above the yellow front door will be gone. The Mennonite Disaster Service work site sign in the new front window will be removed.
Seetal is grateful and amazed by the pace of the rebuild thanks to the volunteer effort that began in late September.
He and his mother have their home back six months later.
"I never thought," he said.