Lightning strikes house

[Redboat]

My house got hit by lightning on June 1 , 2006 . It's taken me and the insurance co. till now to get most of the house rewired and a new roof put on , a well pump , electric water heater , a new home theater system , tv's , computer , garage door openers , refrigerator , microwave , lots of flouresent balasts , light switches and dimmers , and light bulbs and the list goes on and on and on . Still have to get the A/C ( heat pump ) working , maybe wed. 8/2/06 .
Good thing I had just finished the toy storage building or the boat my have been damaged too . Somethings still wrong with my pickup truck , probably computer related .
Good to be back . Only been out boating a few times this year , but hope to spend some time on the water soon .
Redboat

[Chris E]

You may not feel it right now, but, consider yourself lucky. 2 years ago a friend of mine's boathouse burned to the waterline after getting struck by lightening. It had sleeping accomodation on the second floor that was being used the day before the storm.

[Redboat]

I am lucky , only material things were damaged or destroyed . My dog and I were in the house when the lightning hit and we're still here !
Redboat

[Diplomat82]

Dumb question....I know.....but how did you know that lightning hit for sure?

Did you have burning electrical wires, appliances catching fire or what.

When a house catches fire after a lightning strike, is it usually because of damaged to the electrical wiring?

We just had a neighbor down the street lose his house to fire........what a sick feeling watching it burn.

I'm glad you got away relatively unscathed.

[Redboat]

It was lightening , it shook me out of bed . I could smell smoke and burnt electrical . The smoke and heat detectors in the garage were going off . I called 911 right away and between them and my fire extinguishers , we put out the multiple fires . It came through the roof over the water heater . Big hole in the roof . It got into the electrical system from the electric water heater .
The A/C repairman just left . not repairable , compressor is cooked and most of the wiring to the outside unit is fried .
Redboat

[Chucker]

Wow! Sorry to hear about the damage, but glad to hear nobody was hurt!

[Chris E]

Just last night we had a nasty windstorm, power still out to alot of homes and i saw a least 100 trees down in my little tour today. 2 cottages on my bay were leveled and one is seriously damaged. We have about 5 trees down on our property and the power is still out. This storm lasted all of 10 minutes but what damage it did!

[jgreen]

You were LUCKY !!
I know someone who had their house hit by lightning. It blew them right out of bed and across the room into a wall. It then proceded to burnthe roof off the house and byrned three walls of the garage to the ground along with 2 vehicles and the family dog.