Workers from Brandt Heating & Air Conditioner Co. of Iowa City and Ramsey Creek Woodworks out of Kalona were at the house toiling away, hammering at walls and working on replacing drywall and flooring in the recently flooded home.

The din was a sign that construction has begun again on their house after months of waiting, and William Jones said the workers have already made great progress since starting this Tuesday. He said he was excited to see any progress made at all.

“I guess it’s like everything else — progress is what you’re looking for,” William Jones said.

Susan Jones was more guarded, mentioning that the process is sure to be tedious, although she said she was also excited to see the process get moving.

William Jones said the workers have been focusing on removing the heating units, replacing the wood warped flooring, redoing the ductwork and taking out drywall. When they complete these steps they will look to hook the house back up to electricity so they can use their power tools without temporary power, and to see if they can salvage things like windows and air conditioner units that could still work.

“They said (the air conditioners) might work for three days, or three months, or three years,” Susan Jones said. “They really don’t know, yet”

In other news, 22 portable practice units were installed in the temporary music buildings on Clinton St. Susan Jones said she was impressed with them, but this isn’t good news for everybody.

“They don’t have any excuse not to practice now,” Susan Jones said, smiling.

By Stephen Schmidt – Susan and William Jones are ready to get started repairing their flood-damaged home, but before they can do that they have to wait on various things beyond their control- FEMA, local government, contractors, their mortgage company.

The list goes on.

Susan Jones said she realizes this is a common theme across the Corridor.

“We’re all waiting for something to happen,” said Susan Jones.

Susan said that when things start setting into motion, the couple will have the house’s wiring and ventilation system replaced first, paving way for future repairs.

“Anything infrastructure wise that was wet will need to be replaced,” Susan Jones said.

Video by Elizabeth Hladky

Still, there have been some small steps made. Susan said she bought some work boots and is planning on trimming the dead plants near the house. The couple also signed a deal with a “snowplow guy,” who will come and clear their driveway for workers this winter.

In the meantime, both William and Susan are relying on work to keep their minds off the wait. On Friday, William was set to show a student from Omaha interested in training to be a musical conductor around campus.

William Jones said the student’s father wanted him to visit the University of Iowa because of its reputation, even though he knew about the damage caused by June’s flooding. William Jones said the school has a lot to offer, even with hardships on the art campus.

“Basically what you do is find out what they’re interested in and then you make an assessment of what they need to do to achieve those goals,” William Jones said. “I’ll just mainly tell him about what programs we have. The programs are still here.”

Susan Jones said the music faculty has been shown preliminary plans of what will become of the Voxman Music Building, also damaged by the flood. The University still has told them it will be two years before they can return to the building, but Susan hopes this is a worst case scenario.

“The optimist in me says we’ll get back in sooner than that,” Susan Jones said.

By Jennifer Hemmingsen – The Joneses good some good news this week — they won’t have to raise their house in order to rebuild.

They found out their home at 930 Park Rd., Iowa City is already two feet over the 100-year flood plain, giving them plenty of clearance to meet guidelines to rebuild. That was the last major hurdle before reconstruction could begin. William Jones said they’ve got fingers crossed that contractors will start working on the electrical system soon.

It’s been about three months since the floodwaters drove the Joneses from their house, and they won’t likely be able to move back until early spring. They’re renting a condo and some storage space in the interim.

At work, William is preparing for the first concerts of this semester. The University of Iowa Symphony Orchestra will perform at their temporary home – Iowa City West High School’s auditorium on Sept. 24.

“It will be a kind of a kickoff,” he said. The program will include a little Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms.

The UI announced last week all this semester’s symphony concerts will be free. Just where they’ll all be held is not yet clear.

William said construction has begun on a large practice space in the Art Museum and should be done in about six weeks. It won’t be perfect, but it will be closer for students who now practice at West – a long bus ride from campus.

“It will be nice,” William said. “The more we can bring back to campus, the better it will be for students.”

The UI athletic department gave flood victims some tickets to today’s game. The Joneses’ neighbors, Francoise Gourronc and Al Klingelhutz, also got tickets.

Susan nominated the couple as neighborhood heroes. During the flooding, Gourronc and Klingelhutz were tireless helpers to their unfortunate neighbors on the other side of Park Avenue – helping move furniture, feeding people and doing whatever needed to be done.

“They were just amazing people,” Susan said.

The Joneses hit an unexpected snag at home last week. They learned their house’s flood survey certificate is missing.

They can’t start rebuilding without it because they have to make sure the house is above the flood plain. To do that, they have to know the house’s exact elevation now. Worst-case scenario, they’ll have to have the house resurveyed.

In the meantime, they’re not just sitting on their hands. Susan went on a hunt for kitchen cabinets Friday. It’s one way the Joneses hope to save some money on rebuilding. Before the flood, they had custom cabinets. “Boy did that figure come in high,” Susan said about the estimated cost to replace them.

It will be a while yet before those cabinets will be hung. First, contractors must rip out electrical wiring that had been submerged in the flood. Then they’ll rewire the house so they can electrify it. The Joneses said they don’t know the exact order of the work after that.

“It will be interesting,” Susan said.

The Joneses got a letter from FEMA this week, reminding them it will be a long time before they learn whether they’re eligible for a buyout. It could be April 2009 before that decision is made. So the Joneses forge ahead, knowing all this work might be for nothing.

“You can’t just sit and wait,” Susan said.

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The final estimate came in – a whopping $332,000 just for the interior work. Insurance will cover $250,000 of that cost. They haven’t yet figured out what to do about the driveway, landscaping and patio, Susan said. Those decisions will come later.

Before they sign, the Joneses are going over the estimates line by line, looking for places to save. They got more bad news at work last week – told they should now expect to be out of the Voxman Music Building for two years, instead of earlier estimates of about a year.

They’re making due. Some students had a hard time finding their classrooms in this first week of the semester. Susan said she’s sure that will all get worked out soon. She’s giving voice lessons in new retail space the University of Iowa is renting for the interim. The acoustics leave a lot to be desired, though, she said.

Video by Elizabeth Hladky

“It’s worse than singing in the shower,” she said. “It’s like singing in the subway.”

She and her office mate have hung quilts on the walls and are bringing in carpets to muffle the sound. The result, she said, will be something less than a decorator’s dream.

“Right now, it looks like a gypsy camp,” she said.

Faculty are taking advantage of the benefits on this side of the river – Susan said she frequently spots peers going out to coffee or lunch downtown.

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