A Truck hit my House.

This actually happened about a year ago but I figured you guys would get a kick out of it. In Feb 06 we had an 18 wheeler truck smash into the front of our house in Almaden. It was dropping off drywall for a house being constructed up the hill from us. The truck was parked on the side of the road facing down and the parking brakes on one side of the dualies failed (drum had disintegrated). On this incline having only one side engaged is not enough. The thing came sliding down the hill about 200 feet. It went over our landscape retaining wall and hit the front entry of the house.

We had cops showing up all day saying they heard the call on the radio and just had to see it for themselves!


Pics attached.

-Vik
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I was actually in the shower upstairs and heard more of an extended thump sound with a little vibration. It almost sounded like kids jumping off the bed and onto the floor. Then my wife comes running in screaming "A truck hit our house!!". I was like "what?" . Then I looked down from the top window and see this huge truck. I carefully opened the front door and could see the front of the truck right there. It was like an uninvited guest!

The cops were joking that I should gather the family and take a picture in front of the house to use as Christmas cards.

In an ironic way it actually turned out to be a good thing for us. Nobody was hurt and we were able to negotiate a very good insurance claim. Instead of repairing back to original we changed the look of the house to an old world style with hand troweled Tuscan stucco finish with precast stone trim around the windows and copper downspouts. We're still working on it to add some balusters, fountain, etc.

The most important thing is nobody was injured.

Here is what the house looks like now. Completely different style.

Vik
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I don't think so. I live on Hollow Lake Way in San Jose.

Vik

 

Not a Ferrari but a close cousin. I took this pic the day I took delivery.

Vik
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The parking brakes on the truck failed so it was the trucking company's fault. Also it wouldn't have happened if the driver curbed his wheels as you should do when on a hill. We didn't have to fight for who was at fault. It was just a matter of how much compensation to bring the house back to original state. I mean an original state and not just patch up job.

Vik

 

It was pretty minimal with mostly cosmetic issues (stone veneer, stucco, paint, driveway gouges). They did have to rip the stone veneer of the column to make sure the inside structure was not compromised.

Vik