Family's home destroyed after skunk sneaks in, sprays entire house
Updated:
A Latrobe family has been forced to throw away nearly everything it owns after a skunk came in and sprayed the entire home.
The skunk sprayed the inside of the house last fall, but in the last seven months, the Gray family has been trying to scrape together the means to rebuild.
The family described the experience worse than losing its home to a fire because insurance won’t cover the damage.
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“Starting over with nothing and nothing in your pocket -- that’s the only way I can explain it,” said Scott Gray.
The family said the skunk came in through a doggie door and estimates the animal was in the house for about three hours, running loose with the dogs and spraying absolutely everything.
The skunk spray was so potent that everything from clothes to toys, appliances and furniture had to be thrown out. The house itself was stripped down to the framing.
"We’re down to nothing. Floors, ceilings, walls. Everything is gone,” Gray said. "This is equivalent of a fire burning your house down by not ruining everything, you have to physically pick it up and throw it away.”
The Grays moved into a small apartment down the street. They've hired a private adjuster and invested more than $30,000 of their own money to rebuild because homeowners insurance doesn't cover a dime.
"They used the pollution exclusion on us, which everybody has in their policies, but that's for massive chemical leaks and stuff. They gave us the chemical breakdown of skunk spray in a letter (but) unless you're a biochemist, no one knows what that is,” he said.
Gray said he wouldn't be able to get this far without support from his family and friends, but he's hoping to get his life back and bring his kids back home.
"You don't plan for this. Nobody does,” he said
Family and friends have set up a fundraiser for the Grays on July 8 in Derry.
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