Not because the snow makes it more difficult for the wheelchair-bound single mother to get around, or because of the cold temps that come with it, but because the snow can weigh a lot on the roof of her house — a roof that wasn’t built correctly and has started to sag.

“I’m not sure the roof can make it another winter — not with 6 inches of Nebraska snow,” she said.

“It’s sheeting holding sheeting,” said Don-iphan contractor Phillip VanDeWalle, who inspected the house a year ago. “It’s sagging bad now, and it will continue to sag until it just falls in.

“There’s no revamping it,” VanDeWalle said. “The roof, the walls, all of it — it’s a disaster.

“In my opinion, this is an unsafe house,” said the contractor of more than 40 years. “It should be demolished — get rid of the old and start over.”

It’s not the first time Brown has heard that about her house at 2510 Commerce Ave. in Grand Island.

The single-story, ranch-style home was originally built as a two-room cabin on a concrete slab outside city limits, she said. Assessor records list the house as being built in 1946.

As the city grew, so did the house, which is part of the Parkview Subdivision just south of Stolley Park.

Additions had already been made when Brown purchased the house in 1989. She and her husband replaced windows in 1996. They added a family room with a fireplace in 2002.

Brown started noticing problems in the house in 2005 when the wooden floor in the family room warped. She was going through a divorce at the same time and turned a blind eye to the tell-tale signs such as saturated drywall and mold that began to grow on a north wall.

But as problems worsened, Brown could no longer ignore the water-stained and damaged drywall around outlets. She issued an edict to her three children (ages 17, 14 and 10), who share the house with her, along with a hired personal caregiver. No one can use the family room.

“We don’t want to risk it,” she said.

After damages from a hailstorm, Brown called a contractor to look at the roof and give her a reshingling bid. He came to look but wouldn’t bid. Eleven more contractors came.

“They left shaking their heads,” she said.

The problem?

A lack of factory-built trusses, Brown said. Contractors who peer through an opening into the attic are amazed at what they see — one-by-six boards where more substantial lumber should be and distances between the boards that are too great to provide the proper load-bearing strength for the roof. Looking at the roof from the street, the sags are apparent.

The same deficiencies in original construction are seen throughout the house. Landscape timbers are set on end to hold up the garage roof.

VanDeWalle said much of the moisture problem is due to a backyard patio that causes water to run toward the house, into the house and across its foundation.

The concrete floor is cracked and split, which causes another problem for Brown and her children — possible exposure to toxic vapors.

Brown’s house sits directly above a contaminated plume of groundwater that the Environmental Protection Agency declared as the Parkview Superfund cleanup site. While various filters are active in removing the contamination in a nearby EPA pump house, residents petitioned the city to extend city water lines so they would no longer have to drink or bathe in the contaminated water brought up by their private wells.

Brown supported the successful petition for the city water line, which runs right by her property, but she can’t afford to hook up to it. Instead, she uses bottled water for cooking and drinking. Her kids are banned from bathing. Instead, they have to take short showers with the bathroom door open and fans running to limit exposure to solvent vapors — or shower up at school or their dad’s house.

The Environmental Protection Agency has stepped up testing for the vapors in her home and others in the neighborhood.

Brown applied for roofing help from the Grand Island Community Development Division, but the city had only a $5,000 limited emergency fund for that purpose. Brown’s roofing bid was $64,000 because of the extensive structural work that would be needed.

VanDeWalle said even replacing the roof for that amount of money wouldn’t make the house livable over the long term due to the mold and damaged walls.

Grand Island Community Development Administrator Joni Kuzma worked with Brown to see if she was eligible for other programs, but none fit. She sent a city inspector to the home. The inspector confirmed the roof has substantial structural problems.

When Brown failed to qualify for city programs, Kuzma referred her to at least half a dozen other area programs, but again no fit for help has been found.

“This is a tough one,” Kuzma said.

Neighborhood Stabilization, the Housing Development Corp., Habitat for Humanity, Vocational Rehabilitation, Easter Seals and the Community Continuum of Care are among the area programs looked to for help. Brown even applied for help from the television home renovation show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” which ranked her home in the top 50 qualifiers and did send out a film crew. They decided the house didn’t look bad enough cosmetically for the show.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks for eligibility to local programs is that Brown is not a first-time homebuyer, Kuzma said.

Second, Brown still owes $53,000 on the home, which is valued at $97,000. She does have an $11,000 insurance check sitting in the bank that was meant for roof repairs, but even using that would leave $42,000 owed on the home.

Brown has been faithfully making her $416-a-month mortgage payment since 1989, but with a $694 monthly income of Social Security, disability and SSI, she cannot afford to take out an improvement loan and increase her mortgage payment. Neither can she afford the rent to live somewhere else permanently or even to live somewhere else while repairs are made.

Friends Kevin and Kam Rathjen made some repairs to the garage just so the garage door would continue to open, but the needs are so much greater.

“I can’t sell it. I can’t fix it,” Brown said of the house. “I can’t get out.”

“I’m really in a place … ” Brown said as her voice trailed off and tears appeared in her eyes. “I don’t want people to think I failed.

“My kids are the existence of my heartbeats. I would never do anything to endanger them,” she said. “I have prayed about the house and that God has his arms around this family, but it’s not responsible to leave it up to God anymore.”

Brown, 41, doesn’t want just to exit the house and leave the problem for someone else. A foreclosure or bankruptcy would destroy the work she is currently undergoing to become a paid speaker for “8 to Great” — a motivational speaking circuit operated by M.K. Mueller. Brown is working on a business plan and is filing self-sufficiency paperwork to get off her disability payments, but all that requires impeccable credit.

“I am open to ideas and guidance,” Brown said.

Anyone with suggestions for Brown may contact her at lorinda@8togreat.com.