GLACE BAY -- An emotional rollercoaster ride for a woman forced to spend tens of thousands of dollars to repair the vacant end of her duplex has ended with the unit being demolished.

Kim Losier, who owns the remaining half, is furious she had to pay to clean up her neighbour's mess.

“It's bittersweet,” Losier said. “I’m excited to see the nightmare that has been my life for the last five months disappear.”

That nightmare began in January when pipes burst in the neighbouring unit of the former company house, flooding her side of the two-storey duplex.

Her neighbours abandoned the other side of the home just after Christmas. They turned off the furnace, but left the water running.

“I honestly don't see how this is the existing home owner's responsibility,” Losier said. “I don't know what I did wrong. I lived in my house, I paid my bills, I paid my taxes, I paid my water. I kept my home up, but someone abandons their property and I'm left footing the bill for pretty much everything.”

Before Thursday's demolition could take place, Losier had to come up with the money to turn the wall separating the two units into an exterior wall – at a cost of $30,000.

Between repairing flood damage and other problems, Losier has had to take out a new mortgage on her home.

“That's not fair,” she said. “It shouldn't be up to us and the only way you're entitled to move on is if you're willing to do it. Honestly, I don't see how any of this is my fault.”

Losier says she wouldn't be at this point if it wasn't for friends and total strangers. A GoFundMe page has raised thousands of dollars while friends have worked around the clock to make repairs.

“Thank you,” she said to those who pitched in. “And I know that's not even enough. It doesn't even begin to compare to how I feel right now. The support from friends, from family, from neighbours, complete strangers. It's been so overwhelming; sometimes all I needed to get through another day.”

As the final pieces of her neighbour's former home hit the ground today Losier was hoping her luck will change, and that nobody else will have to go through what she has.  

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kyle Moore.