Well, I wake up Friday morning to find my hotwater heater busted and water about 2 " deep in the house. I spend all day Friday morning cleaning best I can until the insurance adjuster shows.

This being my 1st homeowners claim and 1st ever dealings with a flooded house, can anyone give me some good advise on what to look out for? The Adjuster was super nice, agreed to replace/repair everything I had on my list, and called a cleanup company to clean things up and dry everything out to save me the hassle and hopefully avoid problems in the future.

So far I am very impressed with them, but I also know they are in the insurance business to make money, so I am concerned. I have not been given any idea of funds I will be receiving, just a verbal he will pay for all new floor covering, a couple of ruined cabinets in the kitchen and all the labor involved. I was promised to have the check this week. Obviously I am sure if I run and cash it, that means I agree to their numbers and probably seal my fate at that point.

Anything else I need to know?

Thanks from someone who is clueless in this area!

 

If you have a lot of damage, there may be things you overlooked. Might pay you to hire a private adjuster. After I had a house fire years ago I hired a privat adjuster and he got a lot of itmes that I would never have thought of replace. They get paid a percentage of what they recover. It would be worth looking some up on the web or in the phone book and giving them a call.
Good luck.

 

Watch out for MOLD!

Get the biggest Dehumidifier you can buy and get it cranking now........ If you smell the least bit of musty smell, start looking, because mold is a pain to get rid of.

 

Don't get scammed!!!!
We thought we had a mold issue and hired a company to come in and remove it.
Thousands and thousands later we it was done but I really don't believe there was a real issue in the first place.
There is mold everywhere, a little in you house won't kill you.

 

You must be related to my budie. His house floded a few weeks ago. His water softener was the culprit though. He went away for the weekend and came home to 2 inches of watter in the kitchen and no power. Seems when he had his watter softener installed they pipped the drain hose into the kitchen sink drain. When it went to regenereate the drain was plugged and it came back up threw the kitchen sink drain. It then soaked threw the flore into the basement where it found its way to the power panel and shorted it out and locked the softener into the regen mode and then continued to pump water into the house all weekend while he was gone. He is still dealing with the mess. His insurance would only cover $2500 and if he does the rebuilding himself he may just squeek in under that. He had to have an entire new breaker box installed as the other was melted prety bad. The Service Master came in with a bunch of Hurricane fans and an industrial size dehumidifier. Now all he has to do is put new floring back down.

 

I worked for Stanley Steemer here in Alabama and I was the lead water restoration tech. I went down and did water rest. for hurricane Ivan. I now install hardwood and ceramic tile after water damages and burnouts. (I told you all this so when I start spoutin' off stuff you dont think that i am an idiot.)

Ok if you are on a Crawlspace

1. check under the house for puddles of water
2. while you are down there look up at your joices and your subfloor
3. also while you are down there look at your ac ducts for signs of water.
4. look at the insulation under your house (up attached to the subfloor) some companies dont re install this or even overlook it all together.
5. LOOK EVERYWHERE for any kind of fuzzy green or black stuff. THAT IS MOLD!!! If you see mold or even smell mold call the adjuster IMMEDIATELY!
6. make sure that your subfloor is level before they put the floor back down. because moisture will make wood swell and shift ALOT.

Ok if you are on a Concrete slab

1. MAKE SURE THE SLAB IS DRY before they re-install flooring
2. make sure all of the drywall and framework (studs) in the walls that were affected are dry (wood needs to be less than 16%)
3. check all closets and ALL rooms that could have possibly gotten wet. (water goes EVERYWHERE)

In GENERAL make sure they (drying company)

1. check all cabinets and under cabinets incl. vanities
2. check everywhere for mold

Mold needs three things to grow.

Humidity
Stagnant air (no airmovement)
Porous material to grow on (sheetrock, wood)

it is found in everyones house in small doses. however if a larger area is found it needs to be tested (600 bucks for 3 samples) so it can be determined if it is harmful or not to humans and or animals.

Lastly, make sure that all of your stuff that was replaced or is going to be replaced is just as you had it. It is the adjusters job to make you happy and make life back the way it was before it ever happened. Check your paint on walls, check your flooring, check your trim, check your appliances and furniture for damage, check EVERYTHING FOR DAMAGE....( whether it be water damage or contractor damage)

Hope this helps

 

Make sure they take an outside air sample as well so you know if the mold they are detecting is from the house or just what's floating around outside.
We "SUPPOSEDLY" had aspergillis in our walls.
The question no one could answer for me was why it was the same level outside my house (upwind) as it was in my house. We got scammed by a company called Dritech.
They claimed they were going to do all sorts of things to cleanup the mold in our house, sanitizing everything in the including the duct work to the a/c unit.
The whole job was supposed to cost 8 grand. After another 15,000 they walked out claiming to be done yet when I walked into my house there was a layer of dust on everything.
When I called them on it they said that the dust must have been from the air conditioning company cleaning the duct work. I looked in the duct work and it was just as dusty as the house. They were supposed to spray a sanitizer into the ducts plus a sealer to keep any leftover particles from becoming airborne later. I asked them why it wasn't sealed and they claimed that they did it before the a/c guys did there work..... I exploded on them when I heard that lame excuse. There's lots more of this story but I'd have to write a novel.
Just remember if it sounds like b.s. it is if it sounds stupid it is.
Don't expect experts you probably won't find em.
The really sad part was that my insurance paid these Bozo's even after I begged and pleaded with them not to.
I don't even think you can get mold coverage in TX anymore. If you can it's at a much higher rate.
Mold Remediation is a scam.
These folks weren't wearing clean suites, goggles, respirators, or even a dust mask while tearing out the walls. If it was so dangerous you would think that they would have.
Oh and they stole everything in my Liquor cabinet. They claimed it was contaminated. How does unopened bottles of Tequila and Crown Royal get contaminated??? If it did wouldn't the alcohol kill any mold that might have gotten in there?

 

Oh, I agree fully, that is why I told him to get his own dehumidifier and watch for it.

All homes have Mold, but you would still be shocked at how fast the backs of your walls can turn into a black, slimy mess that isn't at all healthy and unfortunately, usually isn't covered by your homeowners insurance.

 

capt.Ron AKA Hank Hill . I guess that episode wasn't too far off the truth since it happened to you.

I'd be swinging if my liquor cabnet was emptied and not replaced though. I'd want proof they poured it down the drain too.

 

No liquor missing other than what I am contemplating drinking since this disaster started. I guess all in all its small beans to living in some poverty stricken country or something - trying to keep things in perspective.

ServPro came and picked up the two industrial dehumidifiers & 8 fans yesterday evening. They also cut all of the insulation our from underneath the house that was wet, about 1/4 of the total insulation. We got the video and still camera's out and took pictures of everything that is damaged just for documentation, and the adjuster is suppose to be faxing me something today with the "estimate".

Funny thing is I have to coordinate all of the repairs, they just pay for the materials and labor. I plan to ask for some type of contrator type payment for myself if I am having to do all of it. I am still positive, but can see this getting ugly quick if they try to jerk us around.

Thanks for everyone's advise above. Definantly some food for thought there that I am taking into account.

 

On a different note I will mention that you should NEVER use the word "Flood" when dealing with your insurance. A flood is not covered on most homeowners policy and requires separate flood insurance in order to be covered.

I have found over the years that the mere mention of certain words will cause the insurance company to try to get out from paying the bill. Obviously in your case this didn't happen, I mention this as food for thought for those reading this thread.

Your case wasn't technically a flood, even though it flooded your home with water. If I have to report a claim, I think very clearly what I am going to say before I report it. No sense giving them an easy way out, they will likely take it.

 

What they said. Your carpet is water soaked, not flooded.

 

If/when you file for a homeowners claim - go big; because you might find out later they cancel your policy due to being too high a risk, or your rates will skyrocket to the point where you will pay off the insurance companies "bill" in short order anyways.

If its a small claim, it might be worth your while to take care of the repairs yourself.