The Flood Co. Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Insurance Coverage For Mold’

We perform a lot of inspections for people who are looking to buy a home. They don’t want to have any surprises. They are trying to investigate and understand all of the problems with a home before they buy it. Knowledge is power. If you know about something you can take appropriate actions. If a home you are considering buying has mold you can can find out what the removal and repairs will cost and adjust your offer to buy the home accordingly. Well this particular experience was a little different.

The prospective buyer who hired us did not want to know about the mold in the home. It was a bank owned home, and he was convinced that he had already negotiated a very good price on the home. In the process of getting a new mortgage on the home, the mortgage company required a home inspection. The home inspector pointed out some possible mold in his report. The mortgage company did not want to make a bad investment, so they required a mold inspection and report from a mold professional. That is the actual reason we were there, is because it was required by the mortgage company for them to grant a loan.

We did find a lot of mold. All of the basement walls were mold affected and about half of the ceiling. The water had come from problems in both of the bathrooms on the main floor above. Both bathrooms needed to be pretty nearly demolished, including a shower. This is alot of mold, a lot of work required and a lot of repairs; at a very considerable cost of course. The total cost of the mold cleanup and repairs was over $45,000. We wrote up a report for this customer and his mortgage company that described the damage and the needed repairs. The logical thing would be to ask the seller to pay for or share in the cost of the needed work. Well this man wanted this house pretty bad and I guess he thought it was worth what he had already negotiated for the home. He did not give our report to the mortgage company, instead he found someone that knew little or nothing about mold to write up a statement that minimized the mold problem. Even though he was not the owner of the home yet, he hid the problem from his mortgage company. He over paid for the house. He obviously did a poor or insufficient mold cleanup and he moved his family into this mold affected home. At times emotions can lead to irrational behavior, including loving a home too much.

After we start a new water damage it typically takes a few days to get the property dry. We set up drying equipment and monitor the drying progress over a few days. We started a new water damage in Lehi a a few days ago. The first day there was a strong musty odor, from being wet for a few days before we were called in. Today as we monitored there was another strong odor, a urine odor. We sealed of the family room that needed to be dried and with our drying equipment the room got very warm. The carpet in the room had a lot of urine in the carpet, and the heat really brought the urine odor out. The urine in the carpet or the urine odor was not caused by the water damage, and the odor will subside when the temperature is back to a normal room temperature. I hope for the sake of this customer that the insurance company agrees to replace their carpet, if not at least the odor will be back to “normal” when relaid and cleaned.

Utah is like many states. Many insurance companies exclude mold, but cover water damage as long as it is related to a covered event. This leads to delema at times. Mold comes from dampness and time. So just where do you draw the line? Where does water damage end, and mold begin? If everything is dry, but there is mold. The is no dampness, so there is no mitigation needed. The mold is an issue of course, and there may be swollen, weakened, disfigured or stained materials. If there was a covered water damage event, all of the damage is potentually covered other than the mold. That is if the mold is excluded on the insurance policy. The big lesson of course is act on a water damage event quickly and dry everything as quickly as possible.

If there is mold pressent, and materials are wet from a recent covered event consult a mold professional; there are options available.

Property insurance in Utah is like many other states,in that water damage is usually covered by insurance and mold is usually not covered. Water damage and time leads to mold. So, where and how do you draw the line between water damage and mold? If you are the insurance company, or the insurance company’s preferred vendor you evaluate it infavor of the insurance company. If you are a trained water damage and mold professional, and you are working for the homeowner. You are able to evaluate the damage more in favor of the home owner. This is a common delema that happens over and over again. If you are not a water damage and mold professional, see that you have one working for “YOU”.

The moral is: Don’t go it alone, have someone knowledgable on your side.