The Flood Co. Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Insurance coverage for water damage’

I can understand people being careful and cautious about their water damage insurance coverage and how it works. They often times are concerned whether its a covered water damage event for insurance purposes; and then what will it cover. Water damage can spread and get worse by the hour, so collecting estimates and trying to make sense of them is not a good idea. My “customer of the week” was an Ogden Utah water damage and was trying to analyse estimates to see if there is something they might could do themselves. For one thing the estimate is just that; an estimate. The insurance company is not going to reimburse an expense that was not incurred. This couple shared with me that they had a water damage about a year ago. It also was a covered water damage event and was submitted to their insurance. They were reimbursed for the damages and did the work themselves. They also shared with me that they did the mitigation and repairs themselves, and when the work was all completed they were only out of pocket about $2000. That sounds like a “lose, lose” proposition. Their deductible was $500. If they did nothing themselves, called a professional service, had the home professionally dried, repaired and cleaned; their total out of pocket cost should have been $500. What a deal, they got to do everything themselves and and pay $2000 instead of $500. This couple hasn’t learned from their first $1500 mistake, it looks like they may be on their way to duplicating their mistake again.

Lesson to be learned: Don’t take on the water damage insurance process alone. You may luck out, but very often you will lose. Hire a professional. Even if the numbers on the surface seem to be OK, you may still lose. If you botch your mitigation and don’t dry some structural areas quickly enough(And you may not of even been aware they were wet to begin with.). You could lose, because the insurance company would have covered the drying services, but will probably now not cover the mold removal. You only have one chance to get a water damage mitigation right, use a professional.

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.

It really is a sad tragedy when an event such as a house fire takes something that is near and dear to your heart. Family photos, memories, personal belongings, and other items could easily be taken away. And in times like these, with the recent Herriman wildfire, we are often reminded of the potential for damage fire can bring. Not only must you take into account the damage the fire itself can bring, but also soot and smoke, as well as the water it takes for the firefighters to put out the fire. And as we all know, with that water comes the potential for water and flood damage, not to mention mold damage.

The Flood Co. can help you to go through the process of cleanup and remediation of a house fire. Granted, The Flood Co. can’t really bring your lost photos or belongings back, but they can help you go through the process of calling the insurance company to see if fire damage is covered along with water and flood damage (shocking as this may seem, not all insurance companies cover both fire and water damage), emergency board-up if needed, and the fire, smoke, water, and mold damage cleanup process itself.

Just know that The Flood Co. is here and can help in times when a house fire takes over your home.

(Our thoughts and condolences go out to the families that lost their homes in the Herriman wildfire this past weekend. You are in our hearts and our prayers.)

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.