Water / flood mitigation, repairs, insurance.

[PhatFJ]

Hey guys Kim and I came home this Thursday only to find it raining inside our home. I am hoping the experience and wisdom of our club may be able to give us some advise. First thing we did is contact our State Farm office to get some idea of direction. They said that we need to get things dried out as fast as possible then assess whether or not we want to open a claim. This is a 107 year home in Trinidad CO, 2 story with a walk out basement. A pipe in a dormer area located on the 2nd floor east end of the house burst on Tuesday, water department said that it was running about 800 gallons an hour. We got home Thursday afternoon. the water ran through a first floor room / pantry / Ham Shack including first floor bathroom, into the basement where there is storage (1- room), the water ran out the floor drain and foundation (this is a home built with sandstone block foundation). Thursday night, I repaired the burst pipe and we got the carpet out of the first floor room. Yesterday, a friend and fellow club member Mike Fyffe helped me clear out the basement storage and remove the fiberglass batt insulation from the ceiling. Some doors are swollen cabinets ruined and floors saturated. Unsure if there is structural damage or not.
I have fans running everywhere. I have contacted Serve Pro in Pueblo, they are a water mitigation company. My question to you is has anyone had this experience? Did you have to hire the mitigation company then a contractor or several contractors? I would like to minimize the number of entities I get involved and would like to have one point of contact to get this situation resolved, Is this even possible? I am sure we are going to open a claim but have no idea what kind of hassle or bad experience we are in for.
Any pointers or suggestion will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Brian

 

[FJCDan]

Hi Brian, 1st of all I am sorry To here this happened to your home, I have seen many of these situations since I have been in the carpet cleaning business. Getting things dried out with air movers and dehumidifiers is the first priority. Removing drywall and insulation. Unfortunately your in a bad situation being down in Trinidad and resources may limited for trying to keeping things under one roof as far as contractors go. I have a big restoration company I use when a job is too large for me. I can see if they have a branch near by. If you have any questions you can call me and I will help you out any way I can. Best of luck, I know that this is not easy to deal with and does take time to get it back to normal again. Dan 3039297230.

 

[SteveH]

My sympathies!

I had a flood 25 years ago (not to the extent of yours - upstairs bathroom sink pipe - miserable poly tubing) - and learned this. The carpet survives the water, but ALL the WET padding underneath must be removed ASAP before it molds. The crew that came out pulled back the carpet and cut away the padding, and then placed big dryer fans under the lifted-up carpet. That was a wise move.

The drywall on the wall survived, but the ceiling drywall fell down overnight. That did allow me to add another furnace duct painlessly ;-). The company who came out had an electronic wetness probe and tested drywall all over the house - sometimes far from the affected area. This left many annoying 'pin-prick' marks all over the house. I had some 2x4s swell and crack the grout in my basement shower. The 2x4s later dried out, but the grout was cracked.

You can rent those carpet-drying fans, and they suck up a lot of electricity - I got a $40 kicker for my electric bill from the insurance company for running a fleet of fans for days. My house had no mold or funny smells after they were all done, nor since. So, the bunch I hired DID manage to quickly get the house dried out before mold set in.

The crew was at my house until midnight (5 hrs.) and several days later when it was all dry, I hired a drywall guy to fix the ceiling. In retrospect, the people I had come out where not that great, and I should have done more of the work myself.

 

[PhatFJ]

Hey guys, thanks for the comments and experience! Dan it was great to talk to you and thank you for reaching out to your contacts! Kim and I are doing well with the situation. We will be filing a claim with State Farm tomorrow and get an adjuster on site sooner than later. We have fans running and have done all we can to this point, now it will have to get some professional attention. I think the knotty pine tongue and groove in the bathroom / hallway will have to come down, it is swelling and buckling. Dan and Steve, thanks again! I appreciate you input!

All the best, Brian

 

[Mendocino]

Hey guys, thanks for the comments and experience! Dan it was great to talk to you and thank you for reaching out to your contacts! Kim and I are doing well with the situation. We will be filing a claim with State Farm tomorrow and get an adjuster on site sooner than later. We have fans running and have done all we can to this point, now it will have to get some professional attention. I think the knotty pine tongue and groove in the bathroom / hallway will have to come down, it is swelling and buckling. Dan and Steve, thanks again! I appreciate you input!

All the best, Brian

I had a small kitchen flood (compared to yours) a few months ago and have American Family Insurance. As soon as I called they had Service Pro here within two hours to pull up the floor in the kitchen, drywall in the room below, and had heated fans running. The next day they sent out a company to remove cabinets so that the sub floor could be removed. I was very impressed with how fast this happened.

It took us a while to get it all back together, but they paid for everything including an air hockey table that was damaged in the "flood." I hope you have a similar experience. I would also make sure they they are doing proper mold mitigation. This can be a real challenge with as much water as you received.

Good luck!

 

[FJCDan]

I thought I would chime in here about mold, it has been determined that mold (aka dangerous black mold) needs ideal conditions to grow especially here in arid and dry climates like ours. You need 86 degree temps along with food sources and continued water source, it can take as much as 3-5 days just to get started. So once you start the drying process with air movers and dehumidifiers Mold will not grow. And the big myths about smelling mold right away is usually the smell of wet pad. It smells just like wet neoprene. Yes it stinks, but it will go away. I have been able to dry completely flooded basements carpet and pad. And we always spray antimicrobials for mold prevention. Sorry to go on this rant, studies have determined that mold takes longer to grow than previously thought.

I had a small kitchen flood (compared to yours) a few months ago and have American Family Insurance. As soon as I called they had Service Pro here within two hours to pull up the floor in the kitchen, drywall in the room below, and had heated fans running. The next day they sent out a company to remove cabnets so that the sub floor could be removed. I was very impressed with how fast this happened.

It took us a while to get it all back together, but they paid for everything including an air hockey table that was damaged in the "flood." I hope you have a similar experience. I would also make sure they they are doing proper mold mitigation. This can be a real challenge with as much water as you received.

Good luck!

sorry Jeff I didn’t mean to put your quote in and couldn’t remove it.

 

[Inukshuk]

Sounds like you are in good hands. I have dealt with these situations personally and professionally. Document everything, question things till you get good answers. Insurance is there to make you whole so do not accept less without a fight. I'm sure Dan gave you great info. Other companies I have worked with in the metro area are Abbott's and Balfor. Both would have no issue traveling to Trinidad. All are experienced in getting the insurance company to pay. Do not let anyone pressure you.