Flooded - busted plumbing - advice?

[Slide Panda]

Seems i can't win so much recently.  Just blew my ACL a couple weeks back and yesterday I came home to a flood.

The toilet on my ground level managed to bust a crack in it's reservoir tank while I was at work yesterday.  Since it was the tank, water just kept coming out until I killed the supply. 

Butchers bill so far
- Wood floor on ground level is already bucking up.  Guessing that's toast.  Bead moldings is trying to form C shapes...
- Carpet in basement is swampish.  Sucked up as much as possible w/ rug cleaner vac and towels.  Got a couple fans and de humids going... but I'm guessing that needs torn up.
- Water seeped down walls, paint blisters all over
- Drop in ceiling (acoustic tile) is pulp...

I have LOTs of photos detailing all of the above.
Have not talked to Insurance at this moment - of course they were closed last night and will open shortly.

Anyone have experience with something like this?

[NAKID]

Other than calling the ins co, I have nothing but to say, sorry dude, that sux...

[herm]

if you are going to make a claim STOP trying to fix it.
as far as a claim goes, it depends how your insurance views water damage.

example: i killed my laptop once by spilling a beer on it. the ins. co. declined to cover this.........period. they said there was no provision in my policy for that, but if it had been caused by a broken hot water tank, then it would have been covered.

anyway, good luck

[NAKID]

That's why I have a computer rider on my policy. It covers EVERYTHING for my computers and casts me $10- $15 a year...

[Slide Panda]

if you are going to make a claim STOP trying to fix it.
as far as a claim goes, it depends how your insurance views water damage.

anyway, good luck

I stopped last night.  Most of the efforts were aimed at mitigating damage to stuff I can't replace and minimizing hazards. 

Mercifully stuff like this is covered in my policy, (USAA).  I spoke to them when they opened.  A 'water mitigation' crew will arrive later today and my adjustor will call at some point. 

But my house is pretty FUBAR.

Just the timing could not get much worse.  I'm going in for ACL reconstruction next week.. So at least it didn't happen the day before I got that knife - that would have been worse.

[herm]

That's why I have a computer rider on my policy. It covers EVERYTHING for my computers and casts me $10- $15 a year...

i do too..........now

[Bun-bun]

Not exactly having a good couple months, are you?

Sorry this happened.
Some advice; the insurance co. will cover the damage, but they'll also try to get away as cheaply as possible. You will need; new wood floor, new baseboard, new basement carpet, padding, and wood underlayment if it exists.
Your basement walls will need to be torn out and replaced if they are drywall. This is to prevent mold growth.
Your first floor walls will need to be checked for water, and this can be done with a moisture meter. Drywall soaks up water, so even tho the water didn't get that high on the first floor, the walls might be wet up to a couple of feet off the ground. In this case, they will need to be cut out and replaced. Also, any insulation behind the walls in the basement, or first floor, will need replacing as well.
Don't take "We'll wait and see if there's any mold growth". Make sure they do it right the first time.

[Slide Panda]

Thanks for the tips bun-bun.

Based on that.. they are going to be tearing up a lot of my house.  The basement is/was mostly dry walled... so that's done.  And I just redid the bathroom in the basement... All that's probably going to be torn out now...

Ground floor.. may have dodged the worst of the water for the walls... but yes my floor is done.  And I was thinking of refinishing it... haha

[Pedro-bot]

Dood, Yuu, really sorry to read this. I just went through this in February. Except in my case I was gone 3 days and the hot water line to the dishwasher busted a leak at some point while I was gone. Entire first floor in 1-2" of hot water, pouring out the front and back door........not pretty. 

You did the right thing. Your insurance does expect the policy holder to minimize the extent of damage. So you did the right thing in trying to dry things off. It's a good thing you took pictures, continue to do that as damage to things is not always visible immediately.

Who's your insurance co.?

My carrier had a crew drying and dehumidifying my home within 2 hours after calling them.

Make sure you get your own contractor to make an assessment of the damage. The only upside to having this mess now is that you get to potentially "upgrade" on some home renovations. Best of luck to you.

- Joe

[Slide Panda]

Yeah// it's jsut extra suck since I'm 9 days from ACL reconstruction.

Hell, I did it since it did want shit catching on fire and being flooded! 

Yeah, I've got a running photo set.  Some sections of the hardwood floor are getting worse as time goes on. 

USAA is my ins.  I had a call from a water crew within 30 min of my 1st call and they appeared within a couple hours.  Took some good chunks of dry wall, all the carpet that was wet and a lot of baseboards.  Left a lot of fans and dehumidifiers.  My house is loud and windy now... so much for resting after this.

[rgramjet]

I had a shut off valve let go the evening after we demoed a third floor bathroom on a freshly renovated home in Capitol Hill.  Problem was the client left for the weekend.......

It seems the shut off stopped holding shortly after he left.  I got a call at 10pm on Sunday, from frantic client asking why its raining in his living room and why there is 10" of standing water in the basement....  Probably the second worst phone call Ive ever gotten.

Long story short, State Farm paid to have everything dried out but man did they hammer me on repair costs.  Client insisted on using my company.  It was astounding to me what they were trying to get away with paying....literally less than 1/2 of what I charged.  Ended up paying full bill but not without protest.  Insurance companies will use the cheapest hacks out there, if you let them.

Lots of pics are good, stand your ground (from your wheelchair until you heal up, Gimpy), and document everything!

Im Class A licensed in VA.  Shoot me a pm if you have any questions or want a quote.  Good luck Mang!   

[Pedro-bot]

If the water was there one day, the fans and noise should go away in a few days.

My experience wasn't that bad. My insurance co. did a pretty good job on quotes and working with me on items that had been overlooked/missed on the repair estimates.

The only really bad part was having the work done. Boy did that suck! Having work crews literally destroy and rebuild your home while you're in it sucks ass. The ins. did offer to put me up in a hotel while the kitchen work was being done, but I chose to stay. No place like home, even when it's all fcuked up. 

[Bun-bun]

Ian,
Any update?
Has it gotten any quieter yet?

[GAAN]

Fire

[Slide Panda]

Ian,
Any update?
Has it gotten any quieter yet?

Various contracting entities came out on Friday.  Consensus is I'm getting new floors out of the deal.  But now there's going to be a wait as papers get processed.  At least from the flooring person, there wasn't any 'Oh yeah, this might lay back down' BS...

Yeah, cooler and quieter now.  They came and took out the drying gear finally.  It was 107 degrees in my kitchen when they came... too damn hot.

Fire

Fire?