update. March 23rd, 2 weeks exactly after my dishwasher exploded, I received an estimate in the mail. I am quite plased at how little depreciation there was. The letter says that a check has been mailed, for the actual value of my loss. The amount of the check is value, minus my deductible. I am thrilled that the adjuster counted *everything*, so I don't have to skimp. Each item is broken down, line by line, and they have accounted for painting my walls that have water damage, and even replacing the insulation in the floors, which I was afraid wouldn't be covered. What I do think is silly, is that the cabinets are being replaced, but not the uppers. My home is a 1978, so the cabinets are old. No chance of matching them, so I'm supposed to have old cabinets on the top, and new on the bottom? A bit silly. We are thinking of replacing the floors ourselves, and are really happy to see that the first check will be enough to cover the materials. It's only $450 or so in depreciation for the floors and cabinets. Not too bad, considering. I still don't understand how I would go about getting the 2nd check for replacement. Do I call and ask? Send them pictures or the completed repair? Have the adjuster come back out and look again?

Any septic tank that cannot withstand the weight of even four feet of snow on top of it would not be approved in the first place. Secondly, the OP has never revealed as to whether this is a concrete tank or a steel tank or how old the tank actually is. Snow loads that exceed the tables in the local building code would be considered a peril within the spirit of insurance. However, adjusters are going to be looking very closely at some of those barns to see if they were well-maintained or not. Wood supports that were rotted out will likely cut back the amount the insurance company will pay.

Well, this has definitely been a learning experience for us! We've not been happy with the level of responsiveness from our insurance company although it supposedly is ranked as one of the top companies in the country. In many ways they have screwed up from the get go. So, we've been feeling that we are definitely on our own on this one. After more than a month of hassling this, we are starting to think that perhaps we should have just hired a GC. But, at the start we didn't realize that the scope of the necessary repairs would keep expanding into the realm where a GC might be necessary. Our adjuster just told us to find some companies to bid on the heating and plumbing work (all that we initially thought was involved). As we get further into this, we are realizing all of the additional things that will need to be worked on. I guess we are lucky in that we have the funds in hand to pay for some of the initial expenses such as temporary lodging and initial diagnostic work on the house. A number of times we've talked about how in the world people who don't have the extra money would be able to handle making these payments and then waiting for reimbursement. Our insurance company didn't even step up and offer any assistance with finding temporary lodging until more than two weeks into this. And, then, they didn't have any better options than I'd managed to find after hours and hours of searching on my own. I think some of the issues we are having are due to our wanting to do things our own way to make sure they are done correctly and in a manner suitable to a 100 year old house. The insurance company has four approved contractors in our city, and if we had chosen to work through them all of the money would have gone directly to them through the insurance agency without us having to be involved at all. But, we started looking into reviews of those companies, and they weren't great. So, we opted out of using those approved contractors. We are ending up acting as our own GC, but it is a lot of work! We are lucky we have the time to do this. Yes, we have just considered paying off the rest of the mortgage and could do that. But, we live in a pretty pricey house and that is a good chunk of money that we might want to have available elsewhere in this entire process. So, we are sitting on that idea for a bit. And, when asking about pocketing some of the money by doing work on my own, my intent is not to defraud or raise rates. I just want to know why I could not do the painting myself since I am as capable as the professional that I know the insurance company will be paying a pretty penny to do the same work. So, are some of you suggesting that we just hire a GC, have the GC make a bid for the entire project, and then make our own arrangements with the GC on how we could save some of the total sum by doing the work ourselves? Thanks for all of the advice and personal experiences.

One of my dear friends has had two similar leaks in her home. She had to battle with insurance, but both times they've paid for furnished, short-term housing in a 3 bedroom apartment. She has 3 kids and they really wanted to put her in a hotel (well, insurance really wanted them to stay at the house), but it just wasn't practical with a family (or safe). Repairs took much longer than expected (I think one was 4 months and the other has been 6 months so far). Supplies are taking longer with COVID and every step just took a really long time. She has had to advocate to get everything covered, but if other flooring was damaged and can't be repaired, that needs to be replaced. You need to be living in a place with a working kitchen, if possible.