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Home Owners Insurance Claim

HU-445170271
3 years ago

Filing water damage claim


Sorry this is super long but I really appreciate any help! So this past Saturday, I came home to a huge puddle in my kitchen. It didn’t seem that bad at first. We turned the water off and eventually found wet drywall (under kitchen sink cabinet) and dug through it to find a busted pipe. We got the pipe fixed and I began pulling up linoleum. We were planning on redoing the floors soon so I went ahead and started pulling everything up that was super wet. I was shocked how wet the floor was underneath our linoleum. Each layer I pulled up, the wetter the floor was. We had 2 layers of linoleum and I think luan under it over our subfloor. We have been working on remolding our kitchen over the last 1.5 years so on one side of the kitchen we have new cabinets and countertops (we had nothing on this wall before adding cabinets) and on the other side we have our original cabinets and countertops except for 3 uppers that have been replaced (We actually have our new base cabinets assembled in our dining room which were bought in January. This has been a very slow remodel and I have done everything myself). Well we ended up calling our insurance and have water remediation come out to set up a humidifier that night and the following day they found mold so we had to wait to get approval from our insurance for them to continue. So far this process has been pretty frustrating. Our pipe busted 5 days ago and the water remediation came out yesterday for 2 hours then left for another job and today came out for 3 hours. We called about what the next step is and they said they will be back tomorrow to take out insulation. Btw-We have mold all over the subfloor and in the base cabinet where the pipe busted. There was NO mold visible or any other sign of a water leak before Saturday. Our water bill was actually the lowest I remember it ever being this past month! We are approved for 5k in mold remediation. I would appreciate any info or advice on water damage claims.


So for my questions:


1) Is this normal for water/mold remediation to be so slow? We don’t even know yet what will be taken out... all the cabinets, drywall?


2) When the insurance adjuster comes out, will it look odd to them that we have mismatched cabinets and countertops. Will they take in account that we have already purchased new cabinets? ( we bought new cabinets to add to our kitchen Jan 2019 and I finished our epoxy countertop December 2019... I’m super slow) we replaced the doors on the original side to match new cabinets but decided it wld be better to replace the frames also. That’s what we have assembled in our dinning room... IKEA base cabinet frames. We had more doors still in the box that got soaked from the water leak. Will this affect our claim... we have these new cabinets so we won’t get money for replacing the ones they tear out?


3) The water mitigation company seems really careless with everything. They left for lunch on their 1st after being here 2 hours but didn’t return. They brought in an air scrubber but the plastic bag thing came unattached (I cldnt get it to go back on) so it basically blew very hot air on my refrigerator for an entire day and it was hot to touch! All of my appliances were replaced in the last year. Today they finished removing the linoleum but put the big heavy bags of flooring debris against the front of my white dish washer and had a crow bar resting against the other side! Will anyone cover damage like that? We have a black mark that you can clearly see.


4) I have two entrances into my kitchen. Both rooms have laminate that we put in 3 years ago. When the water remediation guys came they peeled/cracked the edge pieces of my laminate flooring that butt up against my linoleum. This is pergo that has been discontinued and also in my upstairs. Will/how will this be covered?


5) What kind of items am I able to claim for water damage? They set up a humidifier but didn’t close off my kitchen for 4 days... has mold spores been blowing around my house? I don’t know exactly what has been damaged yet other than the obvious.


6) I have 2 toddlers and don’t have access to a working kitchen (no stove) and I have been giving my kids juice boxes vs. using their sippy cups bc I’m afraid that the dust that is blowing around my kitchen is toxic so this seems like a safer option(we still have a dehumidifier and air scrubber on). Any clue how long this goes on for?


7) any tips to make things go faster?

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