Flooding may come from a number of sources: overflowing rivers, storm surges, excessive rain, a ruptured dam, ice melting rapidly in the mountains or perhaps a burst pipe at the dead of winter. But regardless of the reason, when vast amounts of water enter a home, the damage is almost always total. Along with the procedure for obtaining a home back in form is long, expensive and trying.
I had the unfortunate opportunity to undergo this procedure when Hurricane Irene passed Cape Cod at 2011. A layer of a new roof was lifted off our top-floor condominium during the storm. A temporary fix to the roof held up, until a follow up nor’easter destroyed it and flooded the condo. The water passed through our condominium to the device below. The carpet was torn from the key living-dining room, and much of the ceiling and a few drywall were peeling and leaking.
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Though we were in the end of hurricane season, recovery for us didn’t begin until the following spring. It may take months for insurance adjusters to launch funds, and even longer to line up professionals to begin to rebuild if an entire community or neighborhood is changed. Our recovery was not completed until a year after the storm struck. I recently got a call from a family who desired layout help to their home, which had been flooded by Hurricane Sandy over a year ago. They’re still living in a temporary house and are ready to see their residence rebuilt and completely restored.
Obviously, rebuilding after water damage requires time. For us, living in Canada added to the sophistication of restoring our condo in Cape Cod. I am by no means an insurer, but I’ll share with you some of our insights to the procedure. We just hope we will not ever need to know them.
Prepare for a boring greeting. Hello, construction website! I don’t think there’s any way you can prepare yourself for how this may feel. I just don’t. That is exactly what the major living space looked like when we came. We were reminded of how vulnerable we are to the whims of nature.
The furniture had all been eliminated, the wall-to-wall carpeting torn away. Bare concrete flooring along with a peeling ceiling surface weren’t welcoming sights. Weary in the 12-hour driveway, we set about the task of making ourselves at home.
Before Photo
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Dry it out now. The very first step, and I must impress upon you how important it is to act swiftly with this, will be to telephone the regional disaster recovery team to remove any soaked carpeting or furniture and install industrial fans to dry the place out. Don’t put this off till tomorrow! Don’t call your very best friend to tell her exactly what happened. Do this now!
Turn up the heat or air conditioning, depending on what time of year it is; otherwise open up the chimney. Do anything you can to get out the moisture. It is imperative that you take every precaution to secure your home from further corrosion because of mold and excess moisture.Ask your disaster recovery team members if they recommend that an antimicrobial wash for any surfaces that are in question.
Fortunately for us, this was done by our condominium supervisors before they called to inform us of the damage.
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Contact your insurance carrier. This brings me to my next stage, and this really is critical too: Call your insurance carrier.
Obtain the company to send an adjuster after possible to appraise the damage. This person will also record you’ve taken steps to wash the place out. Work closely together with the adjuster. He or she is going to be your very best adviser, advocate and friend right now.
How to Prep for Disaster Insurance Claims
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Inspect for mold. When the insurance adjuster has had a fantastic look at the place, and the enthusiasts have completed their job of drying the moisture out, have an inspector take samplesfrom the remaining drywall and ceiling surfaces.
These can be analyzed at a laboratory to find out whether any black mold spores are found. Black mold growing inside the walls, unbeknownst to the dweller, can continue to grow and cause no end of wellness difficulties.
How to Combat Mold in a Flooded House
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Wait. Wait for the test results to determine if mold spores are found. This may take a few days, but you have to wait. There is not any use starting reconstruction till you understand how much of this remaining drywall should come out.
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Begin reconstruction. Once you’ve got the green light onto the mold situation, you are able to tackle reconstruction. By this time you may have heard in the insurance company what amount from the policy it is ready to cover. Look for a fantastic professional you can rely on.
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Be Ready. If you’re staying in the home, be ready for life on a construction website. Put dust up barriers between the work zones and dwelling zones. There will be dust and paint fumes for quite some time. Cover the vents in the construction area. If you skip this step, you may circulate all of the debris and dust throughout the property despite efforts to seal them off.
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Locate a holding zone. We used the guest space to stack up as much of the furniture as we can. Sealing the door kept the dust at bay here too.
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Set up yourself. One-room living will be the order of the evening for a short time. Add phone numbers for your favorite takeout restaurants into your speed dial up. Be prepared for everything to taste like shingles and paint dust.
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Make conclusions. Tons of them. Be prepared for plenty of discussions. Whoever has lived through a renovation has discovered that the design choices, material choices and information to be negotiated are exhausting. Even for a designer.
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Consider upgrades carefully. You may not realize just how much that big-box-store lighting fixture bothered you till you need to hire an electrician to rehang it. Then you understand this is the perfect time to update and update a couple of things. This may be a very slippery slope, so be ready for it and know where to draw the line.
For example, this former wet bar was left in the ’80s. We decided to remove the sink and generate a storage nook for books. Also, we figured if we needed to fix the ceiling, there was no time like the present to bring it into the 21st century and also eradicate the stippled surface. And thus it began.
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Review your insurance policy. No doubt you’ll be looking back at this point, wondering what stopped you from raising your policy. When we originally took out our policy, we considered all the furniture and personal belongings and didn’t really believe they would add up to very much.
Many things are simple to overlook until you see your home as a construction project. Beyond furniture, you have to consider the cost of new drywall as well as the fees to put in it. Specialties include setup, drywall taping, sanding — and then there’s the ceiling. Blueboard requires a different group of specialists to prepare a smooth skim coat of plaster. Then you need to pay for the paint along with the painter. Probably there’ll be some electric work demanded too — and the list continues.
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Check in. I made a few excursions to check in on the progress. Be ready to travel a few times to test paint selections and materials on the website for final acceptance. Anything could go wrong if you aren’t ready to follow through to the design details to guarantee a fantastic outcome.
When you’ve had the misfortune of water damage, take heart. Here you may see the end result for us : a relaxed beach home we love even greater than before.
See more of the entirely restored condo
