Way OT: water leak/ mold remediation

[Peter P.]

Please report back and tell us what you chose to do and how satisfied you are with the results.

[stackie]

Two remediation companies have consulted. There’s enough mold that I think it is warranted. Their moisture meters show a drop off in moisture much closer to the leak than my Klein meter. So thinking a more limited problem.

Think we are going to go forward. I just hope they don’t get in and then start saying need to do more. It’s going to be ugly if they have to go farther than current estimate.

I’ll follow up again after we get started.

Jon

[MikeD]

Beware that most insurance policies don't cover damage from slow leaks. I got burned on that. Don't go spending a lot of money before checking that out.

[stackie]

Insurance denied. Said was more than 2 weeks without even coming out to look? Thanks USAA. Decided not to fight as our deductible is $6600. Don't think its going to be that high.

I called on all friends and contractors.

We bought LGR dehumidifier and air movers x 2. Ran for one week in area of leak and one week below.

Flooring guy said stupid to rip up more than a few boards.

GC friend said same.

Industrial Hygiene friend also looked. Said seemed dry. Take a few boards up and see.

We bought 6mil poly and taped off area before demo. Could access from slider to outside.

GC friend came by and did limited pull of boards until saw dry non moldy boards which wasn't very far at all. Maybe 12 inches in front of cabinets. Sanded all subfloor free of mold upstairs and down. Sprayed concrobium moldicide. Another 3 days of dehumidification upstairs and one more week downstairs. New cabinet boxes and toe kicks going in this week. Pop a few new floor boards in and a limited refinish (thank you Rubio Monocote- but make sure the flooring guy knows the product). Will be finished in a couple weeks.

Let me know if anyone wants more info.

Jon

[Mikej]

Black mold doesn’t cause any real problems in healthy people.

https://www.healthline.com/health/black-mold-exposure

[paredown]

Originally Posted by benb

Servpro is who we used the last 2x, they didn’t charge a deposit or bring anything in the initial visit. They sent a couple guys with test equipment and then once you sign they roll the truck.

We've used Servepro on commercial jobs. The crew whose work I saw was first-rate.

[Peter P.]

Thanks for the update!

Explain again why USAA refused your claim. I don't get it.

[carpediemracing]

I hope OP's stuff is okay.

Originally Posted by paredown

We've used Servepro on commercial jobs. The crew whose work I saw was first-rate.

We had a grey water incident. For me, with this stuff, I'd much rather be safe than sorry.

Servepro were great (green trucks), as far as I could tell. It was a number of years ago. They dried the place out and removed a lot of wet / damaged pieces. Small dumpster worth. Gigantic, washing machine size dehumidifiers, maybe 3 of them on two floors.

We live in a single family home in a condo association. So although it's an individual home, the permanent stuff is owned by the association. This includes the pipes in the walls; the incident was on them apparently.

Contractor (used by condo association, good people, local, customers where I used to work, etc, so we actually know the guys) else came in to redo a bunch of stuff - much of our first floor, redo floor in the finished basement - it's now vinyl tile, walls down there, dropped ceiling, some other stuff. Bathroom first floor had to be redone as the sheetrock was soaked. Don't remember floor issues but I think they replaced some stuff. House was built in 1984, this was maybe 2017? 2018?

We were on the hook for the association deductible, which was $2500. Our deductible was $500, so our policy paid $2000 toward the association deductible, we paid $500 toward our deductible. Condo association insurance paid for everything else.

Cost for repairs was in the $30-35k range. We made the association newsletter - they stated that the claim was so small that there was no change in the policy cost.

We took the opportunity to change a few things around, but that was on us. For example, the affected floor was half the first floor; we paid to have the other half done at the same time, so the floor is identical throughout now. We updated the bathroom slightly. Opted for vinyl tile downstairs. That's about it.

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by carpediemracing

We took the opportunity to change a few things around, but that was on us. For example, the affected floor was half the first floor; we paid to have the other half done at the same time, so the floor is identical throughout now. We updated the bathroom slightly. Opted for vinyl tile downstairs. That's about it.

When we had water damage (1993), we hired a public insurance adjuster to negotiate with our insurance company (USAA). He got us significantly more money for repairs -- for instance, USAA initially didn't cover the replacement of wall sheet paneling, suggested that it could be repaired or matched.

If I remember correctly, he got us about a third more than their initial offer.

We also chose to do substantial upgrades while the basement was apart - new windows, lighting, etc. That expense was on us, of course. Interestingly the three year old all weather carpeting in the basement came out fine.

[majorpat]

Originally Posted by Peter P.

Thanks for the update!

Explain again why USAA refused your claim. I don't get it.

30 year USAA member here and I have to say their service and customer service has fallen off a cliff in the last 10-ish years. I started with auto insurance and banking because it was what every lieutenant did but I think the market has passed them by in many ways. I retired from active duty last year (still working) and I am doing some comparison shopping now. The days when you signed up with USAA and Bob's your uncle are over, I am afraid.
Pat

[Nevets]

A few years back shortly after paying 9k to replace kitchen tile floor with higher end laminate our fridge water supply leaked, it was a few days before I saw water on the floor and boards warping, insurance wasnt going to help our deductible is 2.5k...luckily I had some and could get more of the same flooring so I replaced about 30 warped boards, the cause was a failed high pressure regulator, inside house was 115psi when I checked, originally thinking the water filter housing was the cause I'd replaced that first.... I now infrequently measure water pressure (its set about 50psi) catching a leak early saves the mold concern if you can though.

[Ken Robb]

Originally Posted by majorpat

30 year USAA member here and I have to say their service and customer service has fallen off a cliff in the last 10-ish years. I started with auto insurance and banking because it was what every lieutenant did but I think the market has passed them by in many ways. I retired from active duty last year (still working) and I am doing some comparison shopping now. The days when you signed up with USAA and Bob's your uncle are over, I am afraid.
Pat

YEP! I sent you an email with my thoughts about the reason.

[benb]

Blech since I last posted we had yet another water incident in our mostly finished basement.

We had our first incident where the sump pump actually needed to turn on since we put it in 14 years ago.

The check valve exploded and the pump happily get pumping water which just splashed against the wall. We caught it pretty quick but it was still a pretty good amount of water. Not as much as a hot water heater but plenty.

We ended up spending a couple hundred bucks on fans for this one and just dried it all out ourselves, with success.

Hard to say at what threshold Servpro is mandatory. Their fans are much better than what we bought and their dehumidifiers are much bigger than ours, but we still got the basement down to some silly RH like 15% and everything got bone dry.

[stackie]

Originally Posted by Peter P.

Thanks for the update!

Explain again why USAA refused your claim. I don't get it.

After talking to my wife and learning the date of install of refrigerator / freezer drawer unit that had leaked and the date of discovery, they decided that the leak occurred immediately after install and therefore was more than two weeks which is their policy discriminator on slow leaks.

If it had been a huge disaster with costs over 10k, I may have fought them, but honestly it's small enough that it's not worth the effort and risk of them cancelling policy.

But, basically, start with the premise of insurance. Collect premiums, avoid paying out. Deny, deny, deny. It worked for them in my uninsured motorist claim when hit by e bike. The policy should have covered my medical costs. They denied. I got PI lawyer who argued with them for a year. Then, they capitulated and agreed to pay. Then, THEIR adjustor called the witness who had said at the time of incident that I had not crossed center line of MUP and that I was not traveling at a high rate of speed. He got from her, that it had been over a year and she really didn't remember clearly anymore. Nice. Done and done.

Jon

[stackie]

Originally Posted by Ken Robb

YEP! I sent you an email with my thoughts about the reason.

I'd like to hear those thoughts!