John from Riverside Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 Our toilet overflowed in our house while I was off at work and my wife (who works a grave yard shift job) was fast asleep in bed. Our cats woke her up to see that we had an inch of water througout the whole house........carpets soaked.....furniture ruined.....mildew and mold....the whole nasty scenario. OK so while we are frantically trying to vacume the wate out of our carpets and get house fans on them I make a phone call to our home insurance company. We are covered for water/flood damage. The first thing the insurance company does is come in.....rip out all of our carpet and get these huge industrial fans running all over the place in our house.....so loud in there that we cannot talk without yelling. And we are told that a "pod" or temporary storage unit for our furniture would be there the following day. Adjuster shows up the following day. - No pod...they decide just to move furniture around so they can work - They wont authorize a hotel stay for us. The noise is now becoming a problem I have gotten like 3 hours of sleep the last 2 days between having to work and not being able to sleep because of the noise. My wife was on her days off but had to go back to work last night and now cant sleep because of the noise. Shouldn't they be authorizing a hotel stay for us? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Adams Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 As bad as it is, it's not that bad if they are letting you stay in your house. If it helps you tough it out, remind your family that the people affected by Katrina had it worse than just some fan noise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loyal2dagame Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 Shouldn't they be authorizing a hotel stay for us? The noise is now becoming a problem I have gotten like 3 hours of sleep the last 2 days between having to work and not being able to sleep because of the noise. My wife was on her days off but had to go back to work last night and now cant sleep because of the noise. no- because your home is still considered habitable. you still have a roof, heat,ect. water damage or lack of running water for that matter does not trigger additional living expense coverage (that is the coverage in your ho pol that pays for hotels,ect) as for the noise, better to deal with that than mold damage 5 yrs from now that would not be covered Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuckincincy Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 Our toilet overflowed in our house while I was off at work and my wife (who works a grave yard shift job) was fast asleep in bed. Our cats woke her up to see that we had an inch of water througout the whole house........carpets soaked.....furniture ruined.....mildew and mold....the whole nasty scenario. OK so while we are frantically trying to vacume the wate out of our carpets and get house fans on them I make a phone call to our home insurance company. We are covered for water/flood damage. The first thing the insurance company does is come in.....rip out all of our carpet and get these huge industrial fans running all over the place in our house.....so loud in there that we cannot talk without yelling. And we are told that a "pod" or temporary storage unit for our furniture would be there the following day. Adjuster shows up the following day. - No pod...they decide just to move furniture around so they can work - They wont authorize a hotel stay for us. The noise is now becoming a problem I have gotten like 3 hours of sleep the last 2 days between having to work and not being able to sleep because of the noise. My wife was on her days off but had to go back to work last night and now cant sleep because of the noise. Shouldn't they be authorizing a hotel stay for us? [/quote How did a toilet water supply spontaneously leak? Did a pipe fail? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuckincincy Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 Shouldn't they be authorizing a hotel stay for us? No. What happened? Did the water supply pipe crack and leak? Did the wife take a clogging dump and then went to bed without listening for a minute to ensure that the toilet supply water didn't continue to run? Maintaining a commodes' internal workings is...Job #1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bills_fan Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 John, going through this myself right now when the hot water tank burst in our finished basement, ruining everything. You need an advocate. I hired a company to do our inventory. The company cost $400 bucks, out-of-pocket, but I will likely make about 10xs-20xs that due to them pointing out stuff I never would have thought of. As for the mold, tell the insurance company you want a certified indoor air quality specialist to test the air quality and for mold. You want everything spayed to kill any underlying mold. I suspect that they will be pulling out your walls (especially any with insulation behind them). Thats what happened in our finished basement. Remember the insuance company wants to get away cheap, you want a nice habitable space that won't cause long-term problems to you and your wife (and kids). For us, they are paying for everything to be dry-cleaned and laundered, new walls/carpet etc. as well as replacement for all of our things (the list is much longer than I would have had on my own). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loyal2dagame Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 John, going through this myself right now when the hot water tank burst in our finished basement, ruining everything. You need an advocate. I hired a company to do our inventory. The company cost $400 bucks, out-of-pocket, but I will likely make about 10xs-20xs that due to them pointing out stuff I never would have thought of. As for the mold, tell the insurance company you want a certified indoor air quality specialist to test the air quality and for mold. You want everything spayed to kill any underlying mold. I suspect that they will be pulling out your walls (especially any with insulation behind them). Thats what happened in our finished basement. Remember the insuance company wants to get away cheap, you want a nice habitable space that won't cause long-term problems to you and your wife (and kids). For us, they are paying for everything to be dry-cleaned and laundered, new walls/carpet etc. as well as replacement for all of our things (the list is much longer than I would have had on my own). i have to disagree with some of the things that you are saying. first off, you hired an independant adjuster. they ARE the ambulance chasers of insurance claims. so you are giving a company $400 to tell you things YOU could have found out on your own.(internet,library,ect). i'm not saying you did the wrong thing for YOU, just saying you could have saved the $400 bucks. second, as for the statement insurance companies want to get away cheap, INCORRECT!!!!! they are obligated to follow the contract you have with them. it is state law and enforced by each state's insurance dept. they CAN NOT apply coverage that is not in the contract. the laundering and dry-cleaning is normal when clothing, bedding,ect sustain damage from water/smoke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bills_fan Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 i have to disagree with some of the things that you are saying. first off, you hired an independant adjuster. they ARE the ambulance chasers of insurance claims. so you are giving a company $400 to tell you things YOU could have found out on your own.(internet,library,ect). i'm not saying you did the wrong thing for YOU, just saying you could have saved the $400 bucks. second, as for the statement insurance companies want to get away cheap, INCORRECT!!!!! they are obligated to follow the contract you have with them. it is state law and enforced by each state's insurance dept. they CAN NOT apply coverage that is not in the contract. the laundering and dry-cleaning is normal when clothing, bedding,ect sustain damage from water/smoke. No, it wasn't an independent adjuster. We spoke with one who came out on the recommendation of a friend. This guy usually gets 10% of whatever the insurance co gives you. Our claim was too small (less than 50k) for him to take. He did give us some decent tips however, like hiring an inventory company. And, yes, the insurance company is trying to get away cheap. Just put you back together without regard to what may be lurking behind the wall (i.e. mold) that could be a problem later on. Oooops, now your kid can't breathe right because there was a latent mold problem....sorry, statute of limitations has run, you are SOL and have a dimished quality of life. Sorry, not playing that game. Fix it right the first time. I've had Service Master at my house three times already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loyal2dagame Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 And, yes, the insurance company is trying to get away cheap. Just put you back together without regard to what may be lurking behind the wall (i.e. mold) that could be a problem later on. Oooops, now your kid can't breathe right because there was a latent mold problem....sorry, statute of limitations has run, you are SOL and have a dimished quality of life. Sorry, not playing that game. Fix it right the first time. I've had Service Master at my house three times already. right, so it's the insurance company's job to find the damage for you to claim?........ or is it their job to pay for what you claim as long as it's covered in the policy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bills_fan Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 right, so it's the insurance company's job to find the damage for you to claim?........ or is it their job to pay for what you claim as long as it's covered in the policy? Exactly why you need an advocate. Its not their job, but you had better be thorough in what you claim. And someone who has never dealt with this before will not know the proper questions to ask, where to push back etc. Without talking to the independent adjustor (who was a friend of my wife's uncle), I would have had no idea about a lot of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffalOhio Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 Our toilet overflowed in our house while I was off at work and my wife (who works a grave yard shift job) was fast asleep in bed. Our cats woke her up to see that we had an inch of water througout the whole house........carpets soaked.....furniture ruined.....mildew and mold....the whole nasty scenario. OK so while we are frantically trying to vacume the wate out of our carpets and get house fans on them I make a phone call to our home insurance company. We are covered for water/flood damage. The first thing the insurance company does is come in.....rip out all of our carpet and get these huge industrial fans running all over the place in our house.....so loud in there that we cannot talk without yelling. And we are told that a "pod" or temporary storage unit for our furniture would be there the following day. Adjuster shows up the following day. - No pod...they decide just to move furniture around so they can work - They wont authorize a hotel stay for us. The noise is now becoming a problem I have gotten like 3 hours of sleep the last 2 days between having to work and not being able to sleep because of the noise. My wife was on her days off but had to go back to work last night and now cant sleep because of the noise. Shouldn't they be authorizing a hotel stay for us? Go to Wal-Mart and get $3.00 pack of earplugs. They're soft, waxy things, that you put in your ears. Should help with the noise for sleeping. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John from Riverside Posted October 8, 2009 Author Share Posted October 8, 2009 Lots of good info here thanks guys: - Cannot speculate on what my wife might have done to the toilet before going to bed... - We are having septic problems (I had asked questions about that in another thread on TSW earlier in the week...but this actually came from a blockage in the pipes. We had to hire a separate plumber to come out and fix that problem separate from having our Septic pumped and the status of our leach line there is still up in the air. We have not even covered up the tank yet in case that needs to be revisited. - I understand the concept that the house is still livable......It is just causing major problems for us....I am going on about 6 hours sleep over two days and do to my medical conditions if I dont get lots of rest I get sick. My wife has to be able to sleep so she can function at her night job....and I have kids that have to be able to go to school and not fall asleep on their desks. UPDATE ON THIS. I was set to just pay out of pocket to stay at one of the more inexpensive places down the road when the insurance adjuster called us back and authorized a hotel thru Sunday.....so they took care of us there. - Now regarding my personal belongings and furniture......this is something I am going to want to research a bit because EVERYTHING got wet.....clothes, furniture, everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuckincincy Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 Exactly why you need an advocate. Its not their job, but you had better be thorough in what you claim. And someone who has never dealt with this before will not know the proper questions to ask, where to push back etc. Without talking to the independent adjustor (who was a friend of my wife's uncle), I would have had no idea about a lot of it. If you own a house, it's incumbent upon you to find out and learn such. Period. Sorry to be harsh - but as the old saying goes "a man's house is his castle". So you have to educate yourself; else, you will pay out money for not doing due diligence about learning about a home's construction and the many ways it can suffer damage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bills_fan Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 If you own a house, it's incumbent upon you to find out and learn such. Period. Sorry to be harsh - but as the old saying goes "a man's house is his castle". So you have to educate yourself; else, you will pay out money for not doing due diligence about learning about a home's construction and the many ways it can suffer damage. No question and you can acquire layman's knowledge over time. I'd rather pay for expert knowledge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry Christ Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 Insurance companies are rip offs......there's not way around there.....if you argue for them, then you work for them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuckincincy Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 No question and you can acquire layman's knowledge over time. I'd rather pay for expert knowledge. There is no dearth of people who claim - to be an "expert"... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IDBillzFan Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 I am going on about 6 hours sleep over two days and do to my medical conditions if I dont get lots of rest I get sick. John, try not to personalize what I'm about to say because I only say it with the utmost respect for what you've been going through this past year, and I completely understand that sometimes life ain't fair and sometimes life ain't easy, but if I were married to you, I'd kill myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loyal2dagame Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 John, try not to personalize what I'm about to say because I only say it with the utmost respect for what you've been going through this past year, and I completely understand that sometimes life ain't fair and sometimes life ain't easy, but if I were married to you, I'd kill myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDS Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 John, try not to personalize what I'm about to say because I only say it with the utmost respect for what you've been going through this past year, and I completely understand that sometimes life ain't fair and sometimes life ain't easy, but if I were married to you, I'd kill myself. seriously. I don't know who John was in his previous life, but he wronged a lot of people that's for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 No. What happened? Did the water supply pipe crack and leak? Did the wife take a clogging dump and then went to bed without listening for a minute to ensure that the toilet supply water didn't continue to run? Maintaining a commodes' internal workings is...Job #1. Exactly my thinking. Never amazes me what a wife would do... One time my son took a dump (whoever invented a low-flow toilet needs to be shot!) and the water won't go down... The wife fanctically calls me at work before the water goes over the rim... I am like calm down, lift the handle up or shut the water off at the valve near the floor and make a "poopy stick" to unclog the beast that was spawned from my son! God, how long have these ladies lived in a house and their is never a "re-run" in thier lives! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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