Socorro Water And Fire Damage Restoration

If you think about the number of home insurance claims in the United States, you would assume that the most common claim would be related to a fire or a break-in. It is more likely, however, for water damage claims to be the most common home insurance claim in the country simply because there are so many things that can cause water damage to your home. There are more than enough places where water can escape and do damage to the property, like your bathroom, kitchen, laundry room, or where you store your hot water heater.

The worst happens when you are gone on vacation and a pipe busts while you are out. Water leaks all over the floor and will cover just about everything. It might not be so bad if it does not make it to the carpeted area of your home, since carpet can become molded after only 24 to 48 hours. Depending on the air quality of your home, it might not even take that long.

What you may not realize is that by law, if you buy a home that is in a high risk flood zone, your lender is typically bound by law to require flood insurance on the property. If you are not in a high risk flood area, flood insurance is not required when you purchase a home.

You will likely be eligible for a low risk flood insurance policy if you live in a low to moderate risk area, but the policy will likely not go into effect until after 30 days from the date you purchased it.

As the recent floods and broken levees in the Midwest have hopefully taught us, you should purchase flood insurance if you live close to a levee of any kind, since they do not always hold. Make sure you research the likelihood of a flood in your area before making any decision concerning whether to purchase flood insurance and if you have the extra money to spend on the flood insurance every month, it is always best to err on the side of safety. You can purchase flood insurance no matter where you live, but most homeowner’s insurance policies do not cover flooding by default in their policies; it has to be requested and some companies will not cover floods at all. In this case, you will have to get flood insurance from somewhere else.

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Filing a flood insurance claim is something no homeowner wants to do, but a large number of people every single year in the United States have to do this as a result of the heavy rains that come during the spring and summer. Even if you do not think that you are at risk for flooding, you should always be prepared to deal with one on the off chance that it comes to your area. Anyone who lives near a levee of any kind should always prepare, since as we learned during the events of Hurricane Katrina, they do not always hold like they are supposed to. Here are a few tips to help you getting your insurance claim filed and your life back in order.

After the flood is over and the water has receded back out of your home, the first thing you want to do is make sure that the electricity is completely off inside the house. Since there is possibly (or even probably) electrical damage, not shutting off the electricity could cause you to have to file an insurance claim from the hospital. Electrocution is not a pretty sight, so making sure the electricity is off in your home before going back in should be a top priority.

When you call your insurance company, you should have your name, policy number, and a phone number where you can be reached on hand. Try to be patient with them, especially if the area that has been flooded is a large one, because they will have to deal with a lot of other claims. Making sure that they can reach you will speed up the claim process tremendously, so give them the information about wherever you are staying, even if it is not close by your home.

Try to video tape all of the damage to the home so that you have a visual record of it all. This will help your insurance agent be able to tell you how much money you will be able to get from your claim. Then, if you can, make a list of all the things you have on the video so you can give them a detailed list. Do not expect them to watch the video and remember everything; the purpose of the video is to serve as proof of what was lost, but making a list will make it a lot easier on the agent and make sure you get all the money you deserve.

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Most incidents of water damage to a home are due to simple negligence instead of because of a flood or because you forgot and let the bathtub overflow. Negligence is one of the main causes of all homeowner’s insurance claims and as long as you take care of your property the way that you should, you can keep this kind of damage from occurring and keep the value of your home where you want it to be. If you remain constant and follow a few rules (and make sure the rest of your family does, too), you should not have a problem with water damage or mold in your home for a very long time.

The exterior of your home is obviously more likely to be water damaged by negligence than the inside, so there are a few things that you need to do out there first. Clean the rain gutters out as soon as the leaves are done falling in autumn, but an even better solution would be to purchase new gutters for your home that are covered so leaves cannot clog them. These are not very expensive and can save you a lot of time and effort every year.

After you make sure the gutters are cleaned out, you should check to see where the end of your downspouts are in relation to the base of your home. If you allow water to settle around your home’s foundation, it can eventually cause it to crack. You can combat this by piling up more dirt around the base of your home where any puddles of water appear after it rains and by making sure the water that comes out of your downspouts is flowing well away from the house.

Inside the house, you need to install an exhaust vent in any room of your house that stays moist, such as the kitchen, bathroom, or laundry room. These rooms are moist almost constantly and to keep mold from growing in there, you need to keep the humidity level down.

If the plumbing in your home is old, you will want to inspect it to see if it is in good repair, especially around the dishwasher and washing machine. The hoses need to be replaced on these items every 3 to 5 years if they are of good quality. Hoses that rupture will flood the room, especially if you are not at home when it happens. You want to clean this up at quickly as you can, but never use a heat source to dry the floor out, since it can cause the floor to buckle.

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