Indianapolis Flooded Basement caused by a Burst Pipe

This is a real-world basement flood caused by a burst pipe near Indianapolis, Indiana.  Our water damage case studies help answer questions about water restoration services, emergency plumbing services and water damage insurance claims.  We hope you find the answers to your questions.

 

Water Damage Restoration Customer Review

“Brian, Corbin, Danny and team were awesome. They run their business and treat their customers like friends and family – regular communications, attention to detail, customer focused, super responsive, and high quality. We had not one, but two water incidents in our basement and first floor and there was extensive clean up, mitigation, repair to carpets, hardwood floors, kitchen cabinets/back splashes and walls. They put together a coordinated and efficient plan to get everything done and always delivered on time and on budget. We also had a bunch of other work / contractors going on at the same time and they managed through all of it seamlessly. They worked very well with our insurance company and helped expedite getting the claims processed and paid. These guys are true professionals and the thing we most appreciated was the constant communications, keeping us up to date, being honest about challenges, issues, and timelines but all the while providing positive reassurances. These guys will be the first people we call if we have any future issues. Thanks Restorex!”

 

Below is a list of questions we hope to answer.

What caused the basement to flood?

How to get insurance to pay for water damage?

How did the emergency service plumber fix the problem and how much did it cost?

What water mitigation services were needed to remove the water and cleanup the basement?

Was the water damage covered by the homeowner’s insurance company?

How to get insurance to pay for water damage?

How much did the water damage restoration services cost?

What was needed to complete the water damage repairs?

 

What caused the Basement to Flood?

The basement was flooded by a frozen burst pipe.  The water line was installed in a ceiling that was near a crawlspace.  Cold air was able to blow through the crawlspace and freeze the copper pipe causing it to burst and flood the basement.

When water freezes it will expand causing the pipe to break or burst.  This will reveal itself in a small opening in a water pipe.  The water damage doesn’t occur immediately.  Sometimes it takes a couple of days before the burst pipe thaws out and the water begins flooding the basement.

 

How to get insurance to pay for water damage?

An insurance company will pay for water damage for many reasons.  A water damage insurance claim can be difficult for any homeowner to navigate on their own because of all the unknowns and inexperience, you don’t know what you don’t know.

Dealing with an insurance adjuster after water damage can be much easier if you are working with a professional water damage restoration contractor.  An experienced water damage company can help you work through the details of water damage insurance coverage and walk a homeowner through a water damage claim process.

Restorex Disaster Restoration specializes in water damage insurance claims and helping our customers decide if they should file an insurance claim for water damage.  We are able to give our customers peace of mind to let them know what type of water damage is covered by homeowners insurance.

Once the homeowner places an insurance claim, Restorex takes care of the question – “How to get insurance to pay for water damage”.

 

How did the Emergency Service Plumber fix the problem and how much did it cost?

The service plumber uses a shark bite or a brass push to connect fitting to replace the broken pipe.  The only section that needs to be replaced is the small area where the break is located.  Usually a service plumber will use a 6 inch nipple to make the repair with 2 push to connect fittings on either end of the nipple.  The plumber will need to shut off the main water supply line to in order to make the burst pipe repair.

A service plumber’s hourly rate can range between $100 – $200 per hour during normal business hours.  A small pipe fix like this can range between 1-2 hours depending on how long it takes the plumber to access the broken pipe.  Now if the plumber is coming out in the middle of the night or on a weekend the hourly rate can increase substantially.

 

What Water Mitigation Services were needed to remove the water and cleanup the flooded basement?

Finding Water Damage

In order to find the what was wet in the basement we used a non-invasive moisture meter.  These moisture meters can read the moisture content of the wet building materials to determine how much was damaged from the basement flood.

Water Extraction

Every water mitigation project begins with water extraction.  The water extraction equipment used to remove the water depends on the flooring in the basement.  This basement had wet carpet and pad installed over a concrete slab.  The wet carpet and pad were extracted using a weighted extractor that uses 2 large vacuums and a large wheel to push and suck the water out of the carpet.

It is amazing how much water can be removed from carpet in a flooded basement.

Material Removals

The materials that get removed can be different on every water damage project.  On this project the carpet and pad were determined to be non-salvageable because the furniture had stained the carpet.  Therefore, we had to do carpet removal after the dry out was complete. (We wanted to wait for an Insurance Adjuster approval before we removed the carpet from the basement).

baseboard in order to dry it out.  Once the baseboards are removed, we always drill or pop holes 16 inches on center to make sure we are drying every wall cavity that is wet from the water damage.

On this particular project we did not cut wet drywall because the bottom half of the wall was a built using wood panels and the walls were not insulated.  If the walls are insulated, we always cut the wall up 1 to 2 feet in order to remove the wet insulation in the wall.

Water Damage Equipment

Once all of the removals are complete, we set water damage fans and dehumidifiers designed to dry out a wet basement.  The equipment we use to dry out flooded basements are specifically designed to speed up the drying process.

The dehumidifier we used on this project was a XXL Low Grain Refrigerant dehumidifier and we used air movers distributed around the basement in order to increase the rate of evaporation.  Every water mitigation project needs to have air movement, heat and dehumidification to get the basement structure back to its original moisture content.  The drying process do not stop until all of the wet building materials are returned to their original moisture content.

 

Was the water damage covered by the homeowner’s insurance company?

Yes.  The homeowner’s insurance policy covered the water damage restoration services, including the water mitigation services and water damage repairs.

Does homeowners insurance cover water damage from a broken pipe?  The answer is Yes.  Read below for water damage insurance claim tips.

• The insurance company covered the damages because the broken pipe was accidental and all of a sudden. Typically, water damage caused by broken or burst pipes are covered under a homeowner’s insurance policy up to the limits of the home.

Therefore, there were no coverage limits or issues with this water damage insurance claim.

 

How much did the water damage restoration services cost?

The cost of water damage restoration services varies on every project.

Xactimate is an estimating software that uses individual line items to estimate all water mitigation services and water damage repair services to very detailed accuracy.  Restorex Disaster Restoration uses Xactimate to work directly with our customer’s insurance companies.

This water damage restoration project had 29 line items for the water mitigation and 32 line items for the water damage repairs and cost approximately $5,000 for the water mitigation services and $18,000.00 for the repairs.

The homeowner’s insurance company paid for all the water damage restoration services and our customer was only responsible to pay their insurance deductible.

 

What was needed to complete the water damage repairs?

The services needed to make the basement flood repairs are included below:

• Carpet and pad install
• Repair holes drilled in the wood paneling
• Paint and Install Baseboards
• Paint the Walls
• Repair drop ceiling grid and replace ceiling tiles
• Install new electrical panel affected by water damage

 

Professional Water Damage Contractor in Indianapolis

If you are experiencing a water damage emergency in Indianapolis or the Surrounding Areas and need a local Water Damage Professional to help, give us a call (317) 315-5071.