Flooded Basement Questions we hope to answer.
What caused the basement flooding?
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 much did the water damage restoration services cost?
What was needed to complete the water damage repairs?
What caused the Basement Flooding?
When you have water in your basement after it rains 2 inches in an hour or if it rains heavily for a long period of time, typically the water is leaking into the basement because the sump pump is not working properly.
The basement flooding was caused by a sump pump failure. In this customer’s basement the sump pump failed and a sump pump replacement was needed. The homeowner did not have a water powered sump pump backup or a sump pump battery backup. How long to sump pumps last? Usually it is a good rule of thumb to replace a sump pump every 3 to 5 years. Below is a picture of the sump pump after it was removed from the flooded 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?
A sump pump replacement can cost anywhere from $800 – $1500. The sump pump cost is about $150 – $300 depending on the quality of the pump you are purchasing and the rest of the cost is the installation by the emergency service plumber.
An emergency service plumber’s hourly rate can range between $100 – $200 per hour during normal business hours. If they are called out after hours on the weekends, to make a sump pump repair, the cost can be twice as much. If our customers can wait until normal business hours to make plumbing repairs we recommend it.
What Water Mitigation Services were needed to remove the water and cleanup the basement water damage?
Finding Water Damage
In order to find the what was wet in the flooded basement we used a Survey Master 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 water in the basement. The basement water affected drywall about 6 inches high and the wood stud walls. This basement had a finished concrete floor (no carpet and pad or laminate). In our opinion, this is the best flooring for a basement that floods.
The basement was close to 2000 square feet and the entire square footage had basement water damage.
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.
When a basement pump is replaced, it will pump a lot of standing basement water out. Once the standing water is pump out, we will begin to extract the remaining water with our equipment.
This customer had a finished basement and it had wet carpet and pad. We used a portable water extraction unit to remove the water from the wet carpet and pad. The water from the extractor is pumped into the sump pump pit and the basement sump pump removes the water from the basement.
Material Removals
The materials that get removed can be different on every water damage project.
On this particular project, we performed baseboard removals and removed the carpet and pad from the basement. After the carpet and pad were removed, we tore out the tack strip that was ruined.
Water Damage Equipment
When 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.
We used a XXL Low Grain Refrigerant dehumidifier and a Large Low Grain Refrigerant dehumidifier and 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 does not stop until all 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 homeowner’s insurance cover water damage from rain? The answer to this question is Yes and No. Below are some water damage insurance claims tips:
- Yes, basement water damage is covered by insurance if the policy includes drain backup or sump pump backup coverage.
- No, if the water came in through a window, wall, or door.
- No, if the insurance policy does not include the writer to include drain backup or sump backup coverage.
How much does insurance pay for water damage? There are some water damage scenarios that can have limits. In this scenario the customer had $10,000 in coverage. This was enough to pay for the water damage insurance claim for our customer.
We recommend that any homeowner that has a finished basement, carry at least $10,000 in drain backup or sump pump backup coverage.
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 18 line items for the water mitigation and cost approximately $4,700 for the water mitigation services.
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 basement water damage repairs?
Restorex did not complete any basement water damage repairs on this project.
If you need help with a flooded basement, water damage or a water damage insurance claim give us a call (317) 315-5071.
