It’s been almost four-months since my little brother had a broken pipe flood his home. During this time his family of including six children have been living in a hotel, while waiting for the repairs and remodeling.
The insurance company hasn’t been very happy about this situation. However, because the damage caused by the frozen and broken water pipe included saturated floors, walls and ceilings the risk of mold development is very great.
Many families would have been expected to remain in the home during repairs, but with the possibility of mold development my brother contacted a state mold inspector who advocated that the family should not remain in the home during these repairs and that the home should be re-inspected before they return.
The contractors in the area have been overwhelmed with work. It was a freak ice storm that hit an isolated area and the damage was widespread. Initially, contractors didn’t have enough heaters and blowers to service all of the damaged homes. It took time to gather this equipment from other sources. By the time contractors had the equipment to dry the houses out, many had already started to develop mold.
Contractors were further delayed in getting the repairs completed because in Southern California this type of widespread damage isn’t common. There were shortages on materials and work crews who don’t typically do this kind of work. Those construction workers with past experience dealing with floods were mainly trained to work with mud damage, and flash flooding, not frozen broken water pipe damage.
Many of these construction workers had experience dealing with flood from the ground up, with floor and foundations being the most intensive types of work needing to be completed. However, in Southern California houses rarely have basements or crawl spaced and much of the plumbing is actually placed in the attics.
The freeze resulted in the kinds of damage that most of the construction workers who had flood repair experience had never seen before. Ceiling and electrical damages saturated walls, damaged telephone lines. Between the lack of equipment and the lack of experienced construction personnel the 124 damaged homes in an isolated area have been slow to be repaired.
Disasters, even in an isolated area can result in complex problems. Especially those types of disasters which are uncommon in an area. Insurance can be willing to pay for repairs and do their part, but in some cases money isn’t the only important issue to consider. Local services and equipment may case delays even with a willing insurance company.
Related Blogs:
- The Standard Fire Insurance Form
- Household Inventory–Getting Started.
- Flood Disaster
- Earthquake Insurance
Glossary of Insurance Terms:
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