There are many reasons basements get flooded. The majority of water damage comes from frozen pipes and broken sub pumps. Will your insurance company cover this? The answer is yes but, it depends on how the claim is reported to the insurance company.
I work with thousands of customers every year helping them overcome the damage caused by heavy rain and cold winters. Each situation is different but, there is one thing all these customers have in common. The home owners’ insurance policy, when shopping for homeowners insurance people need to make sure they are covered 100%.
What do I mean by 100%?
Insurance companies are not up-front about coverage for your home when it comes to water damage and mold damage. For example: If it rains really hard and your basement sub-pump cannot keep up with the amount of water that is coming in the basement it is considered a flood and if you do not have flood insurance you will not be covered.
If your sub-pump stops working and you need to purchase a new one you will not be covered unless you have flood insurance. If water comes into your basement from cracks it is considered seepage and will not be covered by flood insurance.
Flood insurance will not cover mold damage caused by water damage even if the mold damage is from the original water damage. This is called secondary damage. The insurance companies will not pay to have secondary damage repaired because the homeowner is responsible due to lake of proper mitigation.
Mitigation is work preformed by first response companies. This work is done to stop secondary damage from occurring. Mold will only grow if the relative humidity is above 60% for more then 48-hours. To stop secondary damage (mold growth) the mitigation company will extract water from the carpet, set up dehumidifiers, and air movers. The extraction process is the most important part because there are only two ways to remove water, 1-extract water using an “Extreme Extractor”, 2-dehumidacation.
The extraction process is fast and most effective in removing water. Dehumidifiers remove water from the air and create a thrust thus water is transformed from vapor to solid. The air movers create evaporation so the water is transferred from solid form to vapor so the dehumidifiers can transform the water again from vapor to solid and drain the water out of the basement and into the drain or bath-tub.
It normally takes 3 to 4 days to remove all the water using dehumidifiers only after the extraction process is done. After the basement is dry it is a good idea to have all the effected areas deep cleaned by an IICRC certified company.
Not all water damage is the same. There are 3-categories of water and in each category there are 4-classes. Following is a listing and description of categories: