Any experience with backed up pipes?...

[Sleeping~Beauty]

Last night after the children took baths in the upstairs bathroom, we found that the downstairs toilet flooded the laundry room, some of the family room, and of course, the bathroom itself.

Roto-Rooter came, and we found that the people that owned the house before us had used shop rags that clogged the pipes about thirty feet out from the house. It took many years, but now there was major blockage.

Then this morning after running the washer, the flooding happened again. So RR came back and snaked out about forty feet. Everything seems ok now.

My question now comes in. While the water that came in was clear, there is all that residue from the pipes. Has anyone had this kind of flooding? Do you have to replace the carpeting, or would professional cleaners be able to rid all of this?

Also, if you put in a claim for the house, is that a bad thing to do? Will we be dropped, or anything? (I guess my fear comes from the horror that is NJ car insurance ) . Any help and advice is appreciated.

(Also, yesterday my husband's car locked up on the NJ Turnpike up by Jersey City. We learned there was a recall, but we never got any info on said recall. Mercury must be in retrograde or something. )

 

[swea_pea1]

We had problems with our pipes in the upstairs bathroom and the bathtub started leaking through the dining room ceiling. We had to replace everything, even the ceiling and we turned it into our homeowner's. If I had to do it again, I wouldn't. They only gave us $900 or so because they didn't pay for "ongoing" damage, only the damage that was caused by the water through the ceiling. My homeowner's went up $300 a year as a result and I'm finding it difficult to switch my insurance company because I had a claim in the past three years. If I had known then what I know now, I'd have sucked it up and spent my own $900.

 

[Sleeping~Beauty]

That's good to know. We really aren't sure what to do right now.

I'm sorry that happened. That must have been very stress inducing to say the least!

 

[Cyndirella]

We had something very similar happen and turned it in to our homeowners. The premium did increase, I think by $200 or so, but we weren't dropped. If you do decide to file, do it ASAP. Our little flood occurred when we were away for a long weekend (it was something with the water heater), and when I called the insurance company on Monday they gave me a hard time because I didn't report it as soon as it happened. I kept explaining to the woman that I wasn't home and didn't know when it happened.

Best of luck on whatever you decide!

 

[Nancy]

The toitlet in my upstairs bathroom had the seal crack and water came down through my dining room and living room ceilings. The dining room ceiling was actaully cracked and sagging. Homeowners was great. They paid to replace the 2 ceilings (sprayed and the dining room needed to have new drywall put in). They paid for a new bathroom floor and for someone to clean my living carpet. No increase or being dropped from at all in my insurance. I guess we got lucky (with insurance at least)

 

[FreshTressa]

No, but my doggy did...it sure was a mess when it finally cleared out!

 

[golfgal]

We had something similar happen here. The sewer line was plugged like yours. We had a sewer pumping truck come and they flushed the line out. We had the line inspected for and breaks first (they send a fiber optic camera down the line). They sent the camera back again after the flush and the line is clear. We haven't had any problems since. We didn't submit it to our homeowners. We had the carpets cleaned and the rest of the wet floor was vinyl so no damage done.

 

[Sleeping~Beauty]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Golfgal, I heard about the cameras that can go in and see into the underground piping system.

Tomorrow a professional carpet cleaning company specializing in flood damage is coming over. We'll know what needs to be done and expenses tomorrow.

Again, thanks everyone.