Insurance Question- wind driven rain

[Suz D]

I'm hoping someone with insurance adjusting experience might be able to respond to this. I have a call in to my insurance agent, but wanted to try to get some information before he calls.

First let me say that I know flood damage isn't covered and the water damage didn't come from the ground so my agent's assistant said that it wouldn't be considered flood.

We had a huge storm today with heavy rain and wind. When I went into the basement (walk out basement and this was on the walkout side so the whole basement is above ground at that point) there was a big puddle in the middle of the floor. I looked up and it was dripping from a beam about 4 feet in from the wall. Yikes! Water was also dripping in from the top of the basement window in that room. It appears that the water was coming in at the window and also around the frame of the sliding glass door on the main floor.

Went upstairs (main floor) and found a puddle on a corner where two outside walls meet at a right angle pointing into the house. Checked in the basement and the ceiling below the puddle and that corner was wet. Then checked the ceiling above my kitchen cabinets (also on the main floor) and the ceiling was wet enough that I could poke my fingernain into the ceiling in that area. Checked the corner of the basement where two more outside walls meet pointing out from the house and the insulation all along the corner is wet from the ceiling down.

Anyway, I think that the damage will be covered (it's not a huge amount), but how about finding out exactly why the wind driven rain came in and fixing that? Does the insurance company have someone pull the siding off to see where it came in and if there is damage to the wood underneath? What about pulling up our flooring to see if the flooring is rotten? Then will they just replace the flooring? I'm worried that this has been letting water in for awhile and it just hasn't been windy enough to let it drip on the inside.

I'm definately not looking to get new siding, carpet, or flooring in our kitchen out of this, I just want to know what I might expect in terms of having things torn out to assess the damage/moisture and then what I can expect them to reasonably do to correct the problem. I'm very concerned that some moisture will escape notice if things around torn up and then we'll have a mold issue. It's not that I want everything torn up, but from what I understand, if you have a mold issue, that's a big ol' problem.

Thanks!

 

[TheRustyScupper]

OK, from ACTUAL experience from one of our rentals . . .

1) The damage from the water may or may not be covered.
2) If the storm actually caused damage resulting in a leak, yes.
3) If there was wear-and-tear that allowed rain to seep in, usually no.
. . . estimators will inspect the damage area to determine WHY water seeped
. . . they can look or physically remove pieces to determine causes
. . . they can remove as much or as little as needed

4) We made the case that storm CAUSED the exterior damage.
5) Then, rain seeped through the damage and hurt walls-plaster-carpets-etc.
6) After the deductible we got
. . . exterior damage fully repaired and painted
. . . wall and plaster board replaced, then painted
. . . carpet replaced
. . . new landscaping where exterior repairmen had to walk/work

7) Again, the biggie is to show/prove the storm caused the initial damage.
9) Then, any water-related damage/repair/replacement is covered.

NOTE: Not all insurance companies are alike, just as all estimator/adjusters
are alike. You circumstance and results may be different than ours. I can
only comment upon our actual experiences - both with the rental, as well as
living through Hurricane Hugo and having insurance repairs made in both cases.

 

[Suz D]

Rusty, your post was very helpful. There isn't any physical damage to the outside of the house so we wouldn't claim that. We may be out of luck. Our agent's assistant did say that his parents had a multi-pitch roof and snow built up in the valley between pitches. When it melted they got water damage and it was covered. I was hopeful that this might be a similar type thing, but maybe not.

If anyone else has a comment or idea, please post.