Wet Carpet - Called Insurance Company What Next?

[becka]

Last night I walked into the kitchen and noticed the carpet in the living room right by the kitchen was really wet. I asked DH and he said he knew and the kids had spilled something there. I asked him what they spilled because it seemed really wet and he said he didn't know. I have been really sick so I didn't force the issue a whole lot. I got a towel and put it down to try to soak up some of the water and then went back to bed.

This morning when I wake up the carpet is WET and it has spread Obviously this was not something the kids' spilled. Our A/C intake grill thing is right there so we started looking. DH found a clogged pipe drain out in our utility room in the garade that was leaking and appears to be the cause of our wet carpet. We have pulled everything away from that area and DH just went out to buy a wet vac so we can pull as much water out as possible. After vacuuming we are going to pull up that section of the carpet and see just how wet things still are. I think we will probably need to replace the padding (can we just replace a section?) but DH seems to think that a fan on the area for a while will work as well.

Since obviously DH nor I are experts at this I came to the place I knew I could find some advice. DISers what should I know here? Thanks!

 

[Principessa Alba]

When that happened to us it was the dishwasher leaking? It didn't even have to be running to leak. I forget what the whole problem was but we ended up needing a new one.

 

[DawnCt1]

Vac up what you can and if you have a dehumidifier run it near the spot. The quicker you do it, the less likely you will have mold growth, which would require that you replace the carpeting. The padding isn't as spongy and you think it is and you may be able to dry it out.

 

[java]

Set up a dehumdifier too! It will get the moisture out of the area. I am not sure about replacing the padding.

 

[SeaSpray]

Please call your homeowners insurance!!! I've had 2 different water damage incidents (2 different homes, 2 different insurance companies) and each time they were covered 100%! And, they immediately sent out a water damage company to do ALL of the clean up! They want to make sure that no mold is able to grow.

Let us know how you make out!

P.S. Insurance will cover it if it's not due to rain/flood, which yours isn't, so it should be covered!

 

[coltink]

I work in an apartment complex and see this quite a bit.

Your problem sounds like it could be 2 things. Either the dishwasher is leaking or your AC condensation line is clogged. Check them or have them checked as they can lead to major problems.

Yes carpet and padding can be dried out. But make sure you get the problems fixed as soon as possible to prevent further headache.

Once the problem is fixed use a wet vac to soak up the water. Place fans in the area and if possible use something to sperate the carpet from the padding so that they can fully dry . Once they are dry I recommend using a carpet shampooer to go over those areas where the leak was. Again leave the fans to let them dry and then retack your carpet.

Good luck

 

[becka]

It looks like it was the AC condensation line. DH was able to unclog that line and it appears to have stopped the water. We used the wet vac and tons of water came out. We knew then it was worse than we thought. We pulled up the carpet and the padding underneath was soaked and there was water just pooling underneath because the padding was so saturated. Plus the baseboards were very wet.

We called the insurance company and they gave us a claim number and told us a claim rep would call us in a few days. In the meantime we are trying our best to clean up. We cut out all the wet padding, dried the floor and we now have the wet carpet draped up over two folding chairs with a fan underneath to try to dry it come. Hopefully that will be enough for now. It is about an 8x8 area that is messed up. Thankfully we didn't have mcuh furniture over there. We had some plastic bins with the kids toys and a very small cheap bookcase for the kids books.

I don't really know what to expect next. I have been sick and this is really the LAST thing we needed right now.

 

[SeaSpray]

It looks like it was the AC condensation line. DH was able to unclog that line and it appears to have stopped the water. We used the wet vac and tons of water came out. We knew then it was worse than we thought. We pulled up the carpet and the padding underneath was soaked and there was water just pooling underneath because the padding was so saturated. Plus the baseboards were very wet.

We called the insurance company and they gave us a claim number and told us a claim rep would call us in a few days. In the meantime we are trying our best to clean up. We cut out all the wet padding, dried the floor and we now have the wet carpet draped up over two folding chairs with a fan underneath to try to dry it come. Hopefully that will be enough for now. It is about an 8x8 area that is messed up. Thankfully we didn't have mcuh furniture over there. We had some plastic bins with the kids toys and a very small cheap bookcase for the kids books.

I don't really know what to expect next. I have been sick and this is really the LAST thing we needed right now.

You're kidding?!?!? Call them back and see if your policy covers a company coming out to do the work of water removal. That HAS to be done correctly or even if a drop or two of water/moisture remains, you'll get mold.

When we had our water damages (again, 2 different houses, 2 different insurance companies) WE did not have to lift a finger! They (the insurance companies) sent water restoration companies right over! The company tore out the wet carpet, the wet padding, removed all of the stuff we had in the area, made a list of the items (so that they could be appraised and value determined), etc. Becka, I hope they send you a company like this! I know the one time the company was "Serv-Pro" and they specialize in fire and water damage restoration. The second time, it was a company just like Serv-pro.

 

[becka]

You're kidding?!?!? Call them back and see if your policy covers a company coming out to do the work of water removal. That HAS to be done correctly or even if a drop or two of water/moisture remains, you'll get mold.

When we had our water damages (again, 2 different houses, 2 different insurance companies) WE did not have to lift a finger! They (the insurance companies) sent water restoration companies right over! The company tore out the wet carpet, the wet padding, removed all of the stuff we had in the area, made a list of the items (so that they could be appraised and value determined), etc. Becka, I hope they send you a company like this! I know the one time the company was "Serv-Pro" and they specialize in fire and water damage restoration. The second time, it was a company just like Serv-pro.

I specifically asked about this and they told me that we would have to talk to a claim rep and since they were closed they couldn't do anything for me until tomorrow at the earliest and it would probably be a few days. I guess customer service has slid there like everyplace else. I think we did a decent job of getting what we could cleaned up but I don't think there is anyway we can salvage the carpet.

 

[SeaSpray]

I specifically asked about this and they told me that we would have to talk to a claim rep and since they were closed they couldn't do anything for me until tomorrow at the earliest and it would probably be a few days. I guess customer service has slid there like everyplace else. I think we did a decent job of getting what we could cleaned up but I don't think there is anyway we can salvage the carpet.

That's a shame, I'm really sorry Becka I know that one of our water damage incidents happened on a Sunday morning and they still sent a company over the same day. I hope they will replace your carpet, at the very least. I hope it all works out for you.

 

[Kycha]

I specifically asked about this and they told me that we would have to talk to a claim rep and since they were closed they couldn't do anything for me until tomorrow at the earliest and it would probably be a few days. I guess customer service has slid there like everyplace else. I think we did a decent job of getting what we could cleaned up but I don't think there is anyway we can salvage the carpet.

That's a shame, I'm really sorry Becka I know that one of our water damage incidents happened on a Sunday morning and they still sent a company over the same day. I hope they will replace your carpet, at the very least. I hope it all works out for you.

See, this is the way I have always felt, that you don't really know if you have a "good" insurance company until you have to make a claim. Fortunately, I haven't had to yet. But don't want to wait until I do to know if I have a "good" company. I am really curious to know what insurance company each of you use.

 

[becka]

I have State Farm. This is the first claim we have ever had to file for anything. We have had homeowners with them for almost 6 years and our cars with them for about 9 years.

 

[DawnCt1]

The problem with filing a claim with your homeowners insurance or even making an inquiry, is that the have long memories. When you have a claim for something "really big", it may make underwriting take notice of you and decide to really raise your rates or drop you altogether. I had an issue with All State years ago. We had a carpet claim; oil based paint spilled and later a puff back with our oil burner. The oil burner was replaced, the boiler was replaced, all at our expense but because they had a big cleaning bill and a carpet claim 2 years prior, they decided to drop us anyway and send us to a "high risk" insurance pool. I fought it, got reinstated and dropped them the following year. Our deductable is $500 and I would have to have damage in excess of $1500 to make me consider filing a claim.

 

[SeaSpray]

I can't remember which insurance company I had for the first incident (I was living in NJ at that time), but I think it was State Farm. The second incident was exactly 4 years ago, and we had/have Liberty Mutual. This is the one that happened on a Sunday morning. I was in NJ because my mother was dying, and on a Sunday morning my DH called me from home here in MA, and told me that our basement was flooded with a couple of inches of water (that was a LOT of water!), because our hot water heater tank leaked all during the night while he was sleeping and unaware that it was leaking.

DH told me that his father was on the way over with a pump, but I remembered the incident with the house in NJ so I told him to immediately call our insurance company, and sure enough, within a couple of hours a whole crew was at our house, pumping out the water, they had HUGE fans/air blowers set up, they had ripped out all of the old carpet and padding (this was a HUGE area of wall to wall carpet and padding), AND they brought outside to our backyard every single item that we had in the basement, including clothing, items we had stored in boxes, books, video games, videos, DVDs, our computers, software, etc, etc, etc. They came back every single day for at least a week, making sure to reposition the fans/blowers so that the basement floor, which at this point was bare concrete, was drying thoroughly. They also made up lists of every item they brought out of our basement, and also noted for our insurance company that almost everything had water damage and had to be destroyed.

An insurance adjuster came out to the house once the water itself was gone and dried up, and wrote us out a check for EVERYTHING, minus our deductible. We got new carpet, padding, replacement value of every item that was damaged, etc. We did have to show proof of what type of computers we had (we had to supply receipts), so that they could give us money to purchase a similar unit. We were quite satisfied with the way Liberty Mutual handled this, and we never saw an increase in our insurance policy. We use Liberty Mutual for our homeowners insurance, auto insurance, and we have extra life insurance through them too. We've had Liberty Mutual here in MA for over 10 years now, and DH had them for years before that, too.


The previous time I had water damage to my house in NJ, it all happened this exact same way regarding how our insurance company reacted, except that water damage occurred when my former step-son clogged our toilet on the first floor of the house and it ran all evening and into the next morning until my ex-DH realized that the tank had overflowed and leaked down into the basement below. I was in California when that happened; coincidently, I've never been home when these things have happened. lol Anyway, we called our insurance company a couple of days after the incident because we were starting to smell mold and I'm deathly allergic to it, and that's when we found out that our insurance would cover EVERYTHING. They sent over a crew who finished removing everything, and set up the fans/blowers/dehumidifiers, etc to get every speck of water out.

Anyway, I'm still very surprised that an insurance company won't respond immediately to something like this.

 

[becka]

I called our local agent and got a local claim number to see what we can do next. They are going to have Service Master get in touch with us today to come in and do some more clean up to make sure we really got everything dry. Then they are going to have one of their contractors get with us to see what work we need to have done to get everything fixed. The good news is that my deductible was less than I originally thought and they are decreasing that amount some by the labor costs for the number of hours we spent cleaning up yesterday.

I am sure the carpet will be a loss and since it is wall to wall carpeting it is going to be $$$ to replace. I think we can section off the bedrooms but the living room/hall will all need to be replaced. We have talked about putting in some laminate so we will have to look at that cost as well as the cost of putting in new carpet. Any advice? I still feel pretty clueless about all of this.

 

[ZachnElli]

I'm glad you called your agent, he/she can get things going for you. We had State Farm when we had a pipe freeze and burst in our finished basement on Dec. 24 (several years ago) and we had a one of those water damage companies out that evening and it was Christmas Eve! I will say, that they might not have gotten it all. We sold that house a few years later, but I still talk to a neighbor and that house had a mold problem about a year ago. I don't know if it was from that water damage or not. Do keep an eye on the area in the months to come.