Two inches of water in my basement

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Insurance doesn't cover if water came from outside. It only covers internal plumbing water.

That would be flood insurance if it comes from outside

You don’t call insurance for 2 inches of water.

Why not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No sump pump. We are at the top of a hill so ground up seems unlikely but I don’t know.

How are your gutters? Downspouts?

Has it ever happened before? How long have you lived there?

Has never happened before.
Lived there a year.
There has occasionally been a tiny leak at the base of one wall after rain but it always dries up the same day.

[Anonymous]

we have backup sewer and drain coverage, its only covered if the drain is in the house kind of a scam IMO as we had a storm door drain overflow into the house and they won't cover it.

insurance is such garbage

[Anonymous]

After power is back and you can get as much out as you can, you have to rip up carpeting (if there is any), and all drywall that got wet. We ripped out about 8 inches up, plus the insulation that was behind it. Also, fans aimed at the floor going 24x7.

ServPro and other similar companies will do the same (get rid of the wet stuff, dry out your basement, then you have to hire someone to repair).

We did not run it through insurance, just got luckybwith timing - we were about to start a large home reno, amd added redoing the basement to their scope of work

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Insurance doesn't cover if water came from outside. It only covers internal plumbing water.

That would be flood insurance if it comes from outside

+ 1

We had several inches of water in our basement after a storm, but got lucky because it was due to a sump pump failure and we had a sewer and drain rider, which covered it. Of course if the sump hadn’t failed then we wouldn’t have had the water in our basement, so double edged sword there. For straight up stormwater in the house, homeowners will not cover it and I wouldn’t let them know about it because you don’t want to be on their radar and not even get a payment from it.

With everything going on with climate change, basically everyone should have flood insurance these days.

Remediation can easily be 20k +. Our insurance company paid several grand for the water restoration to come pump put the water and run fans for serval days. It was thousands more to rip out and re-do flooring and drywall. Fun fact - LVP is not actually waterproof for heavy water like this. I see so many people on this forum recommend LVP for the basement because of potential water issues, but anything more than minimal water damage that is immediately soaked up is going to require new flooring. The concept of waterproof flooring is a scam.

Wouldn’t ceramic tile flooring be waterproof? They use it in showers?!

[Anonymous]

Pump or shop vac it out. Run dehumidifiers and fans. Cut out any trim or drywall that was touched by water, same with insulation. Rip out the floor

[Anonymous]

The walls are parged plaster and painted concrete there is no drywall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The walls are parged plaster and painted concrete there is no drywall.

You need a professional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Insurance doesn't cover if water came from outside. It only covers internal plumbing water.

That would be flood insurance if it comes from outside

You don’t call insurance for 2 inches of water.

Why not?

You’ll be at risk of being dropped and your rates will go up if they keep you.
Is the basement finished? If not this will be a cheap clean up. If you want to do it, get a submersible pump to get the majority out. Then shop vac the rest. Rent or buy the huge fans that get air moving and dry it all out. Then spray with an antimocrobial. If it’s finished, get someone in to tear out about the first 5 I ches of drywall and any non-dryable flooring. Then do the above to dry out and antimicrobial.
The most important will be to figure our where water came from and invest in French drains and a sump pump with battery backup

[Anonymous]

OP
Update: it was the 15 year old hot water heater
Plumber replaced
Pumping now using generator

Basement is not finished in this space it’s the utility room

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP
Update: it was the 15 year old hot water heater
Plumber replaced
Pumping now using generator

Basement is not finished in this space it’s the utility room

Our new hot water heater has a moisture alarm to go off in case of a leak. Just a suggestion

[Anonymous]

That's a lot of water. First thing I'd do is pour a couple gallons of bleach into it, then start vacuuming it out.

Remove ALL flooring possible and strip the walls up to 4ft at least. More bleach mopped on any wood and all surfaces that got wet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP
Update: it was the 15 year old hot water heater
Plumber replaced
Pumping now using generator

Basement is not finished in this space it’s the utility room

Our new hot water heater has a moisture alarm to go off in case of a leak. Just a suggestion

Or a sizeable pan and drain line connected to sewer drain or else piped to exterior of house like AC condensate drains.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP don't call insurance if you can cover the remediation costs yourself. Save a homeowner claim for something massive.

You don't want to be dropped.

This sounds massive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP don't call insurance if you can cover the remediation costs yourself. Save a homeowner claim for something massive.

You don't want to be dropped.

This sounds massive.

Not massive.

A tree falling on your house is massive. A natural disaster is massive. A fire is massive.