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How-To

Ahhhh, No flood insurance!

by Chris Crimmins on May 6, 2010

in How-To

For the ones first hearing that your recently flooded home doesn’t have flood insurance, I have the greatest sympathy.  The pit at the bottom of your stomach, the buzzing in your head, the daze is completely normal.  Not much comforting can be said in this time period, the only comfort is company, to have caring people walking alongside of you.

So what do you do if you have no insurance?

A good situation for most is for your area to be declared a FEMA (Federal Emergency Managament Agency) disaster area.  At that point some funding, housing assistance, and lending may be available to you.  This won’t be near as substantial as if you had flood insurance, but it gets the ball rolling.  I am copying a note circulated in my local insurance agents office as of this week.

“If your client DOES NOT have a Flood Policy no denial letter from State Farm is necessary in order to receive FEMA assistance.  Please give them the FEMA information below. When they call FEMA they will be put into the registration system for possible government assistance.  We talked to a FEMA rep this morning who believes there will be a FEMA disaster declared in this area—the sooner the clients can get into the register with FEMA the better.”

www.fema.gov 1-800-621-3362  FEMA phone

After your area is declared, here is what you need when you call.

· Pen & Paper

· Date of loss

· Name and ss#

· Address & Phone #

· Homeowner’s Insurance info

· Gross annual hh income

· It is about a 30min interview on the phone with a FEMA rep

What else is there?

Many community organizations in the meantime will be helping out with cleanouts, and reconstruction.  Feel free to share sources for this. Apart from churches and local organizations, try Red Cross, and Hands on Nashville.  Here is another great link from the Nashville Business Journal on who is helping out in the area.

Remember, If your basement or low lying portion of your home had water damage due to water intrusion from a storm, your home owners insurance may cover the damage.  The key here is that it is not a “flood.” Be honest about your situation, but if your basement filled just due to rain, or if your roof failed due to the amount of rain, call your agent. If 13 inches of rain caused a problem in your homes barrier that wasn’t caused by neglect of deferred maintenance, call your agent.  You may get some relief.  Remember, document, document, document.  Have pictures, video  etc of whatever damage you have.

Keep your head up, follow every option open to you.  And please, ask if you need help!

Wait, I have flood insurance, what to I do? Read Here

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How does flood insurance work?

by Chris Crimmins on May 6, 2010

in How-To

When flood waters rise, many are caught without knowledge concerning their insurance, and what is covered.  For those who think that they can purchase insurance while the waters are rising, that may be great for the future, but it usually takes 30 days before the policy can be active.  Here is some basic knowledge below.

1. “Flood insurance is intended to restore a covered loss to its pre-flood condition, less the deductible. Excluded items, such as a pier, landscaping, etc. are not covered under the current policy.” More FAQ can be seen at this FEMA site.

2. Most Home Owners Insurance policies don’t cover flood damage.

3. Flood insurance is backed and supported by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) regardless of who you purchase the insurance through. State Farm and the like merely handle the paper work and sell the insurance.

4. Flood insurance, through FEMA, can only be purchased in the US if your community participates in the NFIP (National Flood Insurance Program)

5. Your home must also sit in a designated flood plain area zoned by your community to purchase this insurance.

6. There are also two different areas of flood insurance that you can purchase.  Structure insurance, and personal contents, both with their own deductibles.

7. For some, there is a slim possibility of purchasing private flood insurance, but from what I have researched, it is difficult to find.

You can read much more about it here!

So if your home met these criteria, and you purchased the insurance, what now? How are the details worked out. The main key is to take action as quickly as possible.

1. Document the damage as completely as possible before, during, and after clean out.

2. You don’t have to wait for the claims adjuster to reach you to start cleaning up.  Put your call into your insurance agent ASAP though to begin the process.  Some will see and adjuster quickly, others have waited up to 3 months to see one.  That is where the documentation comes in.

3. You can pay out of pocket for cleanup and restoration, water heater eg., but keep all receipts.  My State Farm agent said these will play a part in getting a refund. Some will want to perform work immediately if they can still occupy their main living floor.

4. This is a big one, if any wall cavity is opened up, before recovering you need to have a city building inspector visit the property.  You will either have to pull a homeowners permit, or hire a licensed contractor to pull the permit.  Don’t cover up walls without this in place.  A trade permit may be necessary for any new wiring, plumbing, or HVAC work.  Consult your licensed technician for more info, or call the city permit office.

5. A claims adjuster, who typically is a 3rd party contractor, will come out and deem your property an entire loss or salvageable.  It seems that no checks will be written to the homeowner at that point.  Feel free to let me know if your insurance company performs in another way. The only way to be reimbursed personally, is to have already paid for items covered out of pocket, and submit the receipts for reimbursement.

6. At that point, select either a preferred vendor through your insurance agent, or select one of your own.  It doesn’t seem that you will have to go through a multiple bid process.  Just put your selected contractor in touch with the insurance agent, and the claims adjuster.

7. Lastly be patient.  The amount of work and material flowing into these disaster areas will be along pipelines which aren’t accustomed to this amount of traffic.  Choose a contractor who you can relate to, who you can get in contact with, and is reputable and then buckle in for the ride.

What do I do if I don’t have flood insurance.  Read this.

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How to avoid snake oil salesmen in a disaster cleanup.

by Chris Crimmins on May 4, 2010

in How-To

I have seen my fair share of individuals taking advantage of disaster victims.  Some will come with contracts and high prices.  Some will come with just pickup trucks.  You might be reacting to the disaster and feel its the only way, but hopefully you will see there is another way.

First real priority is to get out your stuff completely.  Most will be trashed, but outside will not only clear a working space for others, but provide a place for stuff to dry.  This is great time to do it yourself, ask for neighbors, friends, and community organizations to help.  Calling a local handyman, local contractor, and even contacting day laborer places like Labor Ready can help give you the added muscle to clear everything out.  If there is bio hazard such as sewage or fuel involved, call a reputable remediation company.  Demo for the most part is a place to get involved yourself.

Second priority is to remove the damaged drywall, insulation, flooring, cabinetry to allow for drying.  Once again, this is not rocket science.  Only pull out what was wet.  Refer here and here for more information.  Once again, you can do this yourself, or with the help of others.  Immediacy is supremely important.

For Trash, get a dumpster, or read this for street placement from our local news read last paragraph in particular.

So if you pay someone, I want to give you some monetary measurements to bargain with the companies that are there to demo out.  Now please, don’t send me hate mail if you can’t find anyone for these prices right now, I am just putting them out there for bench marks.  Your home may be unique.  It also depends on how much of your personal possessions are still in the way.

Here is how to calculate what you should expect after your stuff is out of the way. First calculate the square footage of your affected area, and then multiply that by the numbers in each category and add them up.  For a sample, I will use 1000 sq ft.

Water extraction 1 per square ft

Drywall, baseboard, and cabinetry demo. 1-3 per square ft depending on complexity.

Flooring Demo Usually is included in above price, but for complex Situations, add 1.50 per square ft

So for 1000 square ft, you are looking at anywhere from 2-5.50 a square ft.  $2000-$5500

Now remember, its important to look at your situation and try and be realistic.  Let whoever is there know that you are familiar with honest prices.  You might add 20-25 percent for a management company if someone will be running the show.  And remember, the more you do, the less it should cost.

The snake oil comes into play when the salespeople try and talk about a special treatment for the affected areas.  A pump up bug sprayer with a bleach water mixture should sanitize whatever you need to sanitize.  Once again, your situation may be particular with sewage etc, but at least you have something to combat them with.

Sure large dehumidifiers work great, and high velocity fans.  But for most basements, crawlspaces, and open areas, box fans, shop fans etc will do just fine.  Open as many windows as possible, Have air accessible to every wet area.  I like to aim fans out, as it tends to pull air through the space. Most remediation companies will bill you for the length of time their equipment is sitting there.

So avoid the snake oil, use common sense and and keep your money for the rebuilding.

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