Home Water Damage incident round up:The complete Saga:

date of the incident - 17th January 2009(Saturday- it was a long weekend ‘cos Monday the 19th was Martin Luther King Jrs. Bday)):

Came back home after my music and dance classes to be welcomed with completely drenched carpet in my first floor and standing water ¾ of my large 15 by 22 sq feet room.
I could still hear the gush of running water somewhere behind my home walls.
First thing I did was backed out of the garage and park in the visitors parking area cos Ishani was with me.

Then knocked at my neighbors door thinking they might have accidentally left a tub or sink running and that caused the flood in my home.
No reply.
Then knocked @ Gloria’s door. She wasn’t home so called her to ask her what I should do next.
I bought my home just this past year September 08 and now I have water damage?? Didn’t exactly know the details yet. Felt like crying out loud. Haven’t felt so helpless in a long time now.. but cudnt do that .. had to take control of the situation before it took a toll on me.
Anyways Gloria said that she was out of town hence she would ask her neighbor next door who happens to know plumbing work to come out and help me shut off the main water that runs into my house.
Guess what he wasn’t home either. So I had to call 911 who then directed me to the fire department.

The fire truck came within 5-10 mins of my call and shut off the main line outside of my home. They kinda looked around - unplugging stuff from the walls that bore the water damage.. which included my home phone. They said they took care of 17 more such cases before me. Phew!!!! So much for good construction material used that holds up against any weather. So here I am very few minutes left on my cell and my home phone is out too? Besides God knows what the water bill is gonna be like this month?

They pin pointed the source of water to a freeze burst caused by the past freezing temperature that Nashville experienced this year. They suggested few companys that do water damage restoration and asked me to call my insurance company first and discuss how to get this fixed. One name stood out for secondary damage recovery – SERVPRO.

After they left I didn’t know how to start.. where to start. Anyways pulled myself together to assure Ishani that we are gonna be fine. She was terrified about the whole incident. She was like ‘Whats Mama Gonna do now? Can we ever get out of this situation.. o!! whats gonna happen to our home’

Then started the barrage of calls to warranty and insurance company. The warranty company were supposed to find a contractor for me to do the plumbing job(since it related to structural damage). But even after 24 hours I didn’t hear back from them. The earliest they cud get to my work was the next Tuesday. That’s beside the point since the extent of the secondary damages would be hard to recover. Hence they suggested I could call my own contractor and get the services authorized from them.

That’s what I did. Just picked up the yellow book and started calling plumbing companies who wud agree to do a free estimate of the plumbing job needed. Settled with ARS- Rescue Rooters who came in the very next day morning and gave me an instant estimate. I got it authorized by my warranty company and the same day they located the pipe and fixed it. It was such a smooth job. The technician who came to fix it just tapped all along the wall which was damp from the standing water and accurately found the ‘culprit’ pipe. It was no doubt a freeze burst. He just replaced that pipe with a flex pipe and hence the primary damage was fixed. Now the monumentous task of drying the whole area.

Instantly what would come to your mind. If you thot mold – right on the dot. The walls have been wet for over 48 or more hours now. The insulation pads inside the walls are damp. The wallboards are damp. I had to get the preventative care process started. So called servpro and my home insurance too. The crew that came in – ripped off the carpet and disposed off the carpet pad underneath it since it was soaked thru. They also knocked down about 1 foot of the wall and removed all insulation since everything was wet. Then the very next day they brought in huge fans and heaters to start the drying process. And the drying took about a week to get done. So that parts all taken care off.

Now starts the rebuilding process. I am letting my home insurance handle it from hereon. The work took 2 months to finally complete. No complains!