Water leak remediation

[Drewski]

Hey all, anyone familiar with water damage remediation services? I’m absolutely not, as my previous 100+ year old home in Chicago never had a pipe burst, break, crack or so much as leak, nor did the basement ever flood from heavy rains so I’m out of my experiential element. I’m getting more experience in this 20 year old stick built POS in the year since we bought it though. We’re on our third leak already, but this one has been the worst so far. The supply line to the water heater mysteriously developed a crack in the middle and was leaking for as much as 24 hours. Naturally, the basement cement is not sloped toward the drain at all, so the water all ran away from the drain and sump that were right ****ing next to the water heater. And that water was happily soaked up by all the new wood, drywall, and carpet it could find outside the utility closet. (Basement weapon storage unaffected )

The leak is fixed now but it’s time to deal with the aftermath. The repairs are well within my ability but I haven’t figured out what all needs to be done yet and if it makes sense, deductible-wise, I may have someone else take care of it. If anyone cares to share their remediation experience, I’m all ears.

 

[Jaybird1980]

How big of an area are we talking about, and how much water?

 

[churchmouse]

Water is and can be devastating to your home. How much of the drywall will have to be removed to dry it out and replace all that has been ruined.
Carpet and pad etc.

 

[Lpherr]

What type of wood? Just trim or flooring also?

 

[stocknup]

I was a contractor in a Hospital for over 20 years and dealt with a lot of water damage issues .
We always removed any base , trim, cabinets , carpet and cut away about 12" of drywall where the damage was .
Their walls always has sound insulation also which added to the wicking .
Get air scrubbers and/or fans blowing to dry the areas as quick as possible before mold spores start growing .
After drying , I would at least treat the areas with a Mold Control spray such as Concrobian .

 

[91FXRS]

Dehumidifier ASAP

 

[2tonic]

Glad the guns are OK!
Since you said the floor sloped the wrong way, I would suggest putting a drain pan under the heater. Then you can use 1" pvc pipe to run to the drain/sump.

 

[PGRChaplain]

Needs opened up and all the Wet Material removed. Lots of Fans and Dehumidifiers running 24/7. Remove at least 12" of Drywall. Like Stocknup said everything needs Treated to suppress Mold Growth.

 

[tmschuller]

Insurance? Plenty of good contractors servicemaster.. I think rotorooter has a division that just does that. Plenty of good advice.. bright side.. it’s not hot and high humidity now.

 

[Cameramonkey]

Concrobium is the best mold killer out there btw. Worth giving everything a spray down once you have the the water up and the wood and everything LOOKS dry. A coating of that will kill anything there, and prevent any new from forming.

 

[Mgderf]

Insurance? Plenty of good contractors servicemaster.. I think rotorooter has a division that just does that. Plenty of good advice.. bright side.. it’s not hot and high humidity now.

I just had a HORRIBLE experience with a Serv-Pro franchise.
Hired them, on insurance company's recommendation, and they screwed the job up from day one.
They actually hired a reconstruction crew that cut the bottom cord of one of my roof trusses in half, rather than cut away a dead gas line.
The straw that broke the camel's back was finding beer caps in the front yard at 2:00 in the afternoon.
They ( beer caps) weren't there at 8:00 am.
Servo-Pro was gone the next day and I finished the job myself.

 

[Drewski]

Thanks everyone. Just finally finished an evening of cleaning, wet-vacuuming, and talking to insurance people. Luckily, I seem to have caught the leak early; it was a pinhole/slight crack that was spraying under high pressure. Here’s the culprit copper flex crap and the drywall it sprayed as the water ran down and flowed everywhere except the drain:



The spread looks worse than it probably is. So although it managed to touch a lot, I’d guess it was maybe 20 gallons of water total, possibly (probably) more. There was about an 8ft radius out from the leak. It hit plenty of wood along the way, both structural and trim. Almost all was solid wood except for one mdf door frame. That’s probably shot. One room for sure needs the carpet pulled up and probably have the padding replaced after properly drying the carpet.

Midwest Remediation came out for an estimate and seemed pretty thorough for taking care of the clean up and drying, but since the carpet is new they said I should have the installer come back to replace the pad, so as to not invalidate their warranty. ¯\_( ツ)_/¯ The insurance company sounds more concerned with potential mold etc., so it doesn’t seem like there would be any issues with the adjuster. I haven’t had a claim with AmFam for a long time, but they have been very good when we’ve needed to use them. Sure I’d rather save the deductible, but it might still be worth the hassle, I don’t know.

FWIW, I vacuumed everything best I could and have multiple fans going. And I’m beat so I’ll take solace in a small reward.

 

[Mgderf]

Believe or not, that is actually a very common issue.
The bigger problem is,
they still sell those p.o.s. lines.

 

[Rookie]

Step one. Replace those garbage flex lines with hard pipe.

 

[CHCRandy]

If you are gonna have a leak, this is the best kind and at least you are moving quickly with it. These kind of leaks the insurance companies want to mitigate further damage fast, so no mold is allowed to start. Cut drywall out and give it a while with fans and dehumidifiers. Insurance may even pay for new carpet and pad......

I hate when people have leaks and then delay calling insurance........because then it allows insurance a way out of the claim.

 

[dnurk]

We have used Hayes and Sons twice for water mitigation. They’re good and do a fine job. Would recommend them for sure

 

[stocknup]

Midwest Remediation came out for an estimate and seemed pretty thorough for taking care of the clean up and drying, but since the carpet is new they said I should have the installer come back to replace the pad, so as to not invalidate their warranty.

The Hospital that I worked at also used Midwest Remediation for extensive damages . As you said , they were always very thorough and very detailed oriented . Everything they did was also documented .

 

[Drewski]

Thanks to @dnurk for the referral*, Hays was just out here. They did a pretty thorough inspection and, although the estimator wasn't here and I'm waiting for his return call, one of the guys said, "You've already done pretty much everything that we would have." (extraction, then 3 fans, 2 dehumidifiers) I certainly appreciate the honesty - that's what gets a firm's number put into my rolodex for future use. I still need to get the carpet rolled back and have the pad replaced, and that is out of my wheelhouse. Since the carpet is brand spanking new, I'm pretty sure that it will invalidate the warranty if anyone else removes / reseams / reinstalls it, so at this point, I don't even think I need a remediation company - just a carpet guy.

The water was approximately outlined by where I put the cables. I assume it has wicked a bit farther than that under the surface.



The room on the opposite side of the utility closet is the Tavern, where I fortunately decided to finish the floor in interlocking gym floor tiles. All I had to do there was lift them up and vacuum the water. Easy peasy. Drywall damage is minimal if at all. I've got the fan blasting on the ~2 sq ft that the water was spraying on. Remains to be seen if that will be negatively impacted. I've seen water damaged drywall before and this seems to have resisted pretty well.


* they asked who referred me, and I said, "Oh some guy on an internet gun forum. Goes by 'dnurk'."

 

[Cameramonkey]

If you are going to try to let that drywall ride, definitely hose it down with this just in case. Lowes stocks it.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Concrobium-32-fl-oz-Liquid-Mold-Remover/1001073958

 

[Timjoebillybob]

We have used Hayes and Sons twice for water mitigation. They’re good and do a fine job. Would recommend them for sure

Thanks to @dnurk for the referral*, Hays was just out here. They did a pretty thorough inspection and, although the estimator wasn't here and I'm waiting for his return call, one of the guys said, "You've already done pretty much everything that we would have." (extraction, then 3 fans, 2 dehumidifiers) I certainly appreciate the honesty - that's what gets a firm's number put into my rolodex for future use.

I'd hate to say it, but I would not recommend them. They just finished pretty much a total remodel of my house after a fire. Cutting corners and cheapest subcontractors they could find would be putting it nicely. Almost no windows were installed square, the finish trim is... Screws/nails popping out of the drywall. I had to have their guy pull the exterior doors because he didn't caulk under them. Same with the kitchen sink. Around the tub/surround,between the counters and the walls. Flex pipe for gas lines.

They were almost done a year ago, I've contacted the general contractor twice for problems and haven't heard back. Getting ready to give him a call again. And perhaps an attorney, and the BBB. They were supposed to restoration on some of the contents, half of what came back doesn't look like it was even touched. Literally can just wipe the soot of with a finger on some of it.

This was out of the Lafayette branch.