Tyler Uebele

In late January we noticed the water flow from our refrigerator's in-door water dispenser was slower than usual, and some our of floor boards were curling/warping/buckling.  I crawled under the house to check the feed line and found quite a puddle.  After shutting the valve to stop the leak, I soaked every towel I had and dragged the water out.

I called a plumber and a crawlspace company.  The plumber fixed the line and forgot to leave me an invoice.  The crawlspace guy said "call your insurance company."

I called State Farm and waited for the adjuster, who, after inspecting the crawlspace recommended the claim approved.  I learned an important lesson here:  The insurance company won't approve claims for problems persisting more than a few days.  Logically this makes sense; if the home-owner neglects the problem, the damage will get worse, and more expensive.  Practically, this is a problem; many leaks can go unnoticed for months.  Fortunately the adjuster determined this damage was recent.

It wasn't long before a mitigation company was sent to stop the moisture before it got any further.  That Wednesday night (February 1) a nice Latino man was cutting up our beauriful, Clear Grade, solid oak floor.  He used a moisture sensor to determine there was standing water under the floor boards.  Pulling them up revealed mold.  Thus began our trial of fans and dehumidifiers.  By the weekend they had removed between three and four hundred square feet of flooring, and plenty of top subfloor (yes, we have two layers of subfloor!).  After spending a week with ten industrial stength fans and two industrial stength dehumidifiers, our sinuses were so dry we both got sinus infections.  You just can't drink enough water to accomodate that kind of sudden dryness.

Over the next four weeks (five total) we had workers in and out of the house nearly every day, and I learned a few things:

1. As mentioned above, It is important to know insurance exceptions, and stay on top of home repairs.
2. Working from home is a mixed blessing.  Working from home can be great, and it certianly helped in this sitation; being able to admit and oversee workers without having to miss work myself.  The pain is, being stuck at home.  It's nice when one feels they can stay home, but not so much to feel like one has to stay home.  I often could not even take a lunch break, either because I had workers in my house, or because equipment was blocking my car in.
3. Materials samples are chosen for the provider's convenience.  The flooring company's representative offered me three flooring samples to choose from that he asserted were in the price rance afforded by the insurance payout.  I should have gone to the store and picked what I really wanted; instead we ended up with a floor that is a grade below what we had, and not worth as much.  The option to use something closer to what I had was not offered to me, and I didn't realize the ommission until it was too late.
4. The charismatic guy introduced as "doing the work" is not doing the work.  Several sub-contractors were used in restoring my house.  Each time, I was introduced to the man that would be doing the work, but when the day came to do the work, he made only a brief appearance, leaving yet-another-level-of-delegation to actually labor.  Invariably, he said he'd be back later to check on the job, but was not seen again.
5. Nothing will go back the way it was.  From the floor, to the trim, to the cabinets; it all went back just a little different.  The floor is a different look and not installed as tightly, the trim used was thinner and doesn't match what was not replaced, and the cabinets settled a little out of square.  It's all tolerable, but it's all just a little different.
6. People miss things.  Workers left things unnailed or unpainted.  I don't ascribe malice, I think they just missed it.  It is important to inspect what you expect; check behind the workers before you pay them.

Overall the experience was good; very smooth and easy to navigate.  There are these things that are important to remember, though, which I am already benefiting from with the next restoration on my home.