Another Water Damage Thread

[SuperSport 1333]

Bought flipped house last May, started noticing damp hardwood flooring in the master bedroom, localized behind the master bathroom shower wet wall...baseboard probably compromised as well, but drywall seems ok. Maybe a leaky pipe fitting from age or shoddy renovation, maybe drain seepage (had to call Roto-Rooter in October for a backup issue), maybe go fuck myself. I could possibly play dumb with insurance on the "reasonable diligence" piece, but I'm guessing the flooring damage has visibly progressed enough that they won't hear it..deductible might render it moot anyway. In any case, it's time to get moving on repair/restoration.

Is it worth trying to file a claim? What's the rough out-of-pocket cost to identify/repair source, restore area, and replace 7ft of baseboard and ~20sf of hardwood floor?..I have plenty of spare flooring, if that helps. Anyone have a guy or Dalworth/Servpro-type recommendation in the Dallas/Lake Highlands area? TIA.

[Dr Fear 1268]

My experience (based only on watching HGTV) is that it is always worse than it looks.  You on a slab?

[DalTxHornFan 3114]

My experience is that the insurance company will want to spend a bunch of useless CYA money on "remediation" before even addressing the damage.  Nothing that you couldn't fix yourself with some applied Borax.  Not worth dealing with the insurance company.

I have a high deductible policy, though -- 2% of insured value.  YMMV.

[SuperSport 1333]

31 minutes ago, Dr Fear said:

You on a slab?

Yes.

[TeeDubya 3362]

Best money for peace of mind (and a small premium discount) was installing the Moen Flo leak detection/auto shutoff valve.
https://www.moen.com/flo/how-it-works

It's taken a year to buy all the sensors, three at a time, but every water outlet in the house has a sensor on it now.  You can have some sensors immediately notify the valve to shut off water, or just notify you (by text, email or call).  

I'm probably $1500 invested in it.  Drove away on vacation last week, and halfway to vacation, fired up the app, and turned off water to the house.  (It's normally installed AFTER the sprinkler tie in, so even if the house is shut off, the irrigation system runs.

Edited March 24, 2022 by TeeDubya

[UT_OB1 2224]

On 3/24/2022 at 2:43 PM, SuperSport said:

Yes.

You have pictures of the damaged area?  It sounds like a small area. If you have left over floor it might be pretty easy to do.