Flood recovery options sans flood insurance

August 5, 2009 11:22 AM

Flood recovery - What all do I need to be concerned with after my house flooded?

My city, Louisville, just saw record rainfall. It appeared that the storm centered itself directly over my house, as the water levels raised several feet above the floor line. As a result, we are minus a few vehicles (all totaled) and had to pump out the entire basement, and then some.

We are working on getting the last bit of water out, then we are ventilating the house to assist in drying.

I already expect that we will have to replace the floors- every surface that's not tile shows significant damage. What else do we have to be concerned about?

Here's the kicker- no flood insurance. We live in an area of the city that has simply never seen a flood. Our insurance agent said that flood insurance probably wouldn't have covered this anyways. Can anyone explain that? Are there any sources of disaster relief that could assist us?

What I am ultimaty looking for - what all, aside from clean up, can I do to not only make the house liveable, but pass a home inspection for resale? And who can I contract out some of this to, while staying on a budget?

Sorry if this doesn't make sense, I'm still shocked that it happened.

posted by MysticMCJ to home & garden (16 comments total)

Rip out every piece of wood, drywall, etc that was water damaged. Get extra fans to dry out as much as you can.
posted by JJ86 at 11:26 AM on August 5

There are water recovery companies out there. I can't vouch for any in Louisville personally, but you could try Angie's List.

I'm sorry you were flooded. It really stinks.
posted by cooker girl at 11:30 AM on August 5

What JJ86 said. Don't forget the insulation, and make sure that insulation above the flooded part of the wall is not wet. (The water wicks up.) If so, rip that out too. Have any wiring that got wet checked or replaced. Also, you have to make sure the studs have dried out sufficiently before you put the new drywall in. There are meters to check this that you can buy or rent.

I don't know why flood insurance wouldn't have paid for this: rising water = flood. Sure, you'd have had to argue with them and they wouldn't have paid enough in the end, but you'd have been covered.

Anyway, SO sorry this happened. It really sucks.

Disclaimer: My "expertise" comes only from living in New Orleans my whole life. Never flooded myself, though.
posted by artychoke at 11:39 AM on August 5

Our insurance agent said that flood insurance probably wouldn't have covered this anyways. Can anyone explain that?

It could be a tacit admission that insurance companies have myriad excuses for not honoring flood policies. Just ask Katrina families that actually had flood insurance.

From your description, you may simply have to gut your house. As for what you have to be concerned with...mold. Which is why you want to strip-out anything that got wet.
posted by Thorzdad at 11:42 AM on August 5

I feel for you!

As an ex-insurance agent, I can tell you there are many, many misunderstandings about flood insurance and what's covered in general.

I would spend the absolute most you can on having a recovery company help you with this. Future problems with water damage (mold, etc) can be a nightmare and can be harmful to your familys health.

Best of luck.
posted by kiwi-epitome at 11:45 AM on August 5

When you say anything wood- the joists and most of what the house is built on is wood. That doesn't bode well.

Any ideas of what a recovery company would cost? Just ballpark- I don't have any baseline for this. I know that's a hard number to pin down, but I am truly clueless as to how that runs.
posted by MysticMCJ at 12:14 PM on August 5

Open the walls. Cut the sheetrock out above the floodline, pull it out, and get out the wet insulation. Let it dry, and consider spraying the interior of the walls with a bleach solution.

Your house is going to be a mess. It is going to take significant time and money to fix it up again, but I have seen it done.

This is a good example of why people who are not in flood zones still need to get flood insurance. It is cheap if the area you are in is outside the 100 or 500 year flood zone. Insurance agents don't get a lot of money for writing these policies, so they are not eager to sign you up.

Good luck.
posted by Midnight Skulker at 12:15 PM on August 5 [1 favorite]

I have a history of being made an example of, so this should be nothing new. I totally expect to be featured on some "are you REALLY protected by your insurance?" local news feature.

Also a slap in the face, we just finished our two year remodeling process a couple of weeks ago. You truly never are done with an old house. I feel like someone is playing either populous or pocket god, featuring me. It would have been a volcano if it wasn't the flood.

I still haven't been granted the gift of dance.
posted by MysticMCJ at 12:22 PM on August 5

I work with disaster clean up companys, and the first thing is to get the water out asap. Tool and equipment supply co's rent these. Other than pulling carpet I would wait before any further demo.
posted by pianomover at 12:22 PM on August 5

I'd worry about mold from the damp so yeah, much drying of everything. I believe there are also fungicidal compounds you can use on the wood to make it inhospitable to molds.
posted by Billegible at 1:06 PM on August 5

Wetness does not instantly doom the framing wood, so I'd back off of that little worry. Unfortunately there may be very little else savable in the areas that were submerged. Like others have said, priority one is to get the water out so that damage is arrested. If your walls are full of saturated fiberglass or cellulose insulation, you will want to quickly remove the drywall and wet insulation (after turning off the power, of course). Wear good dust masks or a respirator.

We had a teeny weeny flood a few years ago, with ~6" of water in the finished garage. Before that, I'd never understood what a big deal a real flood could be. I'm so sorry you're in this circumstance.
posted by jon1270 at 1:55 PM on August 5

Thankfully we have the water out. Just installed a new submersible sump pump after using a ridiculously powerful gas pump (which aside from the fact that the water was coming from my house was AWESOME) - we are installing temporary venting to assist in the drying.

Thanks for the comments so far. The most difficult thing is to not be paralyzed.
posted by MysticMCJ at 2:12 PM on August 5

Another thing to consider is that although it may seem like an act of God, the flooding could have been caused by something man-made. Keep track of all expenses and try to investigate the cause. If this hasn't happened in the history of an old house, there may be something else at work here. It could be worth investigating and keeping track of news articles to see if something specific was to blame. Your municipality may have some liability in this and if you have something to go on, it may be worth hiring a lawyer.
posted by JJ86 at 2:14 PM on August 5

It's more for a UK audience, but this website has some factsheets about what to do after flooding - and importantly on the changes you can make when repairing to minimise the damage done if it happens again.
posted by prentiz at 3:06 PM on August 5

I don't have any advice on the practical, tangible stuff, but I'd like to chime in that if you are feeling overwhelmed emotionally, you may want to consider talking to a professional. Losing this much stuff is devastating. As much as we try not to be materialistic, we naturally have an attachment to our home and belongings.

If you have kids, please keep an eye on their mental health as well, and let their school know whats going on. They may bounce back and be totally fine, but sometimes this can be really traumatic. When I was little there was a major flood in our area. The pipes burst under the house and almost overnight the majority of our belongings mildewed and we had to move suddenly (fortunately a rental so we didn't have to deal with the aftermath). It was apparently very difficult for me.
posted by radioamy at 6:42 PM on August 5

The joists and all the structural wood should be fine. I don't know anyone who had to replace anything structural after Katrina and those houses were in water for two weeks. The wood that you have to pull out is baseboards, mouldings, etc. so that you can get all of the drywall and insulation out from behind it. Wood floors have mold under them. In theory, if the wood didn't warp, you could clean and reuse it. My friends have wooden furniture that is fine now after a LOT of post Katrina cleaning. Just make sure the joists and studs are completely dry before they are re-enclosed.
posted by artychoke at 9:05 PM on August 5