Water damage questions
August 3, 2020 7:50 AM Subscribe
I need some help deciding how to proceed with demo and repair after a kitchen water leak during a pandemic.
Last Thursday, my kitchen faucet failed while running my portable dishwasher. I happened to be outside at the time, so I didn’t notice for a maximum of 20 minutes, during which time water was pouring onto my countertop, to the kitchen floor, and into the basement of my 98 year-old house. I mopped up all the standing water in the kitchen with 6 or 7 bath towels and got everything that was wet out of the basement before the disaster-recovery people got here about an hour later. They vacuumed the basement carpet (very low-pile) and put huge dehumidifiers in the basement and kitchen, which are still running. They told me after looking at the walls and edges of the floor with a thermal imaging camera that because water had actually seeped in to the edges of the vinyl-tiled kitchen floor and walls that they have to demo the outer floor tiles and the bottom 2 feet of drywall, which will necessitate removing the cabinets, to prevent future mold. But our dilemma is that our kitchen hasn’t been updated since probably the ‘80s and we hate it, and are planning on a total remodel next year if Covid allows it. Honestly, we’d just try to make it happen now if there was someplace we could stay while the work is being done, but we don’t Air BnB and aren’t feeling like hotels are safe enough. So my questions are, having caught the problem within 20 minutes and gotten all the standing water up quickly and dehumidifiers running within 2 hours, do we really need to demo it right away? And if so, can we just have them hang the cabinets back up without fixing the edge of the floor or the drywall until we remodel? And how would that work wrt the insurance claim? Or would it make more sense to figure out a way to do a full remodel during the pandemic? We haven’t even begun to figure out what we want in there so, we’d be starting from scratch.
Last Thursday, my kitchen faucet failed while running my portable dishwasher. I happened to be outside at the time, so I didn’t notice for a maximum of 20 minutes, during which time water was pouring onto my countertop, to the kitchen floor, and into the basement of my 98 year-old house. I mopped up all the standing water in the kitchen with 6 or 7 bath towels and got everything that was wet out of the basement before the disaster-recovery people got here about an hour later. They vacuumed the basement carpet (very low-pile) and put huge dehumidifiers in the basement and kitchen, which are still running. They told me after looking at the walls and edges of the floor with a thermal imaging camera that because water had actually seeped in to the edges of the vinyl-tiled kitchen floor and walls that they have to demo the outer floor tiles and the bottom 2 feet of drywall, which will necessitate removing the cabinets, to prevent future mold. But our dilemma is that our kitchen hasn’t been updated since probably the ‘80s and we hate it, and are planning on a total remodel next year if Covid allows it. Honestly, we’d just try to make it happen now if there was someplace we could stay while the work is being done, but we don’t Air BnB and aren’t feeling like hotels are safe enough. So my questions are, having caught the problem within 20 minutes and gotten all the standing water up quickly and dehumidifiers running within 2 hours, do we really need to demo it right away? And if so, can we just have them hang the cabinets back up without fixing the edge of the floor or the drywall until we remodel? And how would that work wrt the insurance claim? Or would it make more sense to figure out a way to do a full remodel during the pandemic? We haven’t even begun to figure out what we want in there so, we’d be starting from scratch.
Best answer: If you have a potential insurance claim, that's the place you need to start. Contact your agent and get an insurance adjuster to look at it. They have plenty of experience with things like this and can give you some idea of how soon you should have the work done. That said, their bias may be on the side of ripping things out and doing it now. So unless they give you an absolute (like, "do this work now or there will be no reimbursement") my feeling would be to just wait, OR, as you suggest, to remove the cabinets, rip off the drywall and drying things out, and put the cabinets back. For a short period that should not be a problem. (If they are outside walls and you're in a cold climate, you could stuff some insulation in there once the cavities are good and dry, and staple some plastic over that, to get through the winter. Then start your planning. This kind of remodel has long lead times with suppliers of components and contractors.
posted by beagle at 8:29 AM on August 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by beagle at 8:29 AM on August 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
Contact your homeowner's insurance company ASAP. Water damage and the potential resulting mold needs to be dealt with by them or you risk voiding your policy.
posted by quince at 9:11 AM on August 3, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by quince at 9:11 AM on August 3, 2020 [5 favorites]
Response by poster: We started an insurance claim immediately, so we're good on that front. I talked to the adjuster again just now and she said we have a year to make the repairs after the water remediation is done, so assuming we can put it back together enough to use it in the meantime, it sounds like we can wait for the full remodel to start repairing anything.
posted by outfielder at 10:14 AM on August 3, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by outfielder at 10:14 AM on August 3, 2020 [3 favorites]
Do you actually have to remove the cabinet? All the sink cabinets I've ever seen are backless.. i.e. the drywall is exposed b/c that's where all the pipes go into the wall. Can that drywall just be cut away for ventilation without taking the cabinets out? Ditto the floor of the cabinet if that needs to go too.
posted by sexyrobot at 11:20 AM on August 3, 2020
posted by sexyrobot at 11:20 AM on August 3, 2020
Response by poster: Our sink cabinets, which run the length of the exterior wall, are not backless, nor floorless, sadly.
posted by outfielder at 11:59 AM on August 3, 2020
posted by outfielder at 11:59 AM on August 3, 2020
Best answer: I would have just put up fans after sopping up everything I could find, and call it a day. Leave the fans for a week, with the cupboards open, and that's it. This isn't ongoing; it's one-time, and involving these people overkill. They're trying to make more money off scaring you.
posted by flimflam at 1:38 PM on August 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by flimflam at 1:38 PM on August 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
Hmm... It shouldn't be much of a problem to cut open the wood of the cabinet in the back (and floor if necessary) just drill a hole and use a jigsaw. Just let the workmen know that you're replacing this cabinet and you don't care if they cut it up. That should bring the estimate WAY down (it's the 'replacing' it part that takes all the time, fixing the wall around it and etc.)
posted by sexyrobot at 9:49 PM on August 3, 2020
posted by sexyrobot at 9:49 PM on August 3, 2020
Response by poster: Update: the disaster recovery company sent their time estimate and budgeted 2 days just to pack up the stuff in my cabinets before starting the demo, which is insane, so they're obviously trying to milk my insurance company. After talking to the adjuster again, I packed everything up myself in a couple hours, and in the process really examined the inside of my cabinets, and they're not damaged or water stained at all. Then I talked to a friend who did disaster recovery for a living for decades (why didn't I think of that earlier?) and he agreed with flimflam, so we're calling off the demo. I just bought a moisture meter and checked everything I could reach that got wet, and it's all super dry now. Once I stopped panicking and really examined everything, saw no swelling, no warping, no water stains, I realized this can all just wait til we're ready to remodel. The only downside is leaving insurance money on the table for the repairs, but under the circumstances it's worth it for our mental health right now.
posted by outfielder at 8:53 AM on August 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by outfielder at 8:53 AM on August 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by mekily at 8:28 AM on August 3, 2020