Understanding Property Risks’ in a Townhome

Client: C. Grant

Type of property damage: water damage

Cause of Damage: refrigerator water line of adjoining neighbor/burst pipe

Location of Property: Charlotte, NC; South Charlotte

Covering Insurance Company: State Farm Insurance Company

Initial Call:

Ms. Grant reached out to Built Restoration and Construction services after she noticed her laminate wood floor started to buckle throughout her first floor living area. Initially it was thought that Ms. Grants water heater had failed as there was standing water throughout the utility closet area. A plumber had been on site the previous day to inspect what the source was and based on his findings the most probable cause was a water heater leak.

KEY POINTS TO CONSIDER IMMEDIATELY AFTER WATER DAMAGE:

• Locate emergency water shut off to property. Often times there will be two shut emergency shut offs to your home, condo or townhome (one located at the meter and one located within the home)
• Secondary damage to your home, condo or townhome is a major concern after water damage in particular with mold and microbial growth. Consideration may need to be given to water extraction and proper dry out.
• Contact Built Restoration and Construction Services immediately to begin proper dry out and water cleanup.

Site Visit:

Standing water was evident throughout the entire first floor. All laminate hardwood floors were buckled and warping. With the help of thermal imagery to locate how far the water had migrated we were able to develop a plan for remediation. Built Restoration provides 24/7 emergency water damage clean up to our customers-some times this means our work will start at any hour of the night to help protect our clients homes and businesses from additional damage. In Mrs. Grants situation she was not able to begin repairs until the following morning due to family circumstances and scheduling. This was a perfect opportunity to go ahead and get the claim called in to State Farm Insurance and get an update to the insurance company. The following day Built Restoration was on site to begin the initial water mitigation that included the following items:

• Remove all wet flooring
• Remove all wet drywall
• Remove all damaged/wet trim
• Extract all standing water from the property
• Begin dry out with high volume airflow fans and industrial grade dehumidification

As an additional measure to prevent mold we applied an anti-microbial agent at this time as well.

Work Start (Days 1-4):

During initial dry out of a property we are trying to achieve what is considered a “baseline moisture content” or BMC. Knowing the BMC allows us to know where (moisture content of building materials is represented by a percentage) we need to dry the effected water damaged area to. Each condo or townhome will have unique characteristics as it relates to natural humidity levels-with a BMC we are able to confirm that we have the condo or townhome as “dry” as before the damages occur.

During the second day of drying activity we noticed that our readings did not match our expectations in relation to Mrs. Grant’s concrete slab. With dehumidifiers and axial fans running for nearly 48 hours the concrete slab should have shown a lot of progress. We realized at this time that we had either a different source (the water heater was completely removed/disconnected) or a contributing leak somewhere in the slab. With the help of thermal imagery and access to the neighbors home it was determined that a refrigerator supply line had disconnected and was the original source of all damage.

In this situation each owner was individually responsible for drying out and repairing the damages to their respective units (State Farm Insurance covered Mrs. Grant in full whereas adjoining owner was represented by Allstate). These coverages were independent of each other despite the fact that adjoining unit owner was technically “responsible” for the damages at Mrs. Grants unit.

KEY POINTS TO REMBER IF YOU HAVE A SHARED WALL (TYPICAL FOR APARTMENT, CONDOS, AND TOWNHOMES):

• A master policy will likely be in force that is handled by the HOA. This policy will vary in coverages based on the bylaws and declarations of your particular community.
• Before you purchase or if you already own a condominium or townhome contact your HOA to find out what the master policy deductible is. Your coverage can be adjusted to match the master policy deductible for situations/damages that do not reach the master policy deductible amount.
• Keep your neighbors contact information handy if you ever need it. It is not unusual for water or fire damage to occur in a particular unit and remediation efforts cannot begin until access to these other units are made available.

Mrs. Grants repairs to her home after the damage went extremely well. She was extremely satisfied with the claim handler Stan Foster and her overall experience with State Farm. The adjoining unit owners situation unfortunately was not as pleasant and ultimately had severely restricted coverage amounts in place to cover his damage.

TOTAL BUILDING DAMAGES TO PROPERTY: $6,900.00

WATER DRYOUT AND MITIGATION SERVICES: $ 3,450

TOTAL CLAIM AMOUNT: $10,350

Built Restoration is a full service General Contractor. Specializing in fire, water, smoke, and storm damage repair we are here to serve our clients 24/7. If you experience property damage to your home, condominium, townhome or business in the Greater Charlotte, NC area make Built Restoration and Services your first call. Built Restoration works directly with most major insurance carriers including the following:USAA; State Farm; Nationwide; Met Life; Liberty Mutual; CHUBB Insurance Group; Allstate; Amica; Central Insurance; Erie; Farmers; Hanover; The Hartford; Zurich; Kemper; Universal; and many more.

Built Restoration Services the following cities and counties:

Charlotte, NC; Indian Trail, NC; Concord, NC; Waxhaw, NC;

Mecklenburg; Cabarrus; Union; Weddington;