You’re at work and you come home to disaster upon your household. You pull into the driveway and notice water leaking out of your front door. You’re experiencing what 26.4% of homeowners who experienced an insurance claims in 2013 experienced*. When it comes to disasters, you are not alone.
Of course, the first thoughts in your mind are to walk around to assess the situation and visually assess your losses.
THIS IS MISTAKE NUMBER ONE.
When arriving onto a disaster you should protect yourself by staying outside. There could be live wires, fallen ceilings, or sunken floors that could end up injuring you during your initial walkthrough. With this being said, make sure that you have an emergency plumber and/or a restoration company readily available to come out, find and stop the leak, along with a thorough assessment.
Assessment of the damage is going to be your next step. But don’t fear, this step is easy:
Call Your Insurance Agent
Next is where you’d like to regroup and make a list of all the things that could have been damaged. Your insurance company is probably going to advise you to do these things, if you don’t already have them on file.
Attached is a link to help understand what the Insurance Adjuster is going to be doing to help you throughout this process.
Read More Here
Upon completion of the adjusters’ appraisal, it’s time to start the cleanup process. Most water extraction/restoration companies have a 24-hour emergency service. Turn to Angie’s List or ask your insurance adjuster if there is anyone local that they would recommend you call. The sooner you extract the water from the structure, the less there will be to dry out in the long run.
This is a lengthy, very detailed process. The sooner you begin to take action the better. Start with damage assessment with your insurance adjuster. Once the damage is assessed begin scheduling a restoration company to come extract the water and begin the drying process. And remember, you are not alone.
Follow First Call Cleaning & Restoration for more tips with handling water damage and other disasters.
