If you’re not careful about doing all the right things after experiencing water damage, you might slip up big-time; thus, you could get drenched in expenses throughout your recovery without any insurance coverage, at all. To prevent this from happening, here are four tips to help people soak up the situation as a whole, and take the best steps moving forward after getting dumped on:
1. Do your best to dry up all the areas that have been saturated with water. This might even include going so far as drying out your entire home, depending on the extent of the damages. Based on the source, you might need to call a plumber, roofer or another contractor to perform emergency repairs to hemorrhage the bleeding. At this point, all that matters is that you do what you can to close the dam and dry up the moisture.
2. Don’t touch anything before snapping photos of everything! Treat all the areas of your home that have been damaged as if they’re all part of a crime scene. Naturally, you might be tempted to get started on the clean-up process, but don’t! Sure, it’s a terrible thing seeing your home in such bad shape, and you’ll want to get it back in order as quickly as possible. However, visual evidence means everything; without it, it’s almost as if nothing ever happened …
3. Until your insurance company honors your claim, make certain that only temporary repairs have been performed, like plugging up the leaks, shutting off the main water valve, patching broken pipes, repairing the roof, and placing a tarp over exposed areas of your home. Don’t forget to save anything that’s been saturated and damaged, as well, especially pipes, roofing and other parts that have given way to water infiltration. If you end up being denied, though, contact a public adjuster like AAA Public Adjusters, LLC.
4. Keep track of all your receipts, invoices and phone calls relating to your damage claim. Don’t delete any emails or throw away any letters, either. You must stay organized throughout the entire recovery phase! If an important document slips through the cracks and you’re not able to prove something to your insurance company, it might make all the difference between receiving coverage and being denied.
If you’re not cautious about how you handle your water damage situation, you might get poured on, once again. And this time it won’t be water, but ridiculous expenses that should be covered by your insurance policy. To have peace of mind immediately after the damages occur, call a public adjuster that is certified. You can trust them to handle the claim filing process in the best way possible so that you end up receiving the payment that you rightfully deserve!
