Water damage can be one of the most frustrating experiences for homeowners. It often results from a leaky roof, burst pipe, or broken appliances such as dishwashers and washing machines. Regardless of the cause of the damage, you must take immediate action to help prevent your home from getting mold and structural damage. Water damage restoration, also known as water mitigation, refers to restoring a home after experiencing water damage.
After experiencing severe water damage, it is advisable to seek the immediate help of a professional who can evaluate how far the damage has gone and prevent further damage that could occur later with Emergency Mitigation Services. Flooding and water damage often come unannounced and cost you to reverse the situation. Several factors influence your water damage cleanup cost. These factors include the size of the area that the damage has affected, how severe the water damage is, and whether your home insurance provides coverage against floods.
Now a days many insurance companies and state laws have defined limitation for Emergency Mitigation Services which is a coverall term for initial actions to prevent further damages such as trapping a roof, boarding up a window or stabilizing water damages. In the water damage guildlines, many insurance adjusters are not aware of the differences between Emergency Mitigation and Water Mitigation Services (also known as Water Restoration) which causes unnecessary stress on the homeowners during the claim process when the adjuster lumps all of the water mitigation services into their Emergency Mitigation limits. In the state of Florida, most insurance policy have a limit of $3,000 for Emergency Mitigation Services regardless of the value of home is worth 100,000 or 1,000,000.
The #1 cause of damages to residential homes is from water and Florida Lawmakers didn’t intend to cap ALL Floridians to $3,000.00 of water mitigation services, but to allow them to take reasonable emergency actions to prevent further damages without any delays from their insurance companies.
What is Emergency Mitigation Services as it relates to Water Damages
There is a fine line between Emergency Mitigation and Water Mitigation (also known as Water Restoration) services. This fine line needs to be explained for all material interest parties. Emergency Mitigation is the reasonable actions necessary to prevent further damages, not restoring the property back to its pre-loss condition. The initial emergency steps after a water loss such as a pipe leak is to extract standing water to prevent the spread of water to unaffected areas and setup enough dehumidifiers to lower the relative humidity in the affected water damaged area to 60% or less to prevent and stabilize the area from further damages such mold growth. Emergency Mitigation is over when reasonable actions of removing standing water and stabilizing the humidity levels in the affected area.
At this point, the building materials still are elevated with moisture and now the Water Damage Restoration Contractor can focus on the non-emergency water mitigation services (also referred as Water Restoration) of rapidly drying to restore the walls, doors, trim, flooring and structure with additional dehumidification to lower the humidity below 40% and the addition of air movers to reduce cost of drying out the structure and prevent additional repair cost for the homeowner/insurance company. Also, the Water Damage Restoration Contractor will have to remove building materials to access bond water behind barriers such as baseboards, pet carpet pads, cabinet toe kicks and certain type of flooring. If the water damages are older then 48 to 72 hours or from a contaminated source (i.e sewer) the Water Damage Restoration Contractor will use their professional judgement on what materials need to be remove since they could be contaminated with bacteria growth or worse mold.
If mold is present the Water Damage Restoration contractor will take mold remediation steps in the process of completing the water mitigation services. For example, the action of removing the water damaged materials are still the same as water mitigation procedures, but the technician will be wearing personal protective equipment and containing the affected area to prevent cross contamination to the unaffected areas. Many times, insurance adjusters want to include the removal of water damaged materials in the mold remediation scope of work, but that is inaccurate assumption since there wouldn’t be a mold issue if there was not water damages in the first place. Water Mitigation is not mold remediation, and just because there is now mold present it does not mean they should be putting water mitigation services under the mold limits. It was damaged by water first.
Type of Water Damage
There are several types of water damage. The five main varieties into which most water damage restoration companies are electrical damage, cosmetic damage, structural damage, mold growth, and damage to personal items. As a homeowner, you may need to repair or replace some things due to water damage. These expenses may rapidly add up depending on the sort of belongings impacted. Personal belongings you lose in a flood or water leak might cost you from $500 to $50,000 to replace. Cosmetic damage may be less expensive to fix, with an average repair cost of between $150 and $2,500 plus.
Electrical damage is usually more expensive to fix, ranging from $1,200 to $3,000. Mold cleanup may also be costly depending on the severity of the mold, and it might cost you between $6,000 and $15,500 on average in addition to your Emergency Mitigation and Water Mitigation cost. Emergency Mitigation cost, not to be confused with water mitigation, might cost you between $1,000 to $3,000. As you would imagine, structural damage repairs are the most expensive sort of water restoration. Because structural deterioration might be challenging to detect, diagnostics require time—and the longer it takes, the higher the expense. Most structural repairs cost anywhere between $3,500 and $30,000 plus.
Category of The Water Damage
Insurance companies place water damage into three categories. Only licensed experts can classify and categorize your water damage. Most insurance companies do not accept category diagnoses from homeowners when processing your water damage claim.
Each water damage category describes the degree of purity or pollution in water that a leak or flood has caused. Category one is the first category of water damage, and insurance companies consider it clean water. This category is cheap to dry and remove, costing around $5 to $7 for every square foot. Category two is also known as gray water. It causes minor health issues and is more expensive than the first category to treat, costing between $7 and $9.50 for every square foot. Category three is the most harmful, often referred to as black water. It has the highest cleanup cost, between $9 and $10.50 per square foot.
Damage Class
You, as a homeowner, need to know about four water damage classes. The classes depend on how far the damage has spread. The first is class one and is the easiest and cheapest to fix. In this class, the affected area is usually only part of a room. You can handle the cleanup if the damage has not affected any essential things within the room. If you choose to contact a professional, you may need to part with $500 to $1,000. When a whole room, including the walls whose height is up to 12 inches, suffers from water damage, they assign it to class two. Typically, a class two repair will cost homeowners between $4,500 and $8,000. Class 3 is the damage that impacts the most significant part of one or more rooms, including walls, insulation, subflooring, and ceilings. A repair for class 3 damage will cost between $10,000 and $20,000. The final and most serious kind is class 4, and it is often associated with restorations necessary following extended periods of standing water, such as after a storm or river flood. Class 4 water damage is costly to repair, costing households between $20,000 and $100,000.
The Geographic Location of Your Home
Your location or region also determines how much you will need to pay for water remediation. The cost of getting water damage restoration often varies by region. The average cost of water mitigation services in a home is $3,000 to $8,000.
Location of The Water Damage On The Property
Water damage may lurk in various locations around your property, so locating it as quickly as possible should be a top concern. The location where the damage occurred and affected greatly influences your water damage restoration cost for every square foot.
For instance, a basement flooded with an inch of clean water costs $1,00 to $2,500 to restore, while two feet of black water costs $3,800 or more. If you have a leaking roof, you might spend up to $1,000 per the national average cost. On the other hand, if it is your bathroom, even though it has less square area than a basement, it may cost you up to $3,000 to $20,000 to clean and replace after water damage. When determining water restoration costs by region, homeowners should remember that the typical price for every square foot depends on the water damage type, class, and category.
Extent Of The Damage
When you are experiencing water damage, how widely it has spread throughout your property might significantly impact the final restoration cost. Damage to one corner of a room caused by a leaking window will most likely cost you less to repair than damage to a basement inundated with 3 feet of water.
As a homeowner, you need to consider both the category and class of the water damage as your damage restoration firm establishes to aid in estimating how much the crack of a leak or flood will affect the final restoration cost. A higher class or category will increase the possibility of the water damage being significant and will, in turn, require more money to fix.
Labor
Please do not forget the charges that your restoration specialist will charge you for labor. The cost of restoration varies greatly, mainly depending on the sort of repairs that your specialist needs to do. Most companies charge between $85 and $200 per hour for labor. The total cost, however, depends on the extent of the damage, the type of water they need to dry and remove, and whether you still need more repairs. An easy job of evacuating water and drying will almost certainly cost less than removing your carpet, removing drywall, and rebuilding a room’s wooden frame.
Furthermore, bear in mind that the water removal firm may not be accessible or competent to complete all the necessary repairs. In this case, you may pay additional labor expenses from different contractors in the end. A roofer, for example, may charge between $100 and $200 per hour, but an electrician may charge from $110 to $150. A painter often asks for between $55 and $95 per hour. This rate is significantly less than a plumber typically requires between $140 and $200. If a carpenter is needed, you may expect to pay costs ranging from $80 to $120 per hour.
Mold Restoration
Sometimes, water damage can lead to mold growth in your home. In some flooding conditions, mold may be visible, but in others, it may grow unnoticed behind areas such as door frames, window frames, baseboards, drywall, or flooring. The mold might develop for months or even years before the homeowner notices it. If you have mold spores in your home, you may get allergy symptoms such as headaches, coughing, and sneezing. Continuous exposure, which happens a lot after water damage, can raise your sensitivity to mold, causing each reaction to be more severe.
Mold removal costs anywhere from $3,200 to $15,000, with $10,000 as the average. Make sure to involve expert mold testing and a personalized remediation strategy that targets the specific type of mold they find in your residence. Home insurance may cover the expense of mold removal in some situations, so you should consult with your insurance provider to verify whether it is possible in your case and begin making your claim.
Water damage often occurs at the most unexpected time, so be sure to tuck some funds behind in case you need an emergency water damage cleanup at some point. You can use platforms like “Review Your Adjuster” to find the most competent adjusters when you need to make a claim. Here is their website www.reviewyouradjuster.com.