When we were searching for our first home we were very naïve as I assume many first home buyers are. We fell head over heels with a home that sits ten feet from a river. We weren’t thinking about floods and flood damage. We were thinking about how beautiful the water was. How soothing it would be to lie on a hammock underneath the fifty foot trees that lined the river bank. Most importantly we were thinking about how the kids could spend their summer days fishing and swimming in the clear beautiful depths of the river. We were ecstatic to know this could be ours and it was our first home purchase!
Upon signing on the dotted line for the home to become ours the bank where we were obtaining our mortgage from informed us that we would need flood insurance. We never really thought to long or hard about this because things like flood damage and water damage don’t happen to people like us. They only happen to unprepared people and that was never going to be us. That was until we went on a mini vacation and the worst thing that could have happened did.
I know what you are thinking. No, the river did not flood. I don’t know if what happened to our home was worse or better but thankfully we had flood insurance that covered the inside contents and exterior of our home.
While we were away a comedy of errors happened. In what order they happened we are unsure but boy did they create water damage like I have ever seen before. I am assuming that the washer was the first thing to start the disaster in motion. I started a small load of towels and pajamas before we left. I knew my father would be over the next day and would throw them into the dryer so I was not worried about mold. The washer flooded the laundry room. We think something got lodged in the drainage pipe and the pressure causes a leak that eventually just burst. This alone would have been manageable but within that same period of time the hot water tank sprung a leak too.
Needless to say the flood did not stop in the laundry room it seeped out into the hall down into our kitchen and living room areas. It was very upsetting and unexpected. Personal artifacts were ruined but we were lucky because my dad came to our house the next day and found the water damage we could take steps to prevent further damage such as mold.
He was able to call our insurance company who recommended a company that provided disaster relief and was able to extract the water from our home before more damage occurred. This helped to shorten the time it took to dry out our home. The company brought with them industrial fans to circulate the air and also help create the best environment for drying out our belongings. Without them we could have been in for major troubles down the road. If mold sets in homeowners like us could be put through the process of mold removal and mold remediation. Although there are professional companies out there that would have taken care of us I am glad we did not need their services this time.
Our wet carpets were dry within 48 hours which is the recommended time to eliminate the mold process from starting and from the carpets to start smelling. We were able to minimize the expense with a quick response time on the part of the water extraction team and the whole house was almost back to normal days later. The humidity was managed through the scientific drying process that the team used to prevent mold damage in our home later on.