r/HomeImprovement • u/HumanistPeach • Feb 17 '20

Contractors just flooded my upstairs while replacing water heater, it’s raining in my kitchen- what to expect next?

So our water heater died this weekend. The repair guys just came over today, and promptly flooded all the water that was inside the old broken water heater onto my upstairs floor (carpeted), and there was so much that it immediately started pouring from my kitchen ceiling out of two hanging light fixtures. It definitely spread quite a bit, because there are two patches in the drywall that were invisible before that are now obvious, and the seams of at least two sheets of drywall are showing/swollen with water. We’ve already put the business’s insurance in touch with our homeowner’s insurance, and my boyfriend does all the IT for this company, so I’m not worried about them trying to screw us over, I’m more just looking to see how long I should except repairs to take, what the potential repairs might be, etc. TYIA!

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '20

A co-worker had a pipe break in an exterior facing wall in her kitchen. Damage to just that one wall and floor. Happened in November, everything just wrapped last week. Things take time to dry, insurance needs to review, you may have to fight them on things they aren't covering...

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u/HumanistPeach Feb 17 '20

Good thing I’m currently unemployed, and I have ALL the time to argue with insurance people on the phone 🤦‍♀️

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u/cecilkorik Feb 18 '20

Assuming you have good insurance and the contractor isn't on the next plane to Honduras, you won't have to do any fighting. Your insurance company will go after the contractor's insurance company and do all the fighting for you. And your insurance company will take real good care of you, because they know they're not gonna have to pay for it.

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u/HumanistPeach Feb 18 '20

Lol they called this morning to confirm that we won’t have to pay for any of the repairs, and we are probably going to get a discount on our new tankless water heater as well! The ceiling looks pretty good this morning too- like should only have to sand and repaint!And the carpet is dry! We’re keeping the fans and dehumidifiers running for at least the rest of today to make sure the insulation is completely dry too.