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!
2
u/makemenuconfig Feb 18 '20
I went through a plumbing flood in a condo, and a roof leak in our house. Water that finds it's way to a horizontal plane (i.e. ceiling drywall) will run horizontally until it finds a way down or soaks into the drywall as you found when it came out of your lights. Make sure someone checks thoroughly other areas which could be impacted. Even areas that seem like they are far away, water is tenacious in finding it's way into places it shouldn't. It would be so easy for water to have made it down a few walls without you noticing. Exterior walls are particularly bad because the insulation will get wet and no longer insulate, and also mold.
I would buy a moisture meter on Amazon, a cheap one for $15 is all you need. Go around to any wall or ceiling you could possibly imagine water having gotten into and check multiple places. Especially near the top edge and near the bottom of the wall. Check every few days to catch water pooled at the bottom of a stud bay which would wick into the drywall over time.
In our condo, we only had flooring damage (no walls replaced). Condos take longer because the HOAA usually sets up and pays for the repair under their insurance and that process is slow because nobody who was affected was dealing with insurance. Insurance claims can move very slow if you are not calling regularly and driving the process. We were displaced for over 3 months in that case. Our homeowners covered those expenses with no deductible.