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

[u/HumanistPeach]

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!

[u/jhicks0506]

If the valve was old (10 years) and hadn't been turned in a couple years or longer, it's possible the valve seal could've become damaged when the valve was turned. It has happened to me before. However it is definitely more likely it was their error.

[u/HumanistPeach → u/jhicks0506]

Eh, the water heater was 14 years old, and given how little maintenance it turns out the previous owners did, it’s very possible that is what happened. Either way, they’re super embarrassed and have been pretty great so far, and they’ll be back first thing tomorrow to keep working

[u/HumanistPeach → u/[deleted]]

MAKE SURE THEY TURN THE WATER OFF AT THE STREET!! Lol good luck! Things are looking much less disastrous this morning, we might not even need to replace the ceiling!

ETA a very important “not” lol

[u/HumanistPeach → u/[deleted]]

Thanks so much!