Home Insurance (1 Viewer)

bergs

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I've got several ice dams that I've been unable to clear despite clearing the roof and spending hours per day outside with a handaxe and a hammer. There are multiple water stains in our home in 7 rooms.

I'm a (relatively) new home owner and I haven't put an insurance claim in before. My insurance deductible is $2500. I have auto and home insurance through the same company for discount purposes.

Questions:

1) Do I slap killz on the stains and repaint or do I need to pay someone to open up the ceiling in basically 3/4 of the rooms of my house?
2) If I put this through insurance, what's the likelihood that my rates or go up, or that I get dropped?
3) Why do I live in the fucking Northeast, this rotten freezing shithole of the United States?
 
I've got several ice dams that I've been unable to clear despite clearing the roof and spending hours per day outside with a handaxe and a hammer. There are multiple water stains in our home in 7 rooms.

I'm a (relatively) new home owner and I haven't put an insurance claim in before. My insurance deductible is $2500. I have auto and home insurance through the same company for discount purposes.

Questions:

1) Do I slap killz on the stains and repaint or do I need to pay someone to open up the ceiling in basically 3/4 of the rooms of my house?
2) If I put this through insurance, what's the likelihood that my rates or go up, or that I get dropped?
3) Why do I live in the fucking Northeast, this rotten freezing shithole of the United States?

A forum already exists for people seeking advice for their everyday problems. Here is the link:

http://www.pokerchipforum.com/showt...hread-Where-I-Fix-Problems?highlight=problems

Good luck!
 
Bergs, I would call the insurance company. There is always the fear of mold issues with water damage claims and you want your insurance company involved from the word go. Most likely it won't affect your rates. Homeowners insurance is different than liability insurance in that liability is usually heavily influenced by the insured's behavior. If you want to email me and talk some more feel free. I am a large property underwriting consultant for CNA so property insurance is my business
 
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you can call your insurance and initiate a claim, but most likely nothing will happen until Spring when the snow is gone. You probably don't want an appraisal now, since you don't know the full extent of the damage. Nothing will happen to your rates as probably 25% of all homeowners in MA are experiencing the same issues.

Unless they find mold, then your appraisal will pretty much be for wall/ceiling repair and paint...so up to you how you want to address it. You can sometimes tell the problem areas on the roof where water is coming in and you may have some bad flashing. Many roofers do a full barrier these days to prevent this situation, Depending on how old your roof is, you could look to have it replaced...but insurance is not likely to cover this.
 
If you just have water stains and not water coming through the ceiling, I'd probably repaint and not worry about it.

Edit: I wish I read Scott's post before I posted.
 
And make sure your Attic is properly insulated. You want the heat to stay in your home and your attic to stay cold.
 
If the water is bad and/or the space above it is not accessible from your attic and/or ventilated, it's often a good idea to put a hole in the ceiling. A hole small enough to patch easily, but big enough to let air through.

It's usually best to put the hole at the part that's already water damaged, since it's going to need to be cleaned up and painted, anyway.

The hole lets the water drain and lets air get through to dry out the cavity above the damaged ceiling.

Mold doesn't grow because wood or plaster got wet... mold grows because wood or plaster stays wet. You can avoid something extensive, unless this has been happening up there for years in secret and it only got bad enough to get noticed now.

Also, making the hole will tell you if your ceiling is soaked through, or there's just water dripping through seams or cracks. If it's soaked through, you're probably better off ripping and replacing.

Either way, your other advice on roof damage & insurance above is pretty much on target.
 

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