Why You Shouldn’t Delay Your Water Damage Inspection
If your property has been damaged by water, you may be tempted to delay getting the damage inspected because it’s late at night, the weekend, or you have plans. Unfortunately, there’s never a “convenient” time to have water damage, but it’s critical that you address the issue immediately.
The longer water is allowed to soak into your property, the greater the risk of damage. You may only see a portion of where water has traveled. There could be water underneath the floorboards, in the walls, and other places out of your view. It’s impossible to determine the extent of the damage by sight or touch alone.
In many cases, if the issue is quickly addressed, your property’s building materials (e.g., drywall) can be dried back to their original state. Delaying an inspection gives the water time to weaken building materials, which may necessitate removing them. That leads to a lot of messy disruption and inconvenience for you, and drastically increases the length of time it will take to return your property to its original condition. A delay of only a short period can add weeks or months to the process of restoring your property.
Let your insurance company know as soon as you suspect water damage. Once Accuserve receives your information from them, in most cases, we will dispatch a contractor within a few hours to do a complete inspection at no cost to you. We are here 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.
To help reduce the risk of damage, you can take a few basic steps as soon as you notice signs of water damage. Keep in mind that your safety comes first, and nothing is safer than waiting for expert help. Please proceed only if you’re completely sure there are no safety hazards.
- Shut off water at its source.
- If the source of the water is in an area with standing water (e.g., a flooded basement), don’t risk walking to it, especially if there are active electrical devices in the area. Wait for expert help.
- Never plug or unplug into an electrical outlet if standing in water
- Do not stand under or poke sagging ceilings
- Be aware of slipping or tripping hazards
- Don’t throw anything away
- Your adjuster may need to inspect damaged items, but more importantly, we may be able to restore damaged items such as books, rugs/carpets, and other items that may appear unsalvageable when you first discover the damage.
- Your adjuster may also need to inspect what caused the loss, so keep anything related to the cause of loss.
The process of removing water from your home is known as “Water Mitigation.” This is the first and most urgent phase. The longer water sits, the more destructive it becomes. Our promise is to select the most capable, certified local contractor to arrive within hours to begin the process of returning your home back to how it was before the damage occurred (this is also known as “pre-loss condition”).
There are industry standards for water mitigation that are based on science, history, and the advancement of equipment technology.
At Accuserve, we provide concierge-style restoration management services to homeoweners who experice property damage. We’ll collaborate with the contractor and your insurance company to actively monitor the restoration process and ensure that the industry standards are met and exceeded.
For more information, feel free to contact us at 866-544-5101 (Press 1).
