Arelith

Well, it's been a hell of a return home.

My girlfriend and I made it back from our nine-month Korea military rotation safely. Unfortunately, we were greeted by standing water in half of the house and severe water damage/mold rendering it currently unlivable. By the looks of it, at least two rooms and their adjacent closets will need complete reconstruction, as well as floors and potentially walls in the hallway and master bedroom. From what we can see a pipe fitting or gasket burst above one of the closets and water has been pouring down for some time directly onto our safe. All of her sewing supplies and our firearms are destroyed beyond repair.

But, we're alive and we have each other. We're currently staying in a hotel and working with our insurance companies to see what we can do for repairs and restoration.

That said we're bound to incur costs, be it deductibles or general service & repair costs. So we're asking for help. Anything you may be willing to offer to help us through this and toward a true break after our rotation. We've set up a GoFundMe page here with a goal of $3,500 which we expect to at least cover the expected deductibles, but we're not sure yet what other incurred costs we'll have.

Below are pics from the worst of it, but there are still two other rooms with severe flood damage and a closet (adjacent to that one) that we can't even open yet.

Thank you for anything, well-wishes or otherwise.

If this isn't something appropriate to post then I apologize, we're just at wit's end trying to work through this.

FYI, the imgur link is broke.

Old Lies Die Harder wrote: Wed Aug 09, 2023 5:52 pm

FYI, the imgur link is broke.

Thanks for the heads up. I've included the pictures in the original post now.

Sorry to hear about this.

Water damage is the absolute worst. I had a housefire almost 20 years ago now, and one of the worst parts was all the water damage. Go figure.

Hang in there. This too shall pass.

So sorry to see what happened. I hope the insurance company is helpful to you and won't make things worse. All the best to you both!

Welcome Home Update: It's gonna get worse before it gets worse.

The insurance company decided that, since they can't determine how long the water has been there while we've been away (despite us being deployed), they refuse to pay anything. Including housing for tonight. Given the rodeo and BCT graduation there aren't any vacancies at Lawton hotels either. So, we're basically homeless and got dumped off the side of the road with a "good luck and goodbye."

Additionally, the cost estimate for the restoration company to clean the mold and demolish the damaged/mold infested portions currently sits at just over $6,700, not including plumber fees, an asbestos test, and of course the reconstruction down the line.

To top it off, there's a new water leak somewhere in the attic above the hot water heater in the garage.

...But we remain in good spirits, and thankfully we have good friends. We're staying with one for the night, and then we'll tackle finding new accommodations tomorrow.

Thank you all so much for the immense support we've received. The GoFundMe will remain active and I've moved the goal post to reflect the change to our situation.

Video of new leak

Personal experience dealing with a similar issue:

Restoration companies typically have someone that handles dealing with insurance companies specifically. Depending on your insurance company and the restoration companies experience, they may be able to help you with getting the insurance company to pay.

DO be careful the restoration company doesn't get too overzealous when listing demands to the insurance company. Failing that, reaching out to an insurance/civil lawyer to review your policy/case should be relatively cheap for a consulting session.

What an exhaustingly awful thing to return to.

Happy to throw in for old timer arelith folks.

Huge bummer to see all those firearms utterly ruined (what kind are they, out of curiousity?). That cannot have been cheap, and I really hope one of those wasn't a family heirloom gun with sentimental value.

Be careful when dealing with plumbers and restoration companies. I worked in this field a long time ago and some of these people make insurance companies look like altruistic saints. They can be seriously sleazy predators. If you can - get more than one bid. That chases off the bad ones pretty quick (at least in my experience).

Best of luck through these dark days.

^ Facts

The restoration company I hired was well known in the area I lived, and was refered to me by several people in the area.

They sucked. They estimated something like $12,000 to repair the water damage in my kitchen after the drain line exploded. I spent 2 1/2 years fighting them and the insurance company, who did everything they could to not pay out. The repairs got further delayed when the VP of the company "was let go" for what I suspect was embezzling funds, and also screwing over clients by overbooking and then never going out to do the work promised.

In the end, I refunded my money from the restoration company and found an independent contractor. He got everything done for just under $3000 and did great work.

6700 sucks, but looking at how much damage is in the pictures, doesn't seem outlandish like my experience.

Damn man, that is extremely rough. I'll do what I can for you. Hopefully the next event in your life will make up for this.

Those are some nasty photos. Get a lawyer for the insurance.

Any updates? I was going to float some money over and saw you've disabled the gofundme page. Glad to see you hit your financial goal, but still curious to know how things are going