So long story short, neighbor above me caused water damage in my apt. because it leaked through my ceiling and onto my hard wood floors. Ceiling needs repair and a number of hard wood floor panels will need replacement (among personal items). First question: what happens if whatever company I hire does not have perfectly matching wood panels to replace with? I bought the apartment about 8 months... [more]
So long story short, neighbor above me caused water damage in my apt. because it leaked through my ceiling and onto my hard wood floors. Ceiling needs repair and a number of hard wood floor panels will need replacement (among personal items).
First question: what happens if whatever company I hire does not have perfectly matching wood panels to replace with? I bought the apartment about 8 months ago and floors were already done before I moved in.
Second, who chooses what company to use? My insurance (liberty mutual) said they recommend Paul Davis Restoration, at least to have come in and do water damage cleanup. Do I have to use this company? The representative on the phone mentioned using their recommended company to lower the chance of out of pocket expenses for me? Why would I have any out of pocket expenses at all when this was entirely the neighbor's fault above me?
I guess in the end the question is: is Paul Davis a great company? And if not, can I use anyone I want and get the insurance to pay for it? Of course, they'll be going after the neighbor's insurance to pay for it all in the end.
Thanks.
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Response by semerun
over 8 years ago
Posts: 571
Member since: Feb 2008
My building hired Paul Davis to do mold removal in 1 apartment and to then rebuild. We were told they were a high end company. During the mold removal they weren't wearing the expensive protective gear we were paying for, then they hauled out the old floors to be taken out with the rest of the trash (it was supposed to be hauled away by their crew). We knew there was mold in a particular area due to facade leaks- and we suspected it could have been in more than 1 area. We showed them the area where we knew mold would be, though we asked them to give us a quote for the entire room since we wanted to know our worst case. I can't recall all the details as this was a few years ago, but somewhere along the line, they claimed that it was more work than estimated at a substantially inflated price when they pointed out the additional area that needed to be covered, which was the 1 area that we knew up front had mold. We had them complete the job, and the end result looked nice, but I can't recommennd them on the basis of how they handled themselves during the process.
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Response by feelhong
over 8 years ago
Posts: 62
Member since: Nov 2009
Similar thing happened to my unit - water leak from upstairs damaged ceiling, walls, floors. I ended up going through my own insurance and used a contractor of my choice, and have my insurance company resolve it with the neighbor's insurance.
The downside of that is you have to front the deductible - it could take a while to get that paid back while they resolve the process. Mine took 9 months. More importantly, my insurance was up for renewal during that time, and because the claim had not been resolved, my insurance premiums went up pretty materially. I'm hoping now that it's resolved, I'll see my premiums go down at the next renewal.
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Response by fieldschester
over 8 years ago
Posts: 3525
Member since: Jul 2013
>The downside of that is you have to front the deductible
How much could your deductible actually be that this is such a concern for you?
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My building hired Paul Davis to do mold removal in 1 apartment and to then rebuild. We were told they were a high end company. During the mold removal they weren't wearing the expensive protective gear we were paying for, then they hauled out the old floors to be taken out with the rest of the trash (it was supposed to be hauled away by their crew). We knew there was mold in a particular area due to facade leaks- and we suspected it could have been in more than 1 area. We showed them the area where we knew mold would be, though we asked them to give us a quote for the entire room since we wanted to know our worst case. I can't recall all the details as this was a few years ago, but somewhere along the line, they claimed that it was more work than estimated at a substantially inflated price when they pointed out the additional area that needed to be covered, which was the 1 area that we knew up front had mold. We had them complete the job, and the end result looked nice, but I can't recommennd them on the basis of how they handled themselves during the process.
Similar thing happened to my unit - water leak from upstairs damaged ceiling, walls, floors. I ended up going through my own insurance and used a contractor of my choice, and have my insurance company resolve it with the neighbor's insurance.
The downside of that is you have to front the deductible - it could take a while to get that paid back while they resolve the process. Mine took 9 months. More importantly, my insurance was up for renewal during that time, and because the claim had not been resolved, my insurance premiums went up pretty materially. I'm hoping now that it's resolved, I'll see my premiums go down at the next renewal.
>The downside of that is you have to front the deductible
How much could your deductible actually be that this is such a concern for you?