Home emergencies like a flooded house happen to others, not me. Then you get a call saying there’s water gushing out your front door and garage. With my experience owning 15 houses and a handyman business, I still had a lot to learn. This website shares what it took to restore my house, from start to finish. My goal for this website is to help you successfully manage your home insurance claim to rebuild your house and your life!
The flood happened the day after I flew to Maine to help my sister returning home from the hospital in a wheelchair. My HOA's property manager called to say a neighbor had reported the gushing water. My house was flooded!
Like the waves in my dining room (below)? Not deep enough to swim, the water rose up to six inches based on water stains on the drywall behind the door trim.
Was I Ready for a Home Emergency?
Sadly I wasn't prepared for my house flooding or any other home emergency. After closing on the house, I gutted it to replace the floors, cabinets, countertops and more. This work was completed in two months and I'd only lived in the house for a month.
There were lots of boxes left to unpack and closets to organize. Sadly most of my personal belongings still on the floor were ruined. The worst loss was about 90% of my family photos (seen in the speckled boxes below).
Here are things I've learned that can minimize your losses if you one day find yourself with a flooded house.
- Never store belongings in cardboard boxes if they'll be left on the floor. My mold expert recommended plastic totes with covers that seal the boxes.
- Buy furniture with legs that raise belongings up higher than six inches of water. My friend Wendy also mentioned it will allow your iRobot vacuum clean underneath.
- Use metal bookcases to store things in your garage and/or basement, to protect them from leaks. This is especially important near your hot water heater.
First Steps When My House Flooded
Imagine you've just moved into a new house. You're not quite done unpacking when you leave to help someone important in your life. My sister was in a horrific accident and I flew to Maine to help her at home after spending weeks in the hospital and rehab. The phone call came a few hours after I brought her home.
The property management company called to say a neighbor reported water gushing out of my front door and garage. Having owned a handyman business for eight years, I knew what the house looked like. But I hadn't built my team of home professionals yet, so I hadn't assembled my list of homeowner contractors.
Here are the steps I took to deal with my flooded house … from a thousand miles away.
- Shut the water off by calling my neighbor and giving him directions on where the outside water shut-off valve was. This works in warm climates but not where winter freezes require these valves to be inside your home.
- Called my insurance agency and told them I needed water mitigation as my house was flooded. They called the insurance company who sent their preferred water mitigation company out to my house.
- Called my son to go unlock the house for the water mitigation team. Told him where to find boots for safety if the floor outlet had shorted out.
- Asked my son to walk through the house to find what caused the leak. It only took a few minutes to check the sinks, toilets and bathtubs. My son found a supply line detached from the wall in the master bathroom.
- A critical step was photographing what the house looked like before anyone else arrived. I had my son to walk through the house and photograph every room from multiple angles, to document the damage to the house and personal contents.
- Talked to the water mitigation team leader. He told me they once the water was swept out of the house, they'd remove toe kicks and baseboards.
Managing My Flooded House
When I flew back to Florida, I discovered the lies. Only three toe kicks and NO baseboard were removed. To make matters worse, the heat generated by 36 pieces of drying equipment drove the temperature in the house up to 92 degrees Fahrenheit.
At this point it was clear a disaster was unfolding and I'd need to manage things personally. Things got worse for a while, until I came up with a solid plan and found the resources needed to manage the restoration of my house.
Key Decisions On Restoring My House
My flooded house disaster was complicated. Being a single-story house, the entire house and garage flooded. Because I wasn't home, the water might have been in the house for almost 24 hours until the water was shut off. And sadly, I was still moving into the house so there was lots of stuff on the floor from moving boxes to wall hangings, clothing and suitcases.
The process of restoring my house involved hundreds of decisions. Here are the really big decisions I had to make:
- Deciding what support I needed to deal with the insurance company once I realized they weren't going to provide any help.
- Researching living options (hotels and AirBnb) and finally renting a house down the street to save travel time when meeting contractors. The insurance company never asked if I needed help with living accommodations … you've got to take control!
- Learning enough about mold remediation to pick the best approach and contractors for the job. This was a challenge as I had no experience with mold. I talked to four or 5 companies until I found Max, a real mold expert.
- Sorting through options for packing/unpacking and cleaning to keep costs down as I had no idea what would ultimately be covered by the insurance company.
- Finalizing my list of demo and restoration contractors which was easy for me as I ran a handyman business for eight years. I also had the contractors who'd helped me customize my house after closing so I only needed to find an electrician and painter.
- Identifying changes to make during renovation, to save money on planned upgrades like my barn doors and lockable owners closet.
The real challenge was the timeline. I needed to order materials and schedule contractors in the right sequence with minimal gaps to shorten the time I had to live elsewhere. Here's a peak at what this looked like and the * indicates my lead contractor who helped me manage everything.
Demo to Remove Damaged Materials
We'll go into the details later but note, there is a specific order here. For example, the countertops had to be removed before pulling out the cabinets. My goal was to get the cabinets came as soon as possible, and as I suspected, we found mold on the drywall behind them.
| House Feature | Materials From | Demo Contractor | Install Contractor |
| Faucets | n/a | Plumber detached | Plumber |
| Countertops | Orlando fabricator | Original installer | Same (reinstalled) |
| Base cabinets | ProSource Orlando | Original installer | Same cabinet installer |
| Interior doors & trim | * Door company | * Drywall contractor | Door installer |
| Baseboard | * Drywall contractor | * Drywall contractor | Door installer |
| Electrical outlets | n/a | * Drywall contractor | Electrician |
| Drywall to 4 ft | * Drywall contractor | * Drywall contractor | * Drywall contractor |
| Tile floors | ProSource Orlando | * Drywall contractor | Original tile installer |
Getting Rid of the Mold
While I knew mold remediation (clean-up) was needed, it took me a while to understand that testing had to be done first. Only then can you get mold remediation estimates as they are guided by the protocol specified by the testing company.
| House Feature | Materials From | Demo Contractor | Install Contractor |
| Mold evaluation | |||
| Mold remediation | |||
| HVAC & ductwork | |||
| Mold verification |
Planned Upgrades Might Be Cheaper
Once the renovations started I knew it was the ideal time to make changes I had been planning. After all, if you are going to have drywall installed, it's the perfect time to add a wall dividing the master bedroom closet in half.
Here are the upgrades I added to my house during renovation. You'll quickly see these projects involved the same material suppliers and installers identified above.
| House Feature | Materials From | Demo Contractor | Install Contractor |
| Bi-fold to by-pass doors | Door company | n/a | Door installer |
| Barn doors | Door company | n/a | Door installer |
| Master closet wall | * Drywall contractor | n/a | * Drywall contractor |
| Master closet cabinets | ProSource | n/a | Same installer |
| Master closet countertops | Orlando fabricator | n/a | Same installer |
| Kitchen backsplash | Orlando fabricator | n/a | Same installer |
Hopefully my story has shown why you don't need to accept what the insurance company tells you initially. As I discovered, you always have more options. You can extend a deadline, approach things from a different direction or request a different opinion. Never forget that the insurance company's priority is profitability for their shareholders.
Only you have your best interests in mind. A major home insurance claim will take a lot of time and energy … on your part. The long term benefit is worth it, bringing your house back to the home you know and love.