Whether due to exterior causes, such as a storm or heavy rain, or internal ones, such as failed pipework, no one expects severe water damage to be an inconvenience that they will experience. With that said, it can very much happen to anyone – and often when you’re least expecting it.
Unfortunately, there are still many common myths surrounding water damage, leaving people experiencing prolonged and extensive damage that could otherwise have been avoided or having to face increased insurance premiums for making a claim, only for restoration work to fall short of what is needed.
In this guide, we’ll be debunking some of the common misconceptions surrounding water damage, as well as discussing how you can ensure you’ll be prepared if you’re ever impacted by it yourself.
Debunking Common Myths
“It won’t happen to me.”
Just because you haven’t experienced any water ingress in your home thus far, doesn’t mean you never will. In fact, compared to fire, flood and theft, water damage is actually the most common form of property damage and loss.
Furthermore, there are such a variety of causes that could lead to water leaks in your home. For example, your pipes may be old, poorly constructed or damaged over time, making a burst pipe much more likely. This can lead to fluctuating water pressure, unusual sounds and even an increase in your water bill before you even notice there being any water damage to your walls or floors.
By ignoring these signs – since you don’t think water damage would happen to you – you’ll only be giving the damage more time to set in, by which point you’ll likely be dealing with the inconvenience of wet spots, water stains and unpleasant odours.
Instead of taking this dismissive approach, it’s always best to err on the side of caution and address the issue sooner rather than later.
“Water damage won’t really impact me, because my insurance company pays for the damages.”
In theory, yes, your insurance company will pay for restoration work to be completed; however, it isn’t always as black and white as this.
In order to make their money, it’s in the best interest of insurance companies to avoid payouts where possible. As such, they are often hesitant to offer large payouts and can be very tactical when communicating with you, often cutting corners in order to pay you as little as possible.
For example, they may advise you to get quotes from different builders. In doing so, they won’t be incurring any costs from having to assess the damage themselves. Furthermore, once they agree on a quote with you, their liability closes off for any further costs that may potentially arise (e.g. due to unforeseen work), nor will they have any accountability for the quality of work being done as they won’t have arranged their own builder.
So, even though you may be able to claim for water damage to your property, there’s no guarantee that this won’t significantly impact you – there are multiple opportunities for things to go wrong and additional costs to be incurred throughout the process. As such, you should always be prepared to take a serious and logical approach to dealing with water damage.
“I only need to focus on drying my carpet, so it’s cheaper to do the work myself.”
If damage is contained exclusively to your floor, then don’t make the same mistake as other people in thinking that the carpet is the only component that needs to be addressed.
In order to save money and avoid dealing with insurers, many individuals assume that they can simply deal with the issue themselves by cleaning and air-drying their carpet or simply replacing it. In reality, this is actually more likely to have the opposite effect and see you incurring more damage and costs in the long run.
Firstly, removing water from carpets quickly and effectively often requires professional equipment that you simply won’t have on hand as a homeowner. As such, attempting to dry your carpet yourself will most likely see it not being properly dried, whilst delays in drying it from trying to source the specialist equipment can also pose further issues – both of which may call for a full carpet replacement.
On top of that, notable water damage to your floor almost always goes deeper than your carpet. Even if you are able to effectively dry or replace your carpet, you may still find issues later down the road by failing to address the floorboard underneath it. Water damage often spreads to other areas quickly, and if these are left untreated it can lead to issues with mould, wet rot, and even structural damage.
“There’s nothing I can do to prevent water damage.”
Of course, water damage isn’t completely unavoidable and can occur at any time with no reasonable way to have seen it coming. With that being said, there are still things you can do to mitigate the risks of damage from occurring in the first place and the severity of said damage.
For example, things like blocked gutters and drains or frozen pipes make water ingress much more likely, although the risk of this can be easily prevented by regularly inspecting and cleaning out your gutters and ensuring your heating comes on during cold months (even if you’re away) to prevent pipes from freezing over.
As for reducing the severity of the damage, this is, again, dependent on the specific situation at hand. However, there are some tips that may help, such as turning your water off at the mains supply in the event of a leak and addressing the situation straight away so that it can be resolved as efficiently as possible.
Why Work With All Property Claims?
As you can see, there are many misconceptions related to water damage and how to address it if it occurs on your property. If there’s one takeaway that can be concluded from each of these myths, it’s that you most likely will need to make an insurance claim in order to handle damage to your property in a way that is most efficient and cost-effective.
Calling your insurance provider, however, should not be the first step you take. Instead, it works much more in your favour to call us here at All Property Claims and instruct us to handle the claims process on your behalf.
But you may still be wondering “Why use this service?” Here’s why.
As we’ve mentioned, insurance companies want to avoid making big payouts where they can and have numerous tricks and loopholes up their sleeves that enable them to do so. Unless you are well-versed in insurance law and understand the jargon included in your policy, this puts you at a significant disadvantage, despite being a paying customer, as you often won’t benefit from the full compensation that you’re entitled to.
By instructing us to handle the claims process on your behalf, the opposite is true. After gathering initial details of the situation, we will appoint one of our surveyors to visit your property and take detailed measurements and photographs recording the damage, along with a statement from you on the cause. We will use this information and documentation to prepare a detailed report outlining the scope of repairs that would be required to ensure your property is restored to the state that it was in prior to the damage.
We will then present your claim to your insurers, who will more often than not appoint a loss adjuster to represent them. We will meet the loss adjuster at your property to discuss the claim in person and agree upon the repairs needed. Once the scope of repairs has been agreed upon, we will then present the cost of repairs due to be paid out to us directly so that our contractors can go ahead with the restoration work.
How Does Our Process Work in Your Favour?
You may be wondering what it is about our process that is more beneficial to you than going to your insurers directly. Ultimately, it’s about ensuring that your property is restored to the same state that it was in before you experienced water damage.
By approaching your insurers directly, they are more likely to take advantage of your vulnerable position by cutting corners and paying out less compensation than you could be entitled to. The amount you receive may not be a fair reflection of the cost of restoring your property to its original state, or may not even cover the cost of repairs in full.
One of the key benefits of using our services is that we have experience working with insurance companies and understand the technical language involved in your policy, allowing us to check the validity of your claim, hold insurers accountable and ensure that full compensation is given so that our contractors can carry out the necessary restoration work to the necessary standard. We are a FCA regulated firm just like your insurer so we are able to deal with claims technically and ensure that your insurers treat you fairly.
Not only does this give you peace of mind that your home will be restored to its prior condition, but by allowing us to handle communications with insurers on your behalf, it’s one less thing for you to worry about under already stressful circumstances.
Need Help Liaising with Flood Damage Insurers?
Have you recently experienced water damage at your property and have yet to make a claim? Reach out to us here at All Property Claims and we’ll handle your water, leak or flood damage insurers on your behalf.
We will ensure that your claim is handled professionally and promptly, keeping you in the loop every step of the way without you even having to pick up the phone and speak to your insurers once, all completely free of charge – yep, you read that correctly! You’ll only need to pay your policy excess.
Get in touch with us today to discuss the water damage to your property, or to learn more about how our process works.