We’ve written recently about pipes bursting, dishwasher or ice-maker pipes leaking or a supply line to a toilet or washing machine going bad and drenching your house with water! When ANY of this happens, you have inside flooding that almost certainly will damage your carpets, hardwoods, furniture and I could continue down the list. If you are in that unfortunate place, there are steps you can take that will prevent excessive damage in your home and YOU can do them immediately. It could be the difference between total damage and light or no damage. Here are quick Emergency Steps that you can take upon discovering in-house flooding in your home, condo or apartment:
- Wipe water from wood furniture
- Remove upholstery cushions
- Block or stack furniture away from the water in a dry place if possible
- Remove area rugs quickly!
- Remove newspapers, books, shoes, etc.
- Remove valuable artwork and sensitive materials to a dry place.
- Keep furniture skirting and draperies from contacting wet carpeting or floors.
There are also some things YOU SHOULD NOT DO:
- DO NOT use your household vacuum
- DO NOT use electrical appliances
- DO NOT turn on wet ceiling fixtures
- TURN OFF Circuit Breakers for the wet areas but only do this if access to your Power Distribution Panel is safe!
What duties do you have as an insured to handle?
- It is your responsibility as a policyholder to mitigate (make something less harmful or severe by taking action) the damage.
- Many insurance policies word it this way: “The insured is responsible to take reasonable and prudent steps needed for protecting the structure and contents …”
- And as we wrote last week – “Where Do YOU Shut Off YOUR Water?”, make SURE you immediately STOP the source of the incoming water or moisture.
Maybe some of these items are common sense to you or maybe they are all foreign since you haven’t experienced in-home flooding before. But take advice from those that have gone through this. They wish they had this list in their hands when they went through this hardship in their own property. Thinking prevention and having action steps in place TODAY can make a gigantic difference for you if you unfortunately do face this later!
Hopefully, you see with this blog post one of the biggest reasons we produce these weekly. We feel strongly about the education our customers should receive in all aspects of insurance policy ownership. If we can help you, we’re here and ready to earn your business! Contact any of our staff at info@BentonWhite.com or dial us up at 615.377.1212. Let’s hope you never have to use this list! THANKS for your business or that which you potentially would like to bring or send our way! We’re here and ready to earn it!
