Plumbing – Filing an Insurance Claim
If you have run into a plumbing problem in your home, it may be time to call your insurance company to file a claim. No one wants to run into these problems, but sometimes, you just have to make the best of the situation. If you can isolate the problem and stop the issue you can call someone to set up an appointment. If it is an emergency and you can't stop the water, you need to call an emergency service to come out right away.
Find the Problem
If you can,
you want out figure out where the plumbing problem is coming from. If water is flowing into the home, turn off the water before more damage occurs. If you find a leak somewhere, you also need to turn off the water. The first step is minimizing damage. If you can't handle or stop the problem on your own, you want to call an emergency plumbing company to come in and get the situation under control. Also, if there is standing water in the house, you want to make sure to either get it up with towels or try to use a shop vac. If there is too much for you to try to handle, be sure to call in a water damage company for help.
File A Claim
You want to call your insurance company to begin filing a claim. You will need all of your contact information as well as your policy number. Whoever you speak with, give them all of the information you can about what happened and what the current situation is. If there is water damage in the home, you want to let them know about that as well.
Next, they will send an adjustor out to the house to take a look at the problem. The adjustor will try to determine how much it will cost to solve the problem. You want to be available to meet with the adjustor. He may have questions for you and you may also have questions for him. Show him the area, and give him some time to look over everything. There should be something that you need to sign. Throughout the process, be sure that you keep all the paperwork together.
Fix the Problem
It may take a little while to get the check from the insurance company. Remember the check will be for the amount the insurance company will pay for the repairs, minus your deductible. Call a plumbing company to come in and give you an estimate on the repairs. Once you have met with them, and decided on a price, you probably want them to get to work as soon as possible. Sometimes, a plumbing company can work directly with your insurance company to get you out of being the middle man.
You may want to talk to the plumbing company representative to see if there is anything that you can do as the homeowner to make sure that the problem doesn't happen again. You also want to make sure that all of the problem is handled. If there was water damage, you may need another company to come out and check for mold and get rid of the extra water.
