Homeowners Insurance question - not all flooring was damaged in two rooms

16,562 Views | 11 Replies | Last: 4 yr ago by Oh Four Five
LeftyAg89
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AG
Not sure which board this best belongs on so I am posting here and another board.

Short version,,, I own a rental house and last month a new renter moved in.
She hooked up her washer and ran a load of towels. It turns out the washer drainage line is clogged and the drain overflowed and flooded into the utility room and then through the doorway into the kitchen, then under the wall in the kitchen and into a bedroom.

I had ServPro come out and take care of the remediation... drying out the place, removing baseboards and they removed the vinyl flooring in the utility room and also removed some in the kitchen and in the adjoining bedroom (in the BR closet).

I filed my claim with Homeowners of America insurance just came back and gave me their estimate, it is under my deductible so their is no payment on the claim (the deductible is high but that is another subject).

I'm not sure how homeowners insurance works as I have never filed a claim... Is it standard practice to only give you an estimate to replace just a portion of the room's flooring that was damaged?
Their estimate is to replace approx 50% of the kitchen's flooring and 30% of the bedroom flooring.

So I am supposed to pay to replace the remaining (undamaged) portion of the kitchen and bedroom? Who wants mismatched flooring! Is that standard practice to quote that way?

Also, the Insurance co worked with ServPro and it appears the fee isn't included in my claim. Is that normal? I haven't seen a bill either.


ABATTBQ11
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AG
What kind of flooring?

If it's tile or some kind of laminate, you should be able to match the replacement. Insurance won't pay for full replacement. Think of your car getting dinged and needing areas retained. Insurance isn't paying to repaint the whole thing.
LeftyAg89
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AG
Auto painters do a great job of matching paint so you can't tell a difference. Besides, I'm talking about a house, not transportation.

And I'm not asking to replace all the flooring as you suggest (repainting the whole car).

It's an 11' x 11' kitchen where the insurance quote is for replacing 50% of the floor. It's cheap vinyl tile from 10 years ago. How ridiculous would it look to have 1/2 of the kitchen with old/sun-faded flooring, and the other half brand-new shiny not even close flooring. Same with the bedroom. Just a few planks wide (30%-ish) would be brand new and no way to match. I have to replace the whole room's flooring, that would be getting my place back to "whole".
nai06
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AG
what does your policy say? Does it have any language about matching with existing conditions? Replacement value?


They aren't going to replace all the flooring but they should replace all the flooring in that specific room. You just need to pitch it to them better. Say you had carpet in one room and some of the carpet was damaged. They aren't going to replace 30% of the carpet. Most insurers I have dealt with would replace up to the door or entry way of the room. If that fails, you could always hire an independent adjuster or make a complaint with TDI.
p_bubel
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Are you sure you're not confusing replacement of half of the flooring versus depreciated value of the flooring?
LeftyAg89
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AG
No, it's not depreciation (depreciation is factored in at the end of the quote).

Bedroom: 37 sq ft flooring replacment (bedroom total sq ft: 150 sq ft)

Kitchen: 84 sq ft replacement (kitchen is 115 sq ft)

Utility room: 120 sq ft replacement (utility is 120 sq ft)


I don't see anything in my policy that details this type of issue.

I guess I'll have to suck it up and replace it all myself. I'll have to also add a transition piece now since the large living room/ and dining room have the same flooring as the kitchen and flooring flows into the kitchen. No way to match what is currently installed. Sucks I've been paying insurance on this property for 7 years and now have my first claim but won't be able to receive any claim $. My fault for not staying on top of the deductible %. The property value has more than doubled over the last 5-6 years (Spring Branch) so therefore my deductible has too. Live and learn.
htxag09
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AG
nm
TMoney2007
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AG
LeftyAg89 said:

I guess I'll have to suck it up and replace it all myself.
So,... are you going to talk to your insurance company about it like people in this thread said, or was this thread just for you to complain?

If it's not going to get anywhere near your deductible, it might not be worth it.
jtraggie99
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AG
I had a water leak in my kitchen about a year ago. Plumbers thought it was initially coming from below the slab. Until they found the real leak, they were planning on going into the foundation, through my tile floor. I have continuous tile throughout my kitchen, part of my living room, hallways, dining room, and den. At the time, I was told by my insurance company (USAA), that if they had to go into the floor, insurance would pay to have it put back together. If they could not find tile of an exact match, they would replace everything continuous to the point where there is a break. Long-story short, they said, yes, they would replace all of it, if need be, even though there would likely be just a small section damaged.

Anyway, that did not end up needing to happen, as the leak was not coming from the slab, but it was good info to know.
LeftyAg89
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AG
Oh, this isn't the Complaint department? I guess I dialed the wrong number.

Actually I was initially just wanting to see what the standard is before I call. Then I started to realize this probably won't go too much over my deductible anyway.

Another thing I never paid for the remediation company and I expected to receive a bill. No idea how much that ended up costing so I'll have to follow up with insurance to see if they picked that up and does it apply to my deductible.

Thanks to all for the replies!
87IE
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AG
If they are paying for a portion of the flooring then they are confident they/you can find matching flooring.

I've had an entire house refloored on their dime because the flooring wasn't available and it was continuous throughout the house.





It's Laken Riley, not Lincoln you idiot
BrazosDog02
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AG
They should do what it takes to make your property like it was before the damage.

It's insurance. The name of this game is who quits first.

I run into this with roofing quite regularly. I can't speak for flooring but I can say that it may take considerable effort to make them change their mind but it can be done. You just need to make it such that it's in their best interest. Usually this is as simple as going up the chain until someone realizes that you aren't going to quit until they do their job. Then, they'll do their job.
Oh Four Five
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We got a new bathroom because we couldn't find an exact match of the old tile. We went to Floor and Decor and bought a few that looked close but couldn't find the original tile. Showed the insurance pictures of the options next to the original tile to document. Insurance said okay, we'll pay for replacing all of it.

You should be able to do something similar. Get the same flooring and take a side-by-side picture. If you're not happy with it, call the insurance back and say as much.
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