Dealing with Water, Smoke, and Fire Damage: What Should You Do Before Filing a Homeowners Insurance Claim After Property Damage?

Filing homeowner’s insurance claims can be daunting—especially when you have experienced severe damage after a disaster.

Residents of Howard County, Maryland are no stranger to unpredictable weather such as tropical storms, hurricanes, or house fires.

Therefore, it’s important to prepare for the unexpected beforehand. From extensive water damage, smoke, and fire damage emergencies, to natural disasters, make sure your homeowner’s insurance coverage addresses all areas of concern.

In this article, you’ll learn how to react during these situations. We discuss how emergency restoration companies can assist you throughout your journey as well. Including, your road towards recovery and compensation.

Here’s an overview of things you should know:

Make a Checklist: Prepping for Home Emergencies

Dealing with property damage can take an emotional and mental toll on you. Most homeowners have no idea how to proceed when tragedy strikes at their address. Incidents with severe water damage, smoke and fire, or extensive mold infestation require immediate assistance.

Therefore, you need to create a game plan beforehand that you could follow before emergencies.

Ask yourself:

• Who should you call right after a house fire, water damage, or natural disaster?
• How soon can you file a homeowner’s insurance claim?
• How can emergency restoration services help?
• Can insurance claims cover the cost of house repairs and restoration after an emergency?

Always look for local and licensed contractors for disaster control and recovery.  They can answer your queries about potential dangers and teach you how to protect your home and commercial property during unfavorable circumstances.

A Mindful Response to Home Restoration Emergencies

Whether you get stuck with a flooded basement, experiencing a house fire, or stuck in a tropical storm, you need to be on high alert. Actively assess the situation and do not make any rash decisions.

Here are things to do:

Firstly, prioritize your family and other house occupants over everything else. Ensure that they are safe and accounted for when you evacuate your property.

Your next step depends on the situation:

• House Fire: Call a fire department as soon as you get out.
• Water Damage by Storm, or Leaks: Turn off your main power supply line to mitigate further damage.
• Floods and Hurricanes: Stay on the top floor or climb the roof if a lot of water surrounds your area.

Besides this, you can contact 911 Restoration for emergency board-up services to protect your homes from further smoke and fire damage unfavorable stormy weather.

Property Damage Assessment

Once things get under control, you can revisit the site. Conduct a proper inspection of the property damage from a safe distance.  Get a general idea of the situation and note pointers for later.

For example:

• What type of property damages (i.e. fire, storm, water damage) are you dealing with?
• Identify the target site and severity of your property damage. Take photographs for evidence.
• Exposure to environmental elements (i.e. water, fire, or dust) can cause severe problems for you. Survey the premises to ensure that there are no broken windows, vents, or holes in the roof. Call a local disaster recovery service company (like 911 Restoration)  if you see a problem.

Once you have your answers, you can determine if it’s necessary to consult emergency restoration service providers.  Your initial assessment can help them prepare before arrival as they learn what happened.

Pro Tip:

Our trained team can often find unseen damages that you overlooked.  That’s why we strongly advise you to make that call despite the scale of your property damage.

Calling Home Restoration Experts for Assistance

Many insurance companies will direct you to preferred home restoration experts. There’s no way of knowing whether or not these service providers will assist you in getting maximum coverage for your property damage. That’s because their affiliation with the insurance firm can be a cause for bias.

Hiring a local emergency restoration company of your choice can help you evade this risk.

Here’s how 911 Restoration comes through for you:

• Our 24/7 emergency restoration service is available around the clock. We can be with you within 45 minutes of your call.
• We bring years of experience and a diverse range of services to your doorstep.
• We have a fully-certified IICRC team on board who knows how to deal with all types of restoration challenges.
• Our cooperative specialists will be by your side from the initial assessment to the cleaning phase.
• We collect professional photographic evidence for clients interested in filing homeowner’s insurance claims.

In other words, you will receive a seamless, hassle-free restoration service from the best contractors and consultants in the area.

Contact Your Insurance Company

Calling your emergency restoration service providers before an insurance company can be advantageous in the long run. For starters, it gives you a clear idea of the extent of your property damage. In turn, this can help you figure out how much coverage you can receive as compensation.

Here are some other things to keep in mind before filing a homeowner’s claim after property damage:

• Read the fine print.

Your insurance policy to know what type of damages it covers. There’s a chance that it might not include water damage and wind damage. Alternatively, some policies mark smoke and fire damage as a subsidiary issue and don’t include full coverage.

• Don’t wait too long.

Insurance companies can deny claims that get filed weeks after a disaster. Hence, you should give your agent a call once our team (or any other consultant) has provided you with a complete assessment report.

• Understand the system.

The terms and conditions of your homeowner insurance policy can vary. Some companies will pay for lodgings if you have to relocate while others might not. Reimbursement depends on pricing, claims, estimates, and the condition of your damaged property.

Apart from this, remember that dealing with insurance claims can be tedious. It can take a couple of weeks, months, or half a year to receive your rightful share.  We do our best to help you during the waiting period.

It’s a Wrap!

Long story short, filing a homeowner’s insurance claim after a disaster might seem like a priority. Yet, there are many steps you can take before you, pick up the phone. It includes protecting your family, performing a DIY assessment before consulting us.

As your local emergency restoration service experts, we are here to facilitate insurance claims whenever possible.  Our no-fuss routine and unconditional support will get you through these testing times soon.

Contact 911 Restoration at Howard County for speedy, efficient, and streamlined service.