I recently inspected a home where the owners had a leak some 13 years ago from a pipe under the kitchen sink which flooded much of the downstairs. These areas included tile and carpet and the water had sat on these areas for about 6 + hours before the owners had found it as the leak occurred at night.
I was about 2 days before a water mitigation company had come out to perform the water removal and drying with dehumidifiers and fans. This company was sent out by the insurance company after the owners called their agent to file a claim.
I inspected the property a few weeks ago, at the time of this blog, and found abundant moisture under the tile flooring and in the carpet of the living room some 13 years later with no other leaks having occurred, according to the owners.
The evidence suggests 1 or 2 possibilities of why I found abundant moisture in these areas.
- The drying was not done properly due to incompetence of the company performing it.
- The drying was complete to a certain degree due to insurance adjuster direction to the company they sent out.
If the drying had been done correctly then all the floor tile affected would have been removed to accomplish this. In addition, the concrete under the carpeted areas would need to be dried as well to remove moisture that had been absorbed by the concrete.
But this would cost the insurance company much more money, especially on the repair side of equation. Therefore, the work that was done was to the extent that it seemed dry to the owners but not to industry standards for 1 if not a combination of the 2 reasons mentioned above.
In this case the owners needed to hire someone like myself, a Certified Microbial Consultant, to evaluate the situation to verify the work was done properly. A good point to keep in mind. Now it is much past any legal stature of limitations for the owners to go back to the insurance company and cry foul.
Steven Mullins (i.e. Mold Detector)
CMC, Certified Microbial Consultant
Moisture and Mold Detection, Inc.