Our Readers Own Water Damage Stories (got a story, submit it here!)
NYC Snow Storm
My husband and I know first hand that nothing can turn your life upside down
faster than water damage. In our case, the roof of our four story brownstone
sustained damage from a heavy storm that hit NYC in 2005. Awoken by the
sound of pouring water, we went from being comfortably asleep in our warm beds
to rushing around furiously in the dark trying to find buckets and garbage cans
to catch the river pouring off our roof onto every floor of our house. My
husband's office on the top floor sustained the most damage. We called our
30 year old son who lives nearby in Brooklyn who rushed over in the middle of
the night to lend a hand. Luckily he thought to bring with him the wet-vac that
he uses in his shop. He immediately began vacuuming up as much water as
possible off of the floor. My husband and I went around and turned off the
computer, entertainment center, and anything else that could short-circuit or
cause danger. Once we got a garbage can from outside to place under the
running gush of water, we managed to stop major damage.
My husband and my son then proceeded to move all of our furniture out of the affected area to a dry part of the house. Expecting that the wind-storm damage would be covered by our insurance policy we went ahead the next morning and hired a professional water damage restoration company. They came and probed the floors and drywall for moisture and unleashed a noisy (and hot!) couple of days in our house. Finally, when our floors were bone dry again, we slowly proceeded to put our house back together again and claim insurance, a process that took several months. I wanted to write and say that I really appreciate the tips on your site. I didn't know about this site at the time of the accident (and had no access to the computer!!!) but I'm sure next time I will know where to go for good advice on water damage! - Miranda from Brooklyn, NY February, 2007
Thanks To The Fire, Our Home And Business Flooded
My wife and I own a centuries-old Tavern that we run as a historic and popular
restaurant. Last summer, we had to shut it down for a month because of water
damage after a fire! It happened as both of us were taking a much needed
vacation out of New York to visit friends in Florida.
Right before closing the Tavern for the day, someone threw out a cigarette in a trash barrel in the bathroom which smoldered and caught on fire. This triggered the water sprinklers which kicked in and quickly put out the fire. But the fire department never came because we only had a local alarm, and the water sprinklers kept on flowing for several hours. Imagine the surprise of our employees in the morning when they came to open the place! Water was flowing from the second floor down to the first floor completely messing up the building's interior. Water was pouring down the light fixtures into the kitchen. It was your classic water damage disaster. We immediately called on professional water remediation services to get the old building bone dry. Replacing anything that threatened to warp or was in danger of molding. Luckily insurance did pick this up but nothing hurts a business more than when your clientele are forced to go elsewhere. It took us several months to get our business back to its old rhythm. - M.T. from Rhinebeck, NY January, 2008
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