Help- Insurance Claim, shattered tank, ruined home :(

[neiltus]

I have concrete floors. Cool in the summer, cooler in the winter...ha. But darn near bulletproof, if your on slab, it might be less expensive than tile.

My dad would always build our houses with some sort of wainscoating. This was because after a storm he did not have to match texture or re-blow texture. The wainscoating could be removed and replaced after being sprayed or stained outside.

Killz is a good idea, but there are better oil based primers to seal studs and such after water exposure. Go visit a benjamin moore or sherwin williams and discuss mildewcide additives to oil paint and or stuff to kill it prior to applying the primer.

Also, last couple dry outs I have had to do we ran dehumidifiers and fans for about a week to dry out everything drier than it normally is.

At the end of the day, have a drink, smile, and sleep in your own bed. It sucks, but you will recover...crappy insurer or not.

 

[brianacooper11]

Kind of terrible thing to say, but I think your disaster has benefited many in causing us to think about what would happen to OUR tanks, and maybe plan, too (I am). Thanks for the vicarious education, and really sorry for you, fish, everyone.

 

[Dr. Reef]

sorry for the loss, most insurance will not cover such damage unless its written in policy mostly under addition plumbing coverage or if they do cover you, they will drop you at renewal and it will be on your insurance records as claim/loss which in turn will up the insurance for next company to insure you.

 

[2wheelsonly]

I had a situation similar to this a few years ago. I spent over $110k on a remodeled basement. Home theater, in wall tank, dedicated fish room, custom cabinets, computer area, bar. The whole nine yards...

I had internal plumbing burst below my upstairs kitchen above my basement (in between). Enough water came into the basement to cover 1910 square feet with a 3 inch depth. I called ServPro, quick estimate was $45,000 to pump it out and repair the dmgs.

I called State Farm and basically they decided to fight me, even though I was covered for all plumbing in the house they tried to say the weather outside caused it which was not possible. I went the avenue of taking legal action and fought for a bit; I had to tell Servpro to leave. After a few miserable days of reading and learning how to fix it while making trip after trip to home depot I managed to removed all carpet. Took the baseboards off, punctured holes ever 3 inches in the drywall that was submerged.

Used industrial fans to dry out.

Servpro basically told me the sky was falling, that's what they do. They are in a tough business of accountability and when they are involved there are always dealings with insurance. Since this is the good ole US of A you can almost expect insurance companies WILL try to screw you if they can. Corny commercials aside, they don't care about YOU. To make matters worse, our legal system makes it very hard to beat them when they throw money at lawyers and already know all the loopholes.

My suggestion is don't spend a dime fighting those crooks. I was able to repair everything for under 10k. Never had any signs of mold or odors. I disclosed that situation when I sold the house and the new buyers didn't care because it looked so good.

Be very careful of Servpro and hidden charges, they like to play the "hidden overcharge" game and hope you have lost the will to fight.

 

[Mrs. Music]

So sorry for your aquarium disaster. That truly sucks. I hope it all works out in the end. I am going to double check our policy. Years ago, I walked into our finished basement one morning to find the carpet squishy, and cold. I called our insurance company, and they sent someone to our house to clean everything. Pulled carpet, and padding. Huge fans, and dehumidifiers. The insurance adjuster found the wet pipe in the utility closet. It appeared to be a slow leak that finally burst. There was some mold discovered (actually explained a mold problem we were having in the rooms above). Everything was repaired, replaced and covered, and treated for mold. We had no hidden charges and they even "paid" my husband for work he did to reduce our deductible. The company was a locally owned disaster cleanup company.

 

[steallife904]

I had a situation similar to this a few years ago. I spent over $110k on a remodeled basement. Home theater, in wall tank, dedicated fish room, custom cabinets, computer area, bar. The whole nine yards...

I had internal plumbing burst below my upstairs kitchen above my basement (in between). Enough water came into the basement to cover 1910 square feet with a 3 inch depth. I called ServPro, quick estimate was $45,000 to pump it out and repair the dmgs.

I called State Farm and basically they decided to fight me, even though I was covered for all plumbing in the house they tried to say the weather outside caused it which was not possible. I went the avenue of taking legal action and fought for a bit; I had to tell Servpro to leave. After a few miserable days of reading and learning how to fix it while making trip after trip to home depot I managed to removed all carpet. Took the baseboards off, punctured holes ever 3 inches in the drywall that was submerged.

Used industrial fans to dry out.

Servpro basically told me the sky was falling, that's what they do. They are in a tough business of accountability and when they are involved there are always dealings with insurance. Since this is the good ole US of A you can almost expect insurance companies WILL try to screw you if they can. Corny commercials aside, they don't care about YOU. To make matters worse, our legal system makes it very hard to beat them when they throw money at lawyers and already know all the loopholes.

My suggestion is don't spend a dime fighting those crooks. I was able to repair everything for under 10k. Never had any signs of mold or odors. I disclosed that situation when I sold the house and the new buyers didn't care because it looked so good.

Be very careful of Servpro and hidden charges, they like to play the "hidden overcharge" game and hope you have lost the will to fight.

Servpro was who came and told me the sky was falling! said I needed to remove drywall, insulation, have a grand worth of machines running for a week, flooring removed, mold stuff sprayed, etc... thank god a nice person came over and told me all that needed to be done and I could do myself which fixed the issue just fine. From what I was told as long as the water and moister are removed quickly (within a few days) your good.

Also FYI.... running your A/C or heater will pull out moister as well. Forgot to mention before the guy also told me to crank up the A/C which will pull out the moister. I ran A/C 24/7 for the first day or so at like 71 or 72 (im in Jacksonville FL and this was in summer on a 90+ day so 70 or 71 kept A/C running)

 

[soulpatch]

I will note that this stinks but others are right in that the clean up crews are there to basically try to rob your insurance company and they in turn are there to not pay it. It is a petty fight all around.

I had a FW tank blow a filter o ring a few years ago sending roughly 75 gallons into my basement. It was literally raining. new carpet, drywall, lighting, paint, and such and I was in hole all of 3K to repair myself when my insurer basically told me good luck after I called them. I believe I was with All State at the time.

Same day I called around and finally got to Liberty Mutual (which oddly enough Geico now uses) and they put in a rider to my policy to cover damage from my tanks should it occur again. It would not cover the actual livestock or the tank that blew but anything else ruined by the water is covered. It has been 3-4 years since I got that policy so this thread made me call them up yesterday after I looked over the policy docs and couldn't find the rider. It, thankfully, is still there but moved to another portion of docs. The agent who called got an underwriter on the phone and everything for us to ensure and I have an email noting it as well. These situations stink but they do have the benefit for those of us to ensure we are covered in the case soemthing goes awry.

It is also imperative that we all have an emergency fund that many do not. Crap happens and in some instances is not covered. Having the funds needed to handle it is paramount for life. I wish my fund was larger and working on that but having one is sooo important and often overlooked by many.

 

[2wheelsonly]

Servpro was who came and told me the sky was falling! said I needed to remove drywall, insulation, have a grand worth of machines running for a week, flooring removed, mold stuff sprayed, etc... thank god a nice person came over and told me all that needed to be done and I could do myself which fixed the issue just fine. From what I was told as long as the water and moister are removed quickly (within a few days) your good.

Also FYI.... running your A/C or heater will pull out moister as well. Forgot to mention before the guy also told me to crank up the A/C which will pull out the moister. I ran A/C 24/7 for the first day or so at like 71 or 72 (im in Jacksonville FL and this was in summer on a 90+ day so 70 or 71 kept A/C running)

Yeah that's correct, AC units make great dehumidifiers.

What Servpro fails to mention, all of the machines they claim costs thousands of dollars can be rented from Home Depot @ $35 per day.

I'm sure it's even cheaper at a smaller scale rental shop. Our insurance is high because of companies like Servpro; I despise them.

 

[WitsNWrasse]

I also asked my adjuster that when this is all over, if he would help me find a policy that will work for me and my tank. He said he would. I will update EVERYONE on this thread on the wording or addendums you need to look for in your policies to make sure you're covered if something were to happen.

Kind of terrible thing to say, but I think your disaster has benefited many in causing us to think about what would happen to OUR tanks, and maybe plan, too (I am). Thanks for the vicarious education, and really sorry for you, fish, everyone.

Oh my goodness yes, i highly recommend EVERYONE takes a look at their policy and adds an addendum or whatever is needed to make this whole claim process easier, because this is a nightmare. The public adjuster I hired is actually feeling really positive about the situation, and believes he can get everything covered and fixed. I have texted ALL of my reef friends telling them to look at their policies.

I had a situation similar to this a few years ago. I spent over $110k on a remodeled basement. Home theater, in wall tank, dedicated fish room, custom cabinets, computer area, bar. The whole nine yards...

I had internal plumbing burst below my upstairs kitchen above my basement (in between). Enough water came into the basement to cover 1910 square feet with a 3 inch depth. I called ServPro, quick estimate was $45,000 to pump it out and repair the dmgs.

I called State Farm and basically they decided to fight me, even though I was covered for all plumbing in the house they tried to say the weather outside caused it which was not possible. I went the avenue of taking legal action and fought for a bit; I had to tell Servpro to leave. After a few miserable days of reading and learning how to fix it while making trip after trip to home depot I managed to removed all carpet. Took the baseboards off, punctured holes ever 3 inches in the drywall that was submerged.

Used industrial fans to dry out.

Servpro basically told me the sky was falling, that's what they do. They are in a tough business of accountability and when they are involved there are always dealings with insurance. Since this is the good ole US of A you can almost expect insurance companies WILL try to screw you if they can. Corny commercials aside, they don't care about YOU. To make matters worse, our legal system makes it very hard to beat them when they throw money at lawyers and already know all the loopholes.

My suggestion is don't spend a dime fighting those crooks. I was able to repair everything for under 10k. Never had any signs of mold or odors. I disclosed that situation when I sold the house and the new buyers didn't care because it looked so good.

Be very careful of Servpro and hidden charges, they like to play the "hidden overcharge" game and hope you have lost the will to fight.

Oh my god what an insane nightmare............. i can't imagine dealing with that amount of damage. The fans and dehumidifiers are still running. i would totally do all of this myself if i knew how to do all of it, but being 24 i just don't have the experience so I'm going to have to hire a professional (and the adjuster thinks he can get it all covered).




anyway, heres what my tank used to look like. wasn't chock full of corals yet but i knew they would grow into the scape. ugh i really loved my aquascape
I have a ruby headed wrasse named gemma, two madagascar clowns name sonoma and franklin, a sand sifting goby named goober, and 3 chromis. I also propagated anemones in my sump to pay for my hobby lol.


I don't really post on here, i normally just search when i have an issue. thank you so much for all your support, I only have a couple friends in the hobby and unfortunately they live across the country. I work at birch aquarium on the weekends but thats about all the fish talk i get. I shall post on here more often, this is a great community that i'm not fully taking advantage of.

 

[Mrs. Music]

it was very pretty.

 

[2wheelsonly]

anyway, heres what my tank used to look like. wasn't chock full of corals yet but i knew they would grow into the scape. ugh i really loved my aquascape

Well, on a lighter note...

I used to worry about my aquascape in the past, went through long planning process but after my third tank I now don't even sweat it. Once your corals grow in you won't even notice the aquascape.

 

[Hitch08]

LOL @ insurance companies. An unrelated story...

Several years ago, a driller was drilling a well in my front yard. Very large rig, nearly a full sized tractor trailer. The drill bit "ran" on compressed air. Long story short, the guys running the rig screwed up and caused my basement slab/floor to literally break into my basement. The slab literally lifted. Had drywall damage all the way up to the second floor.

Called my insurance company and they initially denied the claim, largely relying on an exclusion for earthquakes and earth movement. It was B/S, to be kind. A couple of weeks later, they backed off and sent a reservation of rights and began paying the damages.

tl;dr - stay after them

 

[Outdrsyguy1]

lovely tank, really sorry for what happened to it and you. Sounds like things are on the up and up though. Look forward to hearing what aqueon says and seeing your next build!

 

[WitsNWrasse]

lovely tank, really sorry for what happened to it and you. Sounds like things are on the up and up though. Look forward to hearing what aqueon says and seeing your next build!

I'm an idiot guys- all my quarantine tanks that i bought a few months ago are aqueon but my 120 was Visio. I was told visio has a 5 year warranty, but i can't even find a site for them ? Google keeps wanting me to search the electronic company Vizio instead. HOW in the WORLD do i contact a company that i can't even find a phone number for ? lol

 

[Sullivmw]

Is this the link you need?

http://www.advanceaquatanks.com/vg.html

 

[Randyp79]

I just called my agent and he reviewed my policy with me. He explained that homeowner insurance policies are pretty standard nation wide, with the exception of hurricane prone areas. He said all your damage should be covered under a normal homeowners policy unless there is a specific exclusion for "water furniture or aquariums".

He also asked me to find out from you the specific language in your policy that Geico used to deny your claim. He basically said the insurance company should pay the claim unless they can show you specifically where aquariums or water furniture are excluded.

On another note, my agent said the contents of my aquarium are covered under an additional premium that I pay.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

 

[steallife904]

I'm an idiot guys- all my quarantine tanks that i bought a few months ago are aqueon but my 120 was Visio. I was told visio has a 5 year warranty, but i can't even find a site for them ? Google keeps wanting me to search the electronic company Vizio instead. HOW in the WORLD do i contact a company that i can't even find a phone number for ? lol

I think I read before you put the order in through your local fish store? might try seeing them and see if they can point you in the right direction. Hopefully that company is still around. My current tank is a DSA, I literally bought in and about 2 months later I hear DSA is going out of business. Im pretty sure if I ever needed warranty issue with them I would be out of luck? Crazy to since they are such nice tanks and seems lots of people have DSA tanks, no idea why they went out of business. Anyway if you cant locate its possible they had same issue?

 

[lagatbezan]

I just called my agent and he reviewed my policy with me. He explained that homeowner insurance policies are pretty standard nation wide, with the exception of hurricane prone areas. He said all your damage should be covered under a normal homeowners policy unless there is a specific exclusion for "water furniture or aquariums".

He also asked me to find out from you the specific language in your policy that Geico used to deny your claim. He basically said the insurance company should pay the claim unless they can show you specifically where aquariums or water furniture are excluded.

On another note, my agent said the contents of my aquarium are covered under an additional premium that I pay.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

WOW, I'm so sorry for what happened!! I talked to my insurance broker as well and after a couple of hours of looking into it he called me back and told me that a damage would be covered by them but the cost of the tank itself and the fish will not and that there is nothing they usually have to write in the policy for it.

 

[Pittsburgh]

The problem is that insurance brokers are not claim adjusters, they don't make decisions about what is covered and what's not. They are in the business of "selling, soliciting and negotiating insurance for compensation." So what they say is largely irrelevant.

 

[soulpatch]

Yeah I try to talk to underwriters as they tend to have a better idea of what is actually in a policy.