Mold Damage and the Insurance Claim Process
Mold Damage
Mold can be a small inconvenience, found speckled over the top of some of the food found in your fridge. Mold can also be a large, detrimental problem, growing and spreading quickly throughout areas of your home or business.
As mold growth develops, the spores can circulate through the air, air ducts, and ventilation systems. It can have adverse health effects if touched or inhaled, especially for children and pets.
Mold isn’t like all home damage. It isn’t always “in your face” such as a tree crashing through your window or a pipe bursting in your bathroom. Mold can be a sneaky little thing, growing deep in the cracks and crevices of your home or business. In fact, ideal conditions for mold growth include wet, warm, and dark spaces. It is often the case that before you are really able to see the spread of mold, or smell that damp, musty odor it gives off, it has already spread enough to cause significant damage.
Dealing With Mold Damage
Mold can be found all throughout your home and business, but is most commonly found in places with plumbing such as:
- Basements
- Bathrooms
- Kitchens
- Laundry Rooms
If you find mold damage, you don’t want to try to clean it yourself, as you will most likely make the situation worse. Mold remediation requires specialized skills, industrial grade cleaning materials, and a lot of professional labor to remove properly.
Typically, mold remediation bills can easily exceed $15,000 just to remove the mold, demo the affected building materials, and dry the structure. It will likely cost even more to restore the property to its pre-loss condition.
Luckily, many insurance policies cover mold damages, depending upon the source of the mold. If you have mold damage, you may need to file a claim with your insurance company to get the funds needed to repair your property.
However, filing a claim is often just the beginning of a long, drawn out process.
Filing A Mold Damage Claim
If you choose to file a property damage claim, your insurance company will assign an adjuster who must inspect the property. Depending upon the adjuster’s schedule, it may take days, or even weeks for your property to get inspected.
Once the property is inspected by the adjuster, mold damages may require the use of a mold hygienist or other expert depending upon the nature of the damage. Additional vendors may be called out to perform demolition to determine the full extent of the mold infestation or other activities. Each addition person added to the claim increases the claim length exponentially, as each person must inspect the property and write their respective reports.
As with any property damage claim, property adjusters tend to drag their feet since they often operate on a 30-day reporting cycle. This means that there is plenty of time for your claim to languish while the adjuster’s attention is elsewhere. This can all drag on for months at a time – all while you are without livable housing or a functional business.
Claim Settlement
When you finally get paid, you may be frustrated to find that the amount is probably less than what is needed to restore your property to pre-loss condition. In fact, insurance companies have developed internal estimating guidelines that systematically undervalue claims, which result in smaller claim payouts for the policy holders—aka you. This means that ultimately, the smaller claim payouts will squeeze contractors, making it difficult to find a contractor to repair the property. If you decide you need additional funds, the adjuster must then re-open the claim and you will have to go through the same process all over again.
Wrap all of this up together and you have one big ball of stress. It’s true, the claims process can be very overwhelming, but the good news is, you don’t have to go through it alone.
We Can Help
Our public adjustment firm is here to help, and we are on your side. We specialize in helping policyholders successfully navigate through the often complex and difficult property claims process. We will manage your entire claim to help you achieve a maximum claim settlement in the least amount of time possible. We want you to get paid fairly for your damages, so you can get back to pre-loss condition as quickly as possible.
Our services include:
- Claim submission
- Claim advisory services
- Communications management
- Inspection Coordination
- Final settlement negotiation
- Professional recommendation
- And more!
If you have mold damage, call us now to get a free, no obligation consultation with a licensed public adjuster. On our call, we will review your claim, discuss options, and provide our professional recommendation for moving forward. We care about you and your needs, and want to help you through this sometimes stressful ad overwhelming process.
Remember, when you sustain property damage:
Contact Claimly First!