Month: February 2019

When a disaster happens there are so many emotions that could be going through your head. No matter what level of disaster or accident from little water damage or mold to a flooded basement or part of your home burned down by fire to complete catastrophe, your emotions can be a mess. What to do next is the question after a disaster just happened that must be answered with your emotions in check.

Your first step is to asses the situation. Depending on the level of the disaster, if 911 needs to be called, call them. The next step is to do a little bit of research and figure out if it is something you can do by yourself and be safe while doing it. Depending on how much water or where the water is, is there water electrical now. There is many questions with safety that should be answered first, then the next step is to contact your insurance company and let them know what happened. Clean up for you or a restoration company is the final step to getting your life back to your normal.

When it comes to choosing whether to make it DIY or choosing a restoration company, there is a lot of factors to figure out. The most important is time, money and the job itself. Time meaning how long is it going to take you to do it. Did something happen to your bedroom to where you do not have a place to sleep with doing it yourself could take months where a restoration company could take a week. Money meaning how much will it take to do it yourself vs going through insurance to a restoration company with time being a factor. You may be able to do it yourself but could it take more money that way because you do not have the right tools. The job itself meaning how much work will have to be done with your level of expertise.

There are a lot of variable to figure out and go through which option to go with in a short amount of time. What to do next is a hard question to figure out with emotions running high with what just happened. Just remember to keep calm, analyze the situation, and be safe. Let your friends at Blue River Restoration be the helping hand and getting your home and life back in order.

Sometimes it is smart to save money and rent an apartment. This can save money in a lot of ways from paying for repairs, insurance, maintenance but other things are different as well such as the fire and water safety rules for living in an apartment. There are differences such as the building is likely much bigger than an average home. With having many other people living in the building there are many factors to consider when avoiding fire and water hazards in an apartment.

Living in an apartment poses a certain risk because a fire in one apartment can quickly spread to someone else’s apartment. One reason for this is because of the amount people living so close with what could happen. In order to stay safe, prepared, and to prevent costly fire damages to your apartment home, it is smart to make sure everybody in your apartment is accountable and knows an exit plan. When you first move into an apartment, there a lot of things you can do immediately to ensure your apartment home is not at risk for avoidable fires. It is important that you routinely go over each of these tips, probably every 6 months. Other things to look out for and pay attention to are candles or oils burning, how often your neighbors are gone, what electrical problems that could occur, maintenance of the building, how often smoke alarms checked or any other issue that could turn in to a fire hazard. The biggest difference between a house and apartment is the ability to escape.

When it comes to water in an apartment, make sure to examine your water and make sure that nothing seems funky. Being that close to other apartments or condos means that something could not be your fault, if another apartment has a leak and you are below them, that could be your apartment could be in trouble. Color, smell and taste are the main ways to know if something is wrong with your water that will be used everyday.

When it comes to the water coming out of the tap, it has a brownish tinge and has a lot of sediment, then something might be wrong.  Knowing how old the building is or when the pipes have been replacement might be something that you want to know. The presence or iron and manganese is generally harmless, but they may also cause a metallic taste or smell.

Smell and taste also can indicate if something is wrong. Generally, noticing a heavy chlorine smell, caused by the processing of water in the treatment plant to kill bacteria and viruses in your tap water can help you know. The smell should be more of a rotten egg or chemicals as they may indicate contamination.  The water should not have any odd tastes or smells.

Always be aware of water marks around walls or ceilings from other apartments around you. If something were to happen, call the maintenance dept and have them call your friends at Blue River Restoration to help.

Insurance has a lot of mumbo jumbo jargon in your policies and coverages. Your homeowners policy was not created to be easily understood. The fine print is not meant to be read by anyone other then professionals. There are man myths that come from interpretations of these documents. Home insurance isn’t legally required like liability insurance for your car, but mortgage lenders will generally require you to get homeowners insurance in order to protect their investment. Here are 4 myths for homeowners that have insurance.

Myth #1: Standard policies covers floods.  Most standard policies do not cover water damage that is caused by flood. Flood insurance is required for majority of flood zones. The National Flood Insurance Plan mandates people located in the flood zone to have flood insurance. However, just because you’re not in a flood zone doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen to you. Look at your area’s flood plain map. You might be close enough that it is worth purchasing a flood insurance policy. Speak to your insurance agent and figure out the best plan so when a flood does happen, you know what to do. Water damage from flood is incredibly costly and it may have to be an out of pocket expense without the proper coverage.

Myth #2: If you experience a loss, your insurance company will reimburse you for whatever you tell them you owned at the time. Having some type of list of what you own is a good idea. Insurance companies are going to want some kind of record of what you owned. In the moment or some time after the accident happened, trying to doing it from memory can be very hard. Keep a list of all of your valuables in your home, including what you paid for them (receipts), serial numbers, photos, date of purchase etc. You are going to need to prove ownership, especially for expensive items that you want to be reimbursed for. Always keep the inventory list somewhere where it cannot destroyed.

Myth #3- If you file a claim, your premiums automatically go up. This myth is a bit tricky because your premiums will not go up necessarily . Raising the price of your premium will depend on many factors, not just making a claim. One claim may not make an impact, multiple claims will certainly make a difference. Advise with a professional before filing a claim. If it’s close to the deductible, you may be better paying out of pocket. A restoration professional can consult with you on the estimated cost of repairs. When filing a claim, there is a procedure that has to be gone through that can prevent work or remodeling from being started.

Myth #4-All of your valuables, including jewelry, guns, etc. will be covered in the event of burglary. Most policies will have limits on what coverage you have for valuables above a certain amount. For example, most companies put a cap of $1,500 on total jewelry lost during a burglary. You may want to consider an additional endorsement on specific valuables which can offer more coverage.

Let your friends at Blue River Restoration be the ones to help you through those accidents and situations when insurance is needed.