A water leak in your home can cause a lot of damages. These damages could be structural, electrical, cosmetic, or any number of other things. It can be scary finding out you have had a leak, especially if you don’t discover it until it has been leaking for a while. It can be even more scary if you don’t know what to do or who to call. Below you will find a couple of tips on how to deal with a discovered water leak and finish by telling you how our company could help.
Step 1: Shut Off the Water
When you discover a leak in your home, the first thing you should do is turn off the water. This may seem a little obvious, but a lot of people don’t know that in addition to being able to turn water off at the faucet, your home has shutoff valves on the water lines that feed the faucet or fixture that uses water. Turning off the water at those valves is more effective than just turning off the fixture or faucet. And worst-case scenario your home has a main water shut off valve. This can be turned off if you can’t find the valve for the water line that is leaking.
When turning off valves, you need to be careful not to break them. If they are green and covered in corrosion, or won’t turn, then move to the next one in line. Don’t force a valve closed or you could make the problem worse.
Step 2: Get a Dehumidifier
A dehumidifier can help dry out the area effected by the water leak and help prevent the damages from getting worse. This is especially important if the leak was substantial, and the surrounding area was saturated.
Step 3: Contact your Insurance Company
Your insurance may cover water damages. Before having a contractor start doing the repair work, you need to let your insurance know what has happened. They may be able to refer a reputable contractor if you need one, but also they need a lot of information from you in order to process the claim. And if you jump the gun and get too far down the repair road, they will make the claim process very difficult, or deny the claim all together.
Step 4: Contact a Contractor
After you spoke with your insurance company it’s time to find a contractor. Depending on the water leak you may need more than one. A plumber can be contacted to repair the leaking pipe, a remediation specialist to treat any mold and repair damages, or a general contractor if it’s a super complex job. At Express Home Improvements we have a team of professionals that can tackle the problems that arise from your leak and can inspect the damages to help you devise a course of action to fix them.
Step 5: Wait for the Work to be Finished
After you found a contractor and you have involved your insurance company, all you really have to do is wait for the work to be done and provide any information the people helping you need. And once the work is done, you get to move on to your next project. The hard part of this process is that the people helping you may discover more water damages that need to be fixed. Be patient with them, and as long as you did your due diligence when tracking them down, you can trust that they have your best interests in mind.
How Express Home Improvements Can Help
At Express Home Improvements, we work at maintaining a team of professionals. This team includes plumbers, electricians, carpenter’s, engineers, remediation specialists, and any other profession that may be needed when a leaking pipe causes water damages to your home. Not only can we assess the water damages, but we have the ability to repair the damages. It is important to note that the water damages you see, or even just the water you see, isn’t the entirety of the problem. The picture at the top of this article is of a wall that we opened up during a home renovation. The homeowner had seen some water inside and resealed the window edges but assumed that the problem was solved because they no longer saw water. However, when the wall was opened, it became clear that water was still getting in and had caused some significant water damages to their home. Below you will see some pictures of the work we did to repair the water damages.
