What to Do With Cabinets That Got Flooded & Insurance Wont Pay for Top Cabinets
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There are many reasons for water damage inside our homes. Water leaks come from leaking showers, tubs, toilets, sinks and faucets, appliances, your hot water heater and sometimes a water pipe. 14,000 people in the US feel one of these water leaks every twenty-four hours then it's of import to know how to dry out kitchen cabinets and more.
Water damage and freezing claims represent slightly more 20% of homeowner claims (click for more than statistics) and this year my flooded house joins those statistics. Quite often homeowners don't even file an insurance claim (88% of Homeowners Haven't Filed a Claim … in 15 years) because repair costs are lower or slightly higher than their deductible. My flooded house is the 15th house I've owned over forty plus years and but the 2nd claim processed.
- 3rd house in Danbury, CT – the hot water tank flooded our unfinished basement shortly afterward we moved in. We scrambled to carry moving boxes upstairs, cleaned up and replaced the hot h2o heater ourselves.
- fourth house in Poughkeepsie, NY – was temporary while edifice our new home and again we had to carry moving boxes upstairs. The claim was rejected every bit the leak was due to rising ground water. The septic system backed up through a basement toilet, so we got rid of that toilet!
- 14th firm in Hampton, NH – where the hot water tank exploded according to our tenant. This was our start insurance claim and they replaced the drywall, insulation and tile floor. They didn't pay for a new hot h2o tank as they said this information technology was normal home maintenance.
- 15th firm in Champions Gate, FL – where my flooded business firm sits, causing me to do lots of inquiry as the impairment was extensive, included cabinets in the kitchen, bathrooms, dwelling house office and mud room.
My experience with water leaks comes more from running a handyman business concern for viii years. In New Hampshire, the most common project nosotros dealt with was wood rot. That's what happens when h2o leaks aren't found or repaired quickly. And then everyone on my team knew how to dry out kitchen cabinets, drywall, wood trim inside … and outside.
How to Dry Kitchen Cabinets
With whatever h2o leak, the showtime footstep is safety – boots if there's any take a chance of live wires. Then you demand to follow a series of steps to dry kitchen cabinets and anything else that's suffered h2o harm in your house. In fact, these concepts can be practical to almost any blazon of home repair. For example, many of these steps can be used to thaw out frozen pipes and if you accept pex plumbing, yous probably tin avoid a leak.
- Identify the source of the water and stop the leak. Many sources of water, similar toilets, faucets and your washing machine, take shut-off valves. If you tin't find one or it's frozen shut, turn the water off where it enters your home. If you don't know how to do this, terminate and read Learning How to Shut Your H2o Off at present!
- Remove excess h2o that'south sitting inside or under cabinets. Grab whatever is handy, newspaper towels or bath towels, to remove the water as quickly as possible.
- Remove toe kicks under the cabinets in lodge to access water underneath them. You'll probably detect two layers of toe kick. The outer layer is glued on (squiggle lines above) to match your baseboards. The inside toe kick is part of the chiffonier (wood on each end in a higher place) and too need to exist pulled off to get nether the chiffonier.
- Open cabinet doors and remove items (or remove drawers) then you can get air circulating within the cabinet, to speed upwards the drying process.
- Remove cabinet doors if the wood they're attached to is saturated. This volition relieve whatever stress and related damaged acquired by the weight of the doors.
- Employ fans to dry out the cabinets, floor and other fixtures rapidly. This is when y'all probably demand to hire a water mitigation company if yous're trying to try out lots of cabinets. You tin can purchase a reasonably priced fan to dry modest trouble areas on Amazon.
- Utilise dehumidifiers to reduce the humidity in the room(southward) where you're drying cabinets and other fixtures. These should run continuously and ideally, you can hook upward a hose so the extracted water flows outside. Normal business firm humidity falls between 40 and 60 percent, higher in humid areas like Florida.
- Monitor the wet content of your cabinets using an cheap moisture meter. You should go along drying your cabinets until the woods measures between vi and 8 percentage humidity (read Acceptable Moisture Levels in Wood for more information about wood floors and structural wood).
- Repair or supplant cabinets once they're fully dried. Plywood cabinets withstand moisture amend unless they're painting and the pigment peels (above). Particle board cabinets likely need to be replaced because water dissolves the gum which affects their structural integrity. For tips on cabinet repairs, read Fixing Water Damage to Cabinets.
- Apply a biocide to prevent mold growth once cabinets are fully dried. Research products earlier you purchase equally I've seen as well many opinions well-nigh bleach versus vinegar, and more, to brand whatever recommendations.
Good luck dealing with your moisture cabinets.
Ask your questions, share your story and we all learn …
PS We have articles on all sorts of water issues that homeowners have to deal with:
- Water Leaks & Water Hiding Where?
- Basement Waterproofing & Keeping Your Basement Dry
- H2o Damage: When Ignorance Is Non Elation
- Homeowner H2o Drainage Bug & Solutions
- H2o & Wood Rot: Repairing Rotted Wood Door Bottoms
- … and lots more articles on woods rot acquired by water
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