Author: IRS Media

When it comes to terminology in any industry, making sure that we are all speaking the same language is key. With regards to terms like flood damage and water damage (read more here…) the differences may seem small, but mean a lot to your insurance company.

It may surprise you to learn that water damage coverage is typically included in most homeowner’s insurance policies. The confusion usually lies in what the difference is between Water Damage coverage and Flood Insurance.

Flood insurance is a specialized insurance for damages caused by water coming into the home from an outside source such as a (surprise!) flood, sewer water, rainwater, among other possible sources of contamination. Water coming in from the outside is always classified as a Category 3 loss, which requires the use of specialized equipment and training to remediate properly.

In the past, the common knowledge was that flood insurance was only available or required for homes located within flood plain areas designated by FEMA, but, this information is slightly inaccurate. Homes (which are mortgaged) located in these areas are required to carry adequate flood insurance coverage in the event of a disaster. However, anyone can purchase flood insurance, regardless of location, but national statistics report that only 12% of homeowners carry flood insurance. The fact remains that the decision is yours to make (as long as you don’t live in an area where it would be required if your home is mortgaged).

Water damage coverage, however, is something that most every homeowner’s insurance policy includes, and (depending on your insurance provider) typically covers sudden and accidental damages caused by things such as a burst pipe or a dishwasher hose rupturing suddenly. What these policies do not cover, however, are problems arising due to poor maintenance and negligence.

Hopefully, a bit of understanding of these differences can go a long way when trying to determine a course of action to take when you are in the middle of an emergency. If the time ever does come, IRS is here for you and regardless of the kind of coverage you have, we can help get your home back in working order in less time than anyone else in the Las Vegas Valley.

Short Answer: Yes!

Long Answer: An important lesson when it comes to different industries is how important the subtleties of language are. When one person says flood and the other person says water, they may feel like they are talking about the same idea or concept but may not be “speaking the same language”, often leading to confusion and misunderstandings. While it might seem like these are two interchangeable terms, Water Damage and Flood Damage refer to two separate but related types of loss with different implications for each term.

Water Damage is a more generic term which is somewhat of a catch-all for Category 1 and 2 water losses: anything from a burst pipe to an overflow of your tub. Both these examples involve water and damage, yet, are different, but have some commonalities. For a loss to be considered “Water Damage”, the water must come from the inside of the home, meaning from a pipe or a leak or overflow of a sink or tub, or any other way that this can happen.

Flood Damage, on the other hand, is a specific type of water damage problem. In order to be considered Flood Damage, the water must come from the outside of your home into your home. Any water that comes inside to outside is immediately considered Category 3, which is reserved for water that may be contaminated, whether it be sewer water, rainwater, flood water. The main concern in Flood Damage cases is the potential for bacteria, harmful microbes and other disease-carrying pathogens which can be found in this water remaining in your home. A general rule of thumb with Category 3 losses is that they should only be handled by trained professionals with the correct equipment.

With that having been said, it all may sound scary, but, understanding the differences between these two terms can actually help get you the proper help you need faster. And, when you need that help, IRS can be there in less than an hour, 24 hours a day, to help you get back to your normal life faster than any other restoration company in the Las Vegas Valley.

Short Answer: No

Long Answer: When disaster strikes your home, your first inclination may be to contact your insurance company to find out some basic information: Do I need to file a claim? (read more here…) Does my policy cover this type of disaster? What do I need to do? Do I have to be the one to call out professionals?

While we may be biased, there certainly is no shortage of evidence that insurance companies tend to look out for their bottom line rather than their policy holders, and this extends into how they choose companies to be their Preferred Vendors to recommend for certain kinds of jobs. These companies, when sent out, work for the Insurance Company’s end goal, performing only the minimum amount of work necessary in order to call the job complete and hold up the insurance company’s end of your policy, but at the lowest cost to them (read more here…).

IRS is an Independent Restoration company, and we work for YOU and your home, not for the Insurance carrier. We seek out whatever problems might be lurking in your home due to a disaster, in order to do the job right the first time. When we work with you for the health and safety of your home, we also negotiate with your insurance adjusters to defend and justify the needed repairs detailed in our Scope of Work. Their Preferred Vendors are dictated to by the Insurance Company what work is necessary and are only authorized to perform that work and that work alone.

The simple question is, if you have a choice: Would you rather have a company who is in your home simply because they are the Insurance company’s lowest bidder? Or, would you rather have a company in your home that is on your side?

Well, we have some good news: You DO have a choice, because while an Insurance Company can recommend their Preferred Vendor, you can choose whichever company best suits the needs of your home, and IRS can be the company that is looking out for your best interests. The next time your home is in need of help due to water, mold or fire damage, let your insurance company know that you want a trusted and knowledgeable company working in your home. Let them know that you want IRS to look after you. You’ll be glad you did.

Short Answer: 3 Years

Long Answer: One of the many things to consider while dealing with a loss is whether to get your insurance company involved. Over the years, we have heard stories about how just by calling their insurance carrier’s customer support line in order to determine coverage, insurance agents on the other end would automatically begin a claim based on the topic of the call, without the policy holder’s authorization.

In situations regarding insurance, while it is helpful and important to understand what your policy does and does not cover BEFORE disaster strikes, we believe you shouldn’t be penalized for asking a question of your insurance provider so that YOU can decide whether to involve your carrier or not.

It may seem counterintuitive, however, there are many valid reasons why you might not want to open a claim. First, it is your right, as a policy holder, to choose whether you want to open a claim or not. No one else should be able to make this decision for you or force you to make this decision.

Second, whatever the issue is, it may not be worth making a claim on. This could be because it’s a very small issue, or, you’re unsure what the actual cost would be, so you might need to call your carrier and ask some general questions regarding your policy without fear of penalty.

Third, any claim you make through your insurance company can affect your standing with them for upwards of 3 years or longer. This could include rate hikes or even denial of coverage if enough claims are opened within a period determined by your carrier. For this and many other reasons, many people decide to choose when and if they involve their insurance company by filing a claim.

As a company that works FOR you, IRS can help advise you, whether you choose to file a claim or not. Either way, we have your best interests in mind for you and your home and can help you make a more informed decision that puts control of what happens to your home back into your hands.

Short Answer: A small number of trusted sister companies which perform the work to our strict specifications.

Long Answer: In the water damage industry, there are always a few certainties, among them being that water is wet. But, the one that plagues people the most, it seems, is the rebuild. Any time that materials must be removed and replaced, including baseboard and drywall cut out due to water damage, it will have to be replaced during the process of the buildback.

A buildback is simply the process of rebuilding the home to the state it was in (or better) before the water loss occurred. However, to do the work ourselves would put us in a predicament: If we are both the mitigation company AND the rebuild company, how do you keep things above board? What is to stop a company from, theoretically, cutting out more material than is necessary and then charging your insurance company more money for the additional work?

To do the buildback ourselves would also be a little like doing our own pre and post air quality testing, which is a process always done by a 3rd party company in order to avoid bias (read more here…). If the company performing the remediation can do their own post testing, what’s to say it was done correctly or even at all? If you ask around, not many water damage restoration companies perform buildback work themselves, for a variety of reasons. In addition to being above board on everything we do, we feel that focusing on being the best water damage restoration company allows us to excel and offer superior service in that field.

When you choose to work with IRS, you can be assured that your home and the work performed in your home is our priority. You can count on that.

Short Answer: You *can*, but you shouldn’t

Long Answer: One of the major concerns we hear a lot from people is the amount of noise that air movers, air scrubbers and dehumidifiers make in the home. While they are far from quiet machines, they are an improvement over previous models which were higher amperage and much louder (read more here…).

We never recommend that our equipment is turned off except by a technician who has determined that the affected area has been dried fully to our specifications. Otherwise, the process can take much longer than expected, leading to more days of equipment fees or worse. This can be problematic when dealing with your insurance company, which approves our estimate to restore your home based on our scope of work. In a scope of work, we outline how many days we will need in order to perform the job and how many pieces of equipment will be needed.

In addition to taking more time, disrupting the drying process by turning off the equipment, or moving it out of the configuration in which it was placed by a technician can impact the efficacy of the prescribed treatment for your loss. If not allowed to dry properly or only allowed to dry intermittently, this allows more time for microbial growth to feed off wet organic material, leading to the spread of mold under carpeting, behind baseboards and drywall, or at the base of cabinetry.

Because of the time-sensitive nature of this type of work, we highly recommend allowing the equipment to do its’ job. And while we know that is can be noisy for a few days, it’s certainly a lot better than waking up to the smell of mold.

While dealing with water, mold or fire damage can be a stressful situation, IRS has years of experience behind us to deal with your situation for you. However, we also find it helpful for homeowners to have some working knowledge of potential problems, and how we are going to deal with them. While all these answers depend highly on each job’s unique situation and the type of work being done, an experienced company, like IRS, will be able to give you the info you need in order to stay informed throughout the process.

What is the time frame and how much is this going to cost me? One of the first things that will happen after assessing the situation is determining the Scope of Work. This simply is a breakdown of everything that will be entailed in your job and how long everything will take from start to finish. Alongside sketches of the layout of the property and photos of the damage, our skilled estimators will produce a highly-accurate estimate to be submitted to insurance (or yourself, if you will not be going through insurance). Once determined, this information will be available to you.

What will you be doing in my home? Depending on the type of restoration we will be performing in your home or property, this answer can vary, however, all types of restoration have some commonalities. And, regardless of the type of job we are doing, our lead technician can answer any questions you may have about your job and walk you through what our technicians are doing in order to secure your home and safety.

Is there anything I should worry about or deal with? The only thing you need to be worried about is living your life. IRS has it from here. As Industry Professionals, we are certified by the IICRC and have years of experience behind us, alongside dozens of real customer feedback online about how our customers were able to leave the situation in capable hands.

You’re sitting on the couch on a Friday night, and you look upward during a commercial break, only to notice something that you’ve never seen before on your ceiling: water spots. You turn to your partner and ask if they’ve noticed them before, only to have to point them out to them. But, now that it’s been seen, it can’t be unseen. You both start talking about the weather and realize that the high winds and unexpected rain lately might have done a fair bit more damage than you thought.

Here in the Nevada desert, while we don’t get a lot of rain on a consistent basis, when it does rain, it pours. Blown-off roofing tiles or shingles and a bit of rain have more consequence here than normal because of how unexpected it all can be. However, a leaky roof here can still lead to big problems if not taken care of sooner rather than later. Here are a few things to watch out for if you suspect you have a roof leak, and what you can do about it.

Firstly, take note of blown off roofing shingles around your home after a day of high winds. If you can assess the issue (ie. see if any shingles or tiles have blown off) from the ground safely, start there. In the case of condominiums or property that you rent or lease, it is good practice to document these issues with your landlord or property management company for them to be aware of. Depending on your situation, it might be your responsibility to get it taken care of, but most likely it is theirs.

Next, if you’re able to determine the cause of the water spotting, contact a professional company with experience dealing with water damage restoration. From there, they can determine the exact source of the roof leak and deal with the damage before it spreads. At IRS, we deal with all types of water damage restoration, and have years of experience behind us in detecting water damage and remediating it completely.

However, if your water damage isn’t dealt with because it doesn’t seem like a big deal in the moment, you might be opening yourself up to bigger problems down the line, such as mold growth or structural damage if the problem is left to linger far too long.

As a smaller restoration company, you might be surprised to hear that IRS places just as much value (or more) on the quality of our work than our larger competitors. The truth is, every job to us counts, and when you choose IRS, you are choosing quality and attention to detail first and foremost over anything else.

Every job we go to, from start to finish, is managed effectively and efficiently, done right the first time.

Starting with our techs, we fully train everyone in our policies and procedures necessary to maintain a high level of consistency, even if (especially if!) they come from another restoration company. We do this to ensure that everything that our company does for you is done to our specification, that way we know that it is done right.

Our friendly office staff that takes your emergency calls, our managers that ensure quick response time to your emergency, and everyone else that works behind the scenes (myself included!) are all personally invested in knowing that we are doing the best possible job for you, your family, your home and everything that encompasses.

IRS invests in state-of-the-art equipment in water damage detection and drying technology. It may not seem like a lot to anyone who doesn’t work in the water damage industry, but it really is more than just putting down a box fan and calling it a day. From efficient air scrubbers, to modern moisture detection equipment, IRS invests in ourselves because we care about you.

When we come to your home or place of business, our techs arrive in clearly-marked vehicles with our company logos and wear logo-marked attire, including badge identification and our company branding. This may not seem like a huge concern, however, many companies either subcontract out their work, leading to confusion of who actually performed the work done on your home. In addition, you may have encountered people who have come to your home claiming to work for a company but lacking the necessary credentials. We wish to avoid any confusion whatsoever, so when IRS comes to your home, we make sure that you know it’s really our crew.

The quality of our work is second to none, and that is reflected by our consistently high reviews online. Our proven track record in the past that shows that we prioritize our customers’ needs and do whatever it takes to make a bad situation into a good one again.

A rose by any other name might smell as sweet, a famous writer is often paraphrased as writing (just as I did there), but the inverse is just as true. Black Mold, also known by the family name of Stachybotrys, is a toxic form of mold which feeds off the organic material in your home after it has been affected by water damage. It thrives in dark, dank atmospheres, but is rarely found in nature, preferring damp or water-damaged structures.

While all kinds of benign mold and spores can be found in various concentrations within the home without alarm, Black Mold should be considered a serious danger due to the toxic nature of its’ spores. While the jury is still out on the confirmed scientific health effects of black mold on humans, anecdotal evidence has existed since the 1930s attributing ill health and symptoms to the presence of Black Mold within places where the respondent has spent lots of time throughout the day. These symptoms can range from a general feeling of unwellness or generalized illness, to more specific complaints such as nausea, fatigue, and headaches, among other things.

This is not to say that ALL Black Mold is toxic, but the vast majority that is found is treated as such due to the sensitive nature of how it releases its’ spores: Black Mold only releases spores when the mold is disturbed, especially when wet. As such, without additional testing done to confirm toxicity, all Black Mold is treated as toxic during a Mold Remediation, in order to protect your home and your family from the potential ill effects.

Regardless of the type of mold you have, you and your family deserve the peace of mind that your mold remediation is done properly. IRS is here to help when you want it done right the first time.