Slimpsy1647545505 Posted January 15, 2016 Report Share Posted January 15, 2016 (edited) Hello friends! So an interesting thing happened this morning. I went to check on our old property in South Bloomfield Ohio and when I arrived there's water pouring out of the front door and through the siding like a waterfall. I open the front door and this two story home has 3 inches of standing water throughout the first floor, and you look up, and it's water falling out of all the drywall seems. The drywall is starting to collapse, there's water everywhere!!!! Clearly a line busted when it got really cold a few nights ago. The more interesting part is the city was supposed to shut the water off at the main in September, as I had requested. I called them, they said they had done this, cool. So I run inside and shut all valves off indoors and call the water department. Within 5 minutes the "main" guy shows up and he is in awe. He opens the water main on the street and wrenches it shut. Then proceeds to have a blank stare on his face and says "I've never seen anything like this, this should have been turned off". Long story short, they say they take full responsibility and are going to contact their insurance company. I also notified ours. Is that good enough? Should I be getting a lawyer? We've never had to deal with anything like this. Will their city insurance pay for such destruction? I mean the whole place has to be gutted, new drywall/carpet etc at the minimum, assuming there is no structural damage underneath. Any advice in the matter would be helpful. . . we are just in shock. Wild times. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twwDoLZbGY8 Edited January 15, 2016 by Slimpsy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zx2guy19 Posted January 15, 2016 Report Share Posted January 15, 2016 The house will likely be destroyed and then rebuilt. I'd wait to see their response but I'd start searching for an attorney now. Was it a rental? Honestly, I'd obtain a lawyer either way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slimpsy1647545505 Posted January 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2016 The house will likely be destroyed and then rebuilt. I'd wait to see their response but I'd start searching for an attorney now. Was it a rental? Honestly, I'd obtain a lawyer either way. We haven't decided what we were going to do with it, be it rent or sell. It's vacant at this point. We were starting to work on that decision. Yeah, I think we'll have to. I don't want our premiums to increase if they try to say it was somehow our fault and I definitely want compensation for the possible entire loss of the home, at least for the mortgage payment/attorney fees while this is all happening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zx2guy19 Posted January 15, 2016 Report Share Posted January 15, 2016 Serious question- did you update your insurance policy to indicate it was vacant? Any house that I own that sits vacant for more than 30 days requires additional insurance (I rehab and rent properties as a side business). Hate to say this, but if they deny fault, you may be up shits creek. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slimpsy1647545505 Posted January 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2016 Serious question- did you update your insurance policy to indicate it was vacant? Any house that I own that sits vacant for more than 30 days requires additional insurance (I rehab and rent properties as a side business). Hate to say this, but if they deny fault, you may be up shits creek. Yeah, we had contacted them back in September to make sure they knew it was vacant. . good there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slimpsy1647545505 Posted January 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2016 Little video of the action. Also we still had a few things left over we didn't move (couple tubs of our children's old toys, old kitchen table, computer chair. Obviously all destroyed. Looked worse in person. . the walls were bubbling through with water under the paint. What a mess. The ceiling fan actually filled with water and ripped itself out of ceiling. Good times. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twwDoLZbGY8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geeesammy Posted January 15, 2016 Report Share Posted January 15, 2016 Mistake number 1 Calling them instead of having your lawyer do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky31186 Posted January 15, 2016 Report Share Posted January 15, 2016 Holy shit that sucks. Hope they pay for all repairs. I assume you have all info saying they shut it off? And possibly email trails of info? Or all phone calls Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slimpsy1647545505 Posted January 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2016 Mistake number 1 Calling them instead of having your lawyer do it. Well we wanted it to be shut off before the entire insides collapsed. They've called us a few times. The mayor and everything. They take fault they say. That's not been an official statement but what they told me on the phone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
04r1 Posted January 15, 2016 Report Share Posted January 15, 2016 Holy shit that sucks! Hopefully the city does the right thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slimpsy1647545505 Posted January 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2016 Holy shit that sucks. Hope they pay for all repairs. I assume you have all info saying they shut it off? And possibly email trails of info? Or all phone calls I mean I called them back in September and they said we are good to go, it was shut off. I called them today and they said before coming out "ya that should be shut off". Well, it looks like the person who gave the final meter reading did not take the time to do so. No e-mails, everything was handled over the phone with me and the city utility rep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slimpsy1647545505 Posted January 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2016 Any lawyer referrals that would want to take on the city of South Bloomfield? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbs3000 Posted January 15, 2016 Report Share Posted January 15, 2016 You may be in luck with it being a small town. you would never get such decent communication out of someone like the city of Columbus. I'd at least prepare a lawyer just in case my fear would be that unless you drained and winterized the system the leak would have happened either way. Now, obviously 100 gallons vs 1000 gallons is pretty different but I could see an insurance company wanting to put some of the blame back on you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted January 15, 2016 Report Share Posted January 15, 2016 LAWYER LAWYERLAWYER LAWYER LAWYER LAWYER LAWYER LAWYER LAWYER LAWYER LAWYER LAWYER LAWYER LAWYER LAWYER LAWYER LAWYER LAWYER LAWYER LAWYER LAWYER LAWYER Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedRocket1647545505 Posted January 15, 2016 Report Share Posted January 15, 2016 Its South Bloomfield, so expect those retards to attempt to fuck you over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acklac7 Posted January 16, 2016 Report Share Posted January 16, 2016 I have a sneaky suspicion someone's about to get fired Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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