Restoration questions, answered

A person at HyreRestore reads it and writes back. Matching with restoration companies is still being built, so nobody is sent to your property and no company gets your details unless you agree. How it works sets out the whole path, including what is not built yet.

No. It is not a dispatch service. If your house is flooding or unsafe right now, make it safe, call 911, the gas utility or the electric utility if there is a hazard, then call your insurer. The first 24 hours has the sequence.

No. The guides and tools are free, with no email address needed. Sending the form costs nothing and commits you to nothing: not a company, not a scope and not a start date. It is not a work authorization.

No. Selling one inquiry to every company that will pay is what produces ten calls in an hour, and our lead quality standard rules it out as a commitment you can hold us to. If you want what you sent deleted, ask and we will delete it.

Make it safe: power off at the breaker only from a dry floor, and leave if you smell gas. Then stop the water, and photograph everything before it moves. The first 24 hours puts the rest in order.

For a small patch, the EPA says you can in most cases: under about 10 square feet, roughly 3 ft by 3 ft. Larger areas, mold in the heating or cooling system, or mold after sewage or floodwater need a professional. Mold remediation explains the work.

After they are photographed, listed and seen or released by the adjuster. If something is a health hazard, like carpet soaked with sewage, photograph it and tell your insurer before it goes. The contents inventory shows what to record.

It depends on what is being disturbed. Drying one contained room is different from mold work under negative pressure, a sewage loss, or a fire-damaged structure. Ask what will be under containment and running overnight. If you cannot stay, ask your insurer whether your policy pays living expenses.

When the readings meet the goal. The goal comes from dry material of the same kind elsewhere in the house, and equipment stays until the wet material matches it. A contained loss can dry in days; water in walls or floors takes longer. Structural drying explains the method.

Daily, dated readings from named materials at marked points, the temperature and relative humidity, the drying goal, and which equipment sat where. Ask for a copy. The drying time guide explains what can legitimately add days.

Mitigation is the emergency work: extraction, removing what cannot be saved, containment and drying, billed mostly by equipment days. Reconstruction rebuilds, priced like any building job. Ask for them as two written documents. How restoration works follows both.

It can happen: water travels under floors and inside walls, and fire damage hides behind finishes. The extra work goes to the insurer as a supplement, with photos and readings behind it. A supplement with no documentation is the one to question.

It can, if the source stays. Soot works into porous materials, wall cavities and ductwork past the visible damage, so a surface-only treatment can wear off. Ask what is being removed and cleaned, not only what is being sprayed. See fire and smoke damage.

It depends on the cause and your policy. Policies are written around sudden, accidental events, so a burst supply line can be covered while a slow leak or wear can be excluded. What is covered goes peril by peril, and is it covered? asks the questions in order.

FEMA’s answer: “Most homeowners insurance does not cover flood damage.” Flood is a separate policy, through the National Flood Insurance Program or a private insurer, and an NFIP policy has a 30-day waiting period in most cases. See flood damage restoration.

Actual cash value (ACV) pays replacement cost minus depreciation. Replacement cost value (RCV) pays the depreciated amount first, then the held-back depreciation once the work is done and documented. Your declarations page says which you hold. ACV vs RCV works through it.

It can, and nobody outside your insurer can say for your policy. A filed claim appears on the property’s CLUE report for 7 years. For a loss close to your deductible, run the numbers first with should I file?

No, not without discussion. The adjuster writes what the policy will pay for; your restoration company writes what the job needs. Gaps are settled with photos, readings and line items. Working with an adjuster explains how.

Not at the door, and not unread. An assignment of benefits hands your right to the insurance payment to the contractor, who then deals with your insurer. State rules differ. Check whether you need more than a work authorization. See assignment of benefits.

You choose who works on your house. Insurers run preferred-vendor programs, and those companies can be good, but the insurer decides what it pays for, not who holds the tools. Check your policy for any condition it sets.

Not on the doorstep. Canvassing is not always a scam, but you cannot check a license or read a contract with someone waiting. Take the details, verify them, and call back. Warning signs covers the patterns.

For emergency drying, you may not have time to compare, and limited work can start on a limited authorization. For the rebuild, get more than one, all priced against the same written scope. Choosing a restoration company lists the checks.

No. HyreRestore dries, remediates, demolishes and rebuilds nothing, holds no equipment and employs no technicians. It is an independent information site, building a way to connect homeowners with local restoration companies. It is not an insurer, a public adjuster or a law firm either.

We expect restoration companies to pay us for introductions. You are never charged. That is not live yet, and it does not decide what we publish: we print no average prices, rate no companies, and tell readers they can hire a different company for the rebuild. See the editorial policy.

Not yet. Matching is not live and no company is signed up, so nothing has been checked. How companies will be checked lists the checks planned before any introduction. Until then, run the checks in choosing a restoration company yourself.

Because we cannot verify them yet, and an unverified rating would be read as a verification on the day you are least able to check it. We publish how to judge a company yourself instead.