A single family home suffered considerable hidden water damage after a pipe in the second-floor bathroom burst. The insurance company’s adjuster told the homeowner to turn the heat up in the home and let it dry out for a month. This resulted in considerable mold damage, most of which was hidden from view. The insurer made a low settlement offer based upon a visual assessment of the damage. The homeowner hired our firm. We demonstrated that the damage was extensive based on tests for mold behind the walls, moisture gauge readings, and an analysis of the water bills showing that 600 cubic feet of water was released. We prepared drawings showing the extent of the damage to each floor. As a result, the claim was settled for four times the initial offer and the entire house was gutted.

A tree surgeon botched the job of cutting down a large tree. The tree fell on the home of an insurance agent and damaged a small section of siding. He had his contractor prepare an estimate for the repairs and submitted it to the tree surgeon’s insurance company. When the insurance company delayed responding to his claim, he asked us to intervene. We examined the home and determined that the siding on the home was very old and was no longer being manufactured. We refiled the claim for replacing the siding on the entire home and collected five times the amount previously offered.

An automobile caught fire in a cinderblock garage and caused substantial damage to the home. The insurance company adjuster would not allow for the replacement of the cinderblock. We researched concrete on the internet and learned that a department at Northwestern University does research on the properties of concrete. We called the department and received, via fax, pages from a reference book on the properties of concrete when subjected to high temperature. After that was submitted to the adjuster, we received an additional $10,000 for the insured.

A fire destroyed the roof of a large three-story Victorian home causing considerable water damage throughout the home. The adjuster for the insurance company initially agreed to allow all the plaster to be replaced in the home. Upon subsequent examination, he saw that there was no visible damage to the plaster on several rooms on the first floor. We measured the moisture at several locations in the walls with a moisture gauge and learned that the wall was still saturated with water several weeks after the fire. We photographed the high readings on the moisture gauge and sent the photos to the adjuster. Result—the adjuster allowed for the replacement of all the plaster in question.