Would Appreciate Advice (LONG)

[Titan4mde]

So on October 17th, 2006, our home caught on fire. It was due to an improperly placed dish towel too close to the burner on the stove. My mother-in-law was fixing us some lunch and it ignited. She thought she had it extinguished, but when they left about 2 hours later, it re-ignited in the trash can and almost took the house. We were taken care of with residential accomodations via our insurance company while the house was redone. We moved back in the latter part of Feb of this year and we were so happy at first to be back home, but now there are so many things that we have noticed, and I need ADVICE on how this should/could be pursued.



We had a very good insurance company. I say "had" because they have dropped us at renewal. We actually had a visit from our local agent the night of the fire. He, and the Red Cross took care of us shortly with lodging and clothing allotment for the short term. After only 9 days, the insurance adjuster(super nice lady by the way) was able to lease us residence for the duration. They completely set up the rental with everything you could imagine needing; class act IMO. The Adjuster promised the process to be relatively "pain free" and the home would be in better condition than it was before the fire!



After hearing our options for the repairs, we decided to go with the "turn key" plan of their contractor. The main reason we went this route was their contractor for this happened to be the local division of Paul Davis Restoration, Inc., a name my wife and I instantly recognized from ABC Extreme Home Makeover. During the repair process, the repair coordinator and the Adjuster made a few upgrades compared to before the fire; new building code adjustments, replaced some things instead of sticking us with a mediocre repair when situations arrised, and a couple of upgraded adjustments requested by us. Things seemed to be coming along in a timely fashion, and it seemed if all expectations were going to be met.



We moved back in, and after getting "settled", I noticed a distinct drafty feeling and higher power bills than before. I called the coordinator and he sent someone over to the home to do some door seal adjusting, attic door adjusting, and some minor repairs of small importance. This did not remedy the drafty feeling of the home. The reason I know that this was not an issue before the fire is because we had just invested over $7,500 in our own little restoration and upgrade project(5 months prior) and energy efficiency was the main priority! Even the firefighter that did the walk through after the event commented on how "sealed" up the house was and that this factor helped deter the fire from consuming even more than it did.

Well, when I started looking, it didn't take long to start getting disappointed. The windows are dual pane, and now you can't clean them because during the rapid heat exchange smoke or whatever got trapped between the glass(that is the windows that weren't replaced, because some exploded and the fire dept took out one when it wouldn't raise). The outside noise is louder also(live next to an Interstate). At first, I wrote the noise off as being away from it for a while and needing to get readjusted. But that is not the case as people revisiting also notice it and comment on it before I do. Another thing is when tractor trailers go by, sometimes you can actually feel the floor move and that never happened before the fire. I feel as if the floor was weakened by the massive amount of water used and consequently some of that had to be absorbed. Also, our front door was kicked 3 times by a 240lb(ish) firefighter before we finally tossed him the keys. Now either the heat exchange or the kicks(or the combonation) has really fouled this door up. At some places around the door's edge, there are 1/2" gaps! That is something that simple door seals are not going to remedy. You can actually see light around the edge from the outside(and this is after their attempts to "fix" or adjust it). These mentioned things are on the top of the list, its a bit of a long list, but these certainly are the highest of my priorities.



Questions, comments and ADVICE are certainly all welcome. I thank each of you for taking the minutes out of your lives to read this and comment.

[Megw3788]

Sorry to hear it. I've never dealt with any such situaton so I have no advice, but goodluck hope everything turns out well.

[37L1]

My advice is to hire an inspector to come in and take a good look at your house.

If he finds poor workmanship or other problems, then go back to your insurance company, and/or get an attorney and/or have it repaired at your expense.

At the end of the day, you're the one who has to live there and put up with it or get it fixed.

I am sorry to hear of your misfortune and the resulting problems that have stemmed from it.

Best wishes for a satisfactory resolution.

[grnTitan04]

I would also get back in touch with insurance and push the matter further. Just let them know that you didn't get everything the first time around.
Definitely get a new door, and get the windows replaced that you mention. Good dual pane windows are filled with Argon, not air, so you are losing insulation quality, and if they were low-E windows before, the coating is damaged.

One of my wife's uncles (my uncle-in-law?) had a bad fire last year that took out about 1/3 of the house. Their insurance provided everything you describe, for nearly a year. Put everything back like it was, had all the clothes for the whole family cleaned to remove the smell, real class act. And their house was repaired to the same quality it always was.

Get legal help man, you have been through enough.

[firefightintitan]

I have to agree, go get legal help, alot of insurances companies pull some shiesty sh!t. I deal with it all the time in the fire service. On a side note, why the heck did a firefighter try to kick your door down? We stopped doing the donkey kick about 15 years ago. Unless you have some backwoods fire dept. it's dangerous to the firefighter and not very effective.

[Titan4mde]

Thanks everyone for your concerns and input. The windows; I have heard the contractor mention that the seals must have been bad before the fire to allow this to happen, but some of my local firefighter buddies say that the rapid heat exchange will do this. I'm going to have to remedy this and the door or I'm just going to keep throwing money to the power company(like they need more). Guess its time to start getting nasty about this, huh? Having never been through anything like this before, and being so thankful that noone was hurt, has put me in the mindframe of being "too nice" about trying to get this resolved. I just hate to see it come to this after everything started off so well(considering the circumstances).

[grnTitan04]

The Contractor is wrong.

If they were bad before, the heat difference would not have caused a the huge vacuum needed to pull the smoke in between the plates, because the air could have escaped/entered when it wanted.

Even if you end up doing it yourself, changing the door and frame, and framing new windows is pretty easy. Read the directions (no seriously, the holes, the tape, the tabs, all there for a reason).

Good luck.

[Titan4mde]

UPDATE!!

We gathered data on the energy bills, and, WOW!! I knew it had gone up but 33.5%!!! This was based on a 7 month analysis that they had us average before vs. after. 7 months excludes the months that are "unpredictable"; the high summer months, and the high winter months!
They have ok'd the window replacements of those that weren't broken during the fire(the broken ones were already replaced). Still working with the entry doors and for now, just stuffing blankets at the floor to slow the air exchange down a little. FYI, I know that I could/can do some of this myself, but the insurance co said that they would fix the house to before condition or better, so I'm only holding them to their word.
After much debate and hassle with the contractor (Paul Davis Restoration, INC), they are no longer welcome in my home, by me or the insurance co! The Adjuster is fed up with them as well as we are. Don't know who will be finishing up their mess, though??

[BuckyBadger]

I would call a window company to come out and look at it also

Sorry to hear about your problems...The first mistake was to hire anyone affliated with the tv show "Extreme Home Makeover" . Hope you get it sorted out.

[JohnnyEgo]

The key concept of your homeowners policy is indemnification. Your company has a duty to "make you whole" after the loss, subject to the limits and conditions of your policy. Since you went with their recommended company, chances are that they have at least implied liability for any failure of the contractor to perform. I guarantee you that they know this, which is why your company is still involved, and hasn't told you that you need to sort it out with the contractor.

When you discuss your loss with your adjustor, take the time to review the estimate and make sure you both agree on scope. Scope is the type and extent of damage. If you have Low-E glass, make sure the estimate specifies Low-E glass. Make sure you agree on what needs to be repaired and what needs to be replaced. Once you agree on scope, the rest is just valuation. Ask a couple of contractors to provide you an estimate. When they are done providing you an estimate, show them the one your adjustor provided. Sometimes a good adjustor will find more then a contractor. Other times, the adjustor might have made a mistake. Mistakes happen. There is nothing wrong with asking for a reinspection. In fact, it's part of the adjustor's reconcilliation process when you submit a contractor's estimate. It is the duty of the adjustor to see that your loss is accurately estimated. In general, it is not their duty to see that your repairs are done correctly, which is why many companies avoid making recommendations for contractors.

Hope it works out for you! Fires suck.