The Bright Side of Fire, Water, or Storm Damage
A Refresh for Your Home
When disaster strikes your home in the form of fire, water, storm damage, you might feel overwhelmed. The road to recovery can be challenging. However, there is a silver lining. What is it? It’s the refresh your home will get once the restoration process is complete.
For example, water damage to your kitchen may require new cabinets and flooring. Storm damage may require new roofing and siding. Fire damage may require taking your home down to the studs and completely rebuilding it.
While our job as a restoration company is to return your property to its pre-loss condition, many homeowners take the opportunity to do other renovations while their home is under construction. Take the following home for example.
A drunk driver crashing into this home required the replacement of a window, siding, walls, and carpeting. However, these homeowners took the opportunity to also upgrade their upstairs flooring, replace their living room windows, and build a deck off of their dining space.
If you choose to make additional upgrades during your own restoration project, keep in mind that the added renovation costs are your responsibility. Your insurance company will not cover any renovations outside of the approved scope of work.
However, if you choose to repair only what will be covered by insurance, your home can still get a refresh with new siding, roofing, flooring, or cabinetry.
The following home needed new shingles and siding after a storm blew through, and the owner took the opportunity to pick a completely different siding color. Now it stands out from the neighboring houses! Simple changes like this can make a big difference in the look and feel of your home while staying within the limits of your insurance company’s approved scope of work.
Below is another example of an insurance-covered replacement that made a big difference in the look of a home. Often times, materials in your home, like cabinets, flooring, or wall tile cannot be replicated because those particular products or styles are no longer made.
If this is the case in your scenario, you may pick out a similar but modernized version of the material that needs replacing. Or you may go with an entirely different material for a brand new look! Below are examples of each.
These cabinets were too old to be replaced with duplicates, so instead, we replaced them with a more modern version in a similar stain color. On the countertops, however, the homeowners made a significant upgrade, going from laminate to granite!
The Bottom Line
You should never wish disaster upon your property in hopes of getting a new kitchen, bathroom, or roof paid for by insurance. After all, every insurance claim you make could potentially raise your rates.
At the end of the day, fire, water, and storm damage are all major headaches that can uproot your day-to-day life. There are many hurdles you might face in the aftermath. For example, you may lose important belongings due to the damage, you may have to find another place to live temporarily, or you may have a long wait between the damage occurring and your insurance company approving the scope of work for repairs.
However, the silver lining of it all is that once your project is complete, you will have a safe and sound home with a fresh look!