Can I come in here and cry?

[kballerina]

I know I'm a newbie on this board, but I am just so sad. I am a night shift nurse and came home this morning to my basement being covered with a thin layer of sewage. My hubby found it this morning. We filed a claim with our homeowners insurance but it turns out that unless you specifically add a sewer backup rider, you might be SOL. A loss mitigation team came out today and tore up anything that was wet - carpet and the flooring in my yoga room. They had to test for lead paint and asbestos but they will be back on Monday to tear 2 walls down to the studs. I know in my mind it's all replaceable, but my heart is so sad that what I worked on for months was basically ruined in minutes. It was all sanitized today thank God. But still sucks. Here's a during demo pic. You can see a before pic in my house bio if you are interested.

[mrs.jacinthe]

Oh, that stinks. Probably literally.

Hugs to you.

[sierramist03]

Oh no that doesn't look fun at all

[Deleted]

Oh no. You may also have a claim against your municipality if its lines caused the problem. It might be worth talking to a lawyer if you can't recover through insurance.

[pitterwoo]

Oh I'm so sorry, I remember your studio from the bio before! I hope you can get some coverage for your losses.

[mrsemilys]

Oh no! So sorry

[house]

That sucks! I am so sorry!

[kballerina]

Thanks for the pity party ladies - and you can bet I will be adding that rider to my policy now!! Also, thanks for the advice in looking into the municipality's responsibly - it might be nothing, but it's worth looking.

[SusanBAnthony]

We had this happen. We did have the sump and sewer backup rider, but it only covered 5k. Yah, the damage was about 20k. It was our whole finished basement, and we had to tear everything out 2 feet up around the entire basement.

[SusanBAnthony]

P.s., your number probably won't be as high, ours was a 1200 sq ft fully furnished basement with 5 rooms, so it was a lot of drywall and plaster that had to be redone.

[kristilynnmy]

Oh no! Are you the one with the awesome yoga room and you hand painted something really cool on the walls? Ugh I feel so bad!

[thatgirl2478]

oh no! That's one of my worst nightmares - guess I should call the insurance company on Monday huh?

[regeltx]

That same rider also covers you if your kid or guest flushes something down the toilet... It isn't much. I think it is $20 a year for my policy.

[bunnymendelbaum]

I'm so sorry!

[cosmowife]

We have the rider as well. We don't have a basement, and sewer backups are actually common in my neighborhood. So basically, if it happens, our house is ruined. We have nationwide insurance and they actually cover up to our policy limit ($500k+) for sewer backup. We've been trying to switch companies but we actually can't find another company that doesn't limit the sewer backup coverage.

So sorry this happened - it really sucks. My neighbors went through this one week after they moved into their newly renovated house. I felt so bad for them.

[cajungal]

That's awful! I didn't even realize that wouldn't be included under a typical insurance policy. I'm so sorry this happened!

[emoflamingo]

Oy. Yeah, it may vary by company or state but our company (and the one I work for) only covers finished basements since it covers drywall, flooring and major things like the water heater & furnace if your sump backs up. I opted out of it since our basement isn't finished yet, but when it is, I'll have to add it back on.

Check with your agent, hopefully it is covered!