To mepop, Thanks for your reply. I question your observation that the depreciation is due to poor maintenance. I keep everything up the way it should be kept. ( I admit that keeping very light colored ceramic tile spotless is hard with 3 big dogs). lol But, I do the best I can. Is it normal maintenance to remove the bottom panel of the dishwasher to check for leaks? I am a 66 year old retired female and don't recall ever hearing of a homeowner checking under there. I am going to purchase a sensor that detects water leaks which is a very cheap solution to the mess I have now. The dishwasher was purchased the end of 2012 and installed by the dealer and I had them out several times at the end of 2013 before the warranty ran out although there is a 10 year warranty for major components. There is no way to know how long it has been leaking but I sent the defective part that they replaced to the insurance company for possible subrogation. The bug situation are bugs that are called sowbugs ( they gather in damp places and to me look like tiny armadillos). The way I found them was I took up the transition piece between the laminate and the ceramic tile and they were crawling around on the plastic soft floor stuff. That was when I realized I had a big problem. If all the floor was tiled, I would have no way of knowing there was a leak until the floor all fell in. I am the one who crawled around in the 3 foot crawlspace and pulled wet insulation down to find the source of the leak and I also put a big fan and a dehumidifier down there to dry it out. I talked with the insurance adjuster yesterday and they are going to change the estimate to reflect the difference of subflooring and are going to leave it open ended for additional damages as the demo proceeds. Yesterday the flooring guy was here and he said you need to get that dining room flooring up sooner rather than later because that will have black mold under there so I moved all the dining room furniture out and took up all the flooring and plastic stuff, sprayed the wet plywood down with a bleach solution and got a fan running on it. Does that sound like a person who doesn't do maintenance? I may just paint that subfloor to seal in any mold until the contractor gets here. I had no plans for redoing the bathroom; it was perfect just the way it was.

Keep in mind that the actual cash value of the house may NOT be enough to rebuild even a smaller house. Losses above a certain percentage of the house's value must usually be rebuilt according to modern building codes which can considerably add to the cost of rebuilding a damaged dwelling. Replacement in kind coverage usually covers these upgrades, but lower, stated value policies do not. Also if you have a mortgage on the property, the lender may require insurance equal to the value of the note. In some states choosing not full replacement value insurance significantly affects (downward) the amount of recovery if the building/contents are a total loss. Make sure you understand what choices and the consequences of them. Choosing to insure only to the appraised value ignores the substantial functional value that is inherrent in older houses. It ignores the value that exists as an occupiable dwelling that is separate from what you could get for it. And even if your idea is to just move away, you should know that in some cases, especially fires, you can't just take the check. You may have to rebuild, or at least use the all proceeds to repair the structure. This is an anti-arson fraud rule. Otherwise unscrupulous people would just burn down insured, but unwanted, buildings and use the insurance money to "cash out." We carry a very high deductuble policy, but with replacement in-kind coverage on our mid 19th c. house. When we had substantial damage from a tornado our company worked with us, and even brought in a specialist on older buildings to help work out what it would cost to repair the building. They kind of wistfully suggested we might prefer dry wall and asphalt shingles, but paid, without quibble, the full cost of plaster and slate. L.

Well, this has definitely been a learning experience for us! We've not been happy with the level of responsiveness from our insurance company although it supposedly is ranked as one of the top companies in the country. In many ways they have screwed up from the get go. So, we've been feeling that we are definitely on our own on this one. After more than a month of hassling this, we are starting to think that perhaps we should have just hired a GC. But, at the start we didn't realize that the scope of the necessary repairs would keep expanding into the realm where a GC might be necessary. Our adjuster just told us to find some companies to bid on the heating and plumbing work (all that we initially thought was involved). As we get further into this, we are realizing all of the additional things that will need to be worked on. I guess we are lucky in that we have the funds in hand to pay for some of the initial expenses such as temporary lodging and initial diagnostic work on the house. A number of times we've talked about how in the world people who don't have the extra money would be able to handle making these payments and then waiting for reimbursement. Our insurance company didn't even step up and offer any assistance with finding temporary lodging until more than two weeks into this. And, then, they didn't have any better options than I'd managed to find after hours and hours of searching on my own. I think some of the issues we are having are due to our wanting to do things our own way to make sure they are done correctly and in a manner suitable to a 100 year old house. The insurance company has four approved contractors in our city, and if we had chosen to work through them all of the money would have gone directly to them through the insurance agency without us having to be involved at all. But, we started looking into reviews of those companies, and they weren't great. So, we opted out of using those approved contractors. We are ending up acting as our own GC, but it is a lot of work! We are lucky we have the time to do this. Yes, we have just considered paying off the rest of the mortgage and could do that. But, we live in a pretty pricey house and that is a good chunk of money that we might want to have available elsewhere in this entire process. So, we are sitting on that idea for a bit. And, when asking about pocketing some of the money by doing work on my own, my intent is not to defraud or raise rates. I just want to know why I could not do the painting myself since I am as capable as the professional that I know the insurance company will be paying a pretty penny to do the same work. So, are some of you suggesting that we just hire a GC, have the GC make a bid for the entire project, and then make our own arrangements with the GC on how we could save some of the total sum by doing the work ourselves? Thanks for all of the advice and personal experiences.

Since this is what I do on a daily basis I will tell you it is always best to give your agent as much information as possible, it's the only way we can help you protect yourself and your belongings. Your agent should not make any changes your not in agreement to. Now having said that, the reason the roof question comes up and will continue to come up is because insurance companies are looking to reduce thier risk. Depending on where you live and I can only speak of the midwest area because that's where I live and sell, our biggest risk is wind and hail damage to roofs. Most of the big companies in this area are going to actual cash value on the roofs. What does that mean to you? Instead of replacing your roof minus your deductible they will instead take the age of the roof, subtract the depreciation and your deductible and pay the difference. In this year the magic number seems to be 16 - 17 years of age on the roof. Thats were the actual cash value will kick in with a percentage paid out, every year older and that percentage will continue to decrease. This is why an annual review as a consumer is very important, you want to make sure you have replacement. This is also an opportunity for your agent to endorse or re-write the policy to actual cash value, look like he's saving you money and unless it is discussed and agreed to, you might not be the wiser until a claim. As far as your personal belongings, that's very difficult for anyone to put a price on, think about your summer clothing that's all put away now, the Christmas decorations that are now being brought out, all those tools in the garage and how about the shed in the back. Then there is the basement if you have one, the attic if you don't. Instead of worrying about that number, your agent will give you an option for a percentage of your dwelling coverage. That number in this area is usually about 70%, for many that's not realistic. As for the "flood insurance in the basement" you have some sort of water sewer back up coverage, not flood insurance. By all means if you have had an issue with it, keep that coverage. If your insurance company suffers alot of those type of claims, they may increase the cost of that coverage or possibly reduce the amount of coverage. You need to be aware of that. Your deductible, way too low. If you have collision coverage on your auto I'll bet your homeowner's deductible is the same amount. You need to consider a $1,000 deductible. If you put in a claim for anything less you will pay more than that in the next few years. Your agent will be looking to do a replacement cost estimator with you to help you determine your coverage's. If you've replaced your furnace or central air conditioning make sure to let your agent know that. If you have a security system, let him know that as well. Be aware, if after your interview he suggest that he rewrite the policy they may order an inspection. An inspector will walk the outside of the property looking for things that affect the companies risk. Brush growing too close to the side of the home affecting the siding, soffits and roofs. Tree that over hang the roof or brush that sits on the roof and siding. Tripping hazards, splits in sidewalks or cement/asphalt driveways. Decks, rotten boards, low or missing rails. Chipped paint is also a big one. The roof, are there any missing shingles or curled shingles. The list can go on and if you don't pass the inspection depending on your state you will be given 45 days to repair the problems or the policy may be terminated. Then you could be up a creek especially if at the time the agent writes the new policy, he terminated the old policy. I hope this helps, I know it's alot of information but like I said, this is what I do.