Water damage in a Los Angeles home: the first hour, who to call, and how to check the company

1. If you smell gas, touch no switches or anything electrical. Leave, and from outside call SoCalGas at 1-800-427-2200 or 911. Do not turn the gas back on yourself; SoCalGas does that. A carbon monoxide alarm, or headache and dizziness, means everyone out and 911 from outside.
2. Stay out of water that has reached outlets or cords. The breaker panel is the gray metal box on an outside wall, in the garage or a closet. Cut power to the wet rooms only if the panel is dry and you can reach it without standing in water. If water comes through a light fixture or fan, or a ceiling sags, nobody stands under it.
3. Stop the water. For a toilet, sink or appliance, turn the small valve behind or under it clockwise. Otherwise close the main shutoff where the pipe enters the house, on an outside wall or in the garage: a round handle turns clockwise, a lever a quarter turn. Never wade to it. If water is coming up a drain or toilet, stop running water and flushing in the house.
4. Photograph every room and the high-water mark on the walls, and write down the date, before anything is moved. Throw nothing away yet unless it is soaked with sewage; photograph that first.
5. Treat water from a toilet, drain, sewer or floodwater from outside as contaminated: keep children and pets out, and wear boots and gloves. Restoration companies, which pump out water and dry buildings, grade water by how dirty it is; drain and sewer backups are Category 3, the worst.
6. If the water is clean, start drying now, with fans in a window blowing out. If it has soaked in, call a restoration company. Do not run fans or the central air on contaminated water or visible mold; the EPA says fans spread mold, and to dry wet materials within 24 to 48 hours.

1. A plumber, if water is still coming or the source is unknown. Fixing the pipe is C-36 plumbing work; ask whether the restoration company holds that license.
2. A restoration company, if water has soaked into drywall, flooring, cabinets or insulation, or came from a drain or sewer. A serious loss can need both.
3. Your insurer, once the water is stopped. Say that drying has started.
4. The water utility, only if the leak is at the meter or in the street, or you cannot shut the water off. In the City of Los Angeles that is LADWP, at 1-800-342-5397.

Go to cslb.ca.gov (the state contractor license board) and open Check a License; search by license number, business name or a person's name. A number on a truck or ad does not prove the license is valid, so look it up first.

The record shows:

• Status and bond: "current and active", a future expiration date, and a bond on file, money you can claim against if the work goes wrong.
• Classifications, the trades covered. Look for the trades involved, since none is named for water damage or mold work: C-36 plumbing for the pipe, B or B-2 for the rebuild, C-22 for asbestos removal. A license is required for any job of $1,000 or more, any job needing a permit, and any job with hired help.
• Workers' compensation. Required with any employee; a contractor with none may file an exemption, unless its classification must carry coverage regardless, as C-22 must. If a crew arrives under an exemption, ask who employs them.

Ask to see the pocket license (the wallet-size card) and a photo ID, and match both to the record. Ask which IICRC certifications the crew holds; the IICRC certifies restoration technicians.

State law requires a written contract for home improvement work over $500. It must show the contractor's name, address, email and license number, the work and materials, the price, approximate dates, and the down payment, if any. Any progress payments must be tied to specific work. The down payment cannot exceed $1,000 or 10 percent of the contract price, whichever is less.

The form the crew hands you at the door is a contract. Read the price basis: rates per unit, not "per insurance". Read any direction to pay, which sends your insurance payment to the company. Read any clause making you owe whatever the insurer declines; the insurer's estimate is not a cap on your bill.

Red flags:

• Demands for cash, a deposit above the legal cap, or no written contract.
• Being asked to apply for the permit yourself as the owner-builder, which makes you responsible for the work.

1. Report the loss. Ask what the policy covers, the deductible (what you pay before the insurer pays), and when the adjuster, the inspector your insurer sends, will come.
2. Prevent further damage. The California Department of Insurance says the insurer reimburses reasonable costs to protect your property if you keep the receipts. It also says a policy may not cover damage that follows if you did not take reasonable steps. Hold extensive permanent repairs until the adjuster has inspected.
3. Document everything: photos, damaged items, receipts, and the date found. Ask the drying company for its moisture log, the daily readings from each room. Keep damaged items until the adjuster says otherwise, except those soaked by contaminated water.
4. Ask the insurer for its scope of loss (the list of damage) and estimate. California's insurance regulations require it to give you every document its settlement rests on, and its estimate must be enough to restore your home to its condition before the loss. If your contractor's written estimate is higher, the insurer must pay the difference, name a contractor who will do the work for its figure, or adjust that estimate in writing.
5. If the claim stalls, call the California Department of Insurance hotline at 1-800-927-4357 or file its complaint form, the Request for Assistance, at insurance.ca.gov. State regulations set deadlines. The insurer has 15 days to acknowledge your claim. It has 40 days after your proof of claim, the forms and documents it asks for, to accept or deny it in writing. If it needs longer it must say so in writing, with an update every 30 days. It has 30 days to pay any accepted part. A denial must state its reasons in writing.

You may get two estimates: one for mitigation (removing the water and drying the house) and one for the rebuild. The first should list:

• The category of water.
• Water removal, room by room.
• Fans (air movers) and dehumidifiers: the number, daily charge per unit, start date, and which reading ends the rental.
• What will be cut out, and how high; materials soaked by Category 3 water, such as drywall and carpet, should be discarded, not cleaned.
• Controls against spreading contamination, such as plastic containment barriers, required for any water that is not clean (Category 2 or 3).

The company should set a drying goal for each wet material, based on a dry standard, the reading of the same material in a dry room. Drying ends when each reaches its goal.

In a home built before about 1980, test for asbestos and lead paint before any cutting.

The rebuild estimate should name each permit and who applies for it. Then check, all in writing:

• Allowances, placeholder amounts for items not yet chosen, and what each assumes.
• Exclusions: work not included, such as the plumbing repair or mold if found.
• Change orders: written and signed by both sides before the change.
• The payment schedule: payments cannot exceed the value of work done, and the final payment follows the final readings.
• Cancellation rights: three business days after you receive a signed copy of a contract signed at your home. Five if you are 65 or older, and seven for declared disaster repairs.
• Warranties.

• What is your license number and classification?
• What category is the water, and what comes out?
• Which readings end the drying, and will I get them?
• Who tests for asbestos and lead paint before demolition?
• Does this form send my insurance payment to you, and what do I owe if the insurer pays less?