Reconstruction After Water Damage – A Step-by-Step Guide

Water damage can come from many sources. It falls from the sky year-round, though sometimes in the form of snow. Spring melts can cause flooding of the numerous rivers and creeks in the Missoula-Bozeman area. Heavy spring rains can add to rivers swollen by meltwater, trigger flash floods, or seep through a leak in your roof. Burst pipes can flood your home or office. Heavy snow can damage the roof, then pour through the break as it melts.

In all of these situations, your home or business may suffer catastrophic damage. In some situations, you might need to completely rebuild your structure. Though that can be a tough prospect to face, here is a step-by-step guide to reconstruction after water damage. Note that these steps aren’t always sequential. It’s often efficient to work on multiple steps in parallel to complete reconstruction quickly.

Contact a Restoration Specialist

After detecting water damage to your property, if there’s no immediate danger, a restoration company should be your second call – right after your insurance company. They will send a team out, and an expert will inspect your property to determine the extent of the damage. Unlike fire damage or storm damage, catastrophic water damage can sometimes be subtle.

Considering Reconstruction and Restoration

There may not be much visible damage, but sometimes this hides extensive rot that has accumulated in hard to detect areas. A restoration expert will be able to assess the damage and help you decide whether it’s better to restore the structure or reconstruct it from the ground up, considering multiple factors, such as:

• Safety
• Cost
• Speed
• Required upgrades
• Legal restrictions and alternatives

Safety is obviously a big concern in making this decision. If your current structure can’t be made safe after water damage, the only real choice is to rebuild.

However, if you have multiple safe options, most people worry about cost. The cost decision could be strongly influenced by your insurance, which might cover one option or the other. Sometimes, though, your insurance might not cover flood damage or water damage accumulated over time, and you will face the full cost of reconstruction yourself. It’s important to review the terms of your policy to understand exactly what is and isn’t covered before making this important decision.

Getting the structure ready quickly is especially important for businesses and for homeowners if your insurance isn’t covering rent at your short-term quarters. Depending on the nature of water damage,restoration of a structure can be very quick. However, in other cases, it can take as long or longer than complete reconstruction. Your restoration expert will be able to tell you what’s true in your case.

Any new building will be built to current codes, but in many cases, restoration will have to bring the old building up to code, too. This might be harder for an old building, so it might make sense to start from scratch.

There may also be legal restrictions on what you can do with your building after water damage. If you occupy a historic structure, you might not be allowed to tear it down. There may also be restrictions on reconstruction in a flood plain. Reconstruction might not be prohibited, but you might find insurance is difficult to obtain or extremely expensive. After a natural disaster, FEMA and other agencies might offer incentives to buy or build elsewhere, too.

Board-Up and Content Salvage

When you’ve decided to tear down a building, it may need to be boarded up to secure it from vandals, vagrants, and animals. This might be a municipal requirement, and if you don’t do it, you could be subject to fines and other legal action.

At the same time, you can go through the property with a restoration expert who can tell you what can be saved from the contents. You might be surprised at the amazing restoration work that’s possible with modern technology and techniques. Often, restoration is a fraction of the cost of replacing damaged items.

Planning and Permitting

Once you make the decision to tear down the old building, the design of the new one can begin. You can work with an architect to determine what you want the new place to look like. You can choose to rebuild close to what was there before, or you can design something new and different. Note that reusing elements like the foundation can save cost, but also limit options.

Your restoration or reconstruction company will take responsibility for pulling all the permits. The cost of these permits would have been included in your cost estimate.

Demolition and Debris Removal

Demolition and debris removal probably started as soon as you committed to reconstruction. However, the work will have to be completed before construction on the new building can begin, so there might be an increased effort to finish it off at this point if it wasn’t yet complete.

Structural Work

Structural work is the supporting bones of the new building. It can include pouring a new foundation or slab, framing in the outer walls or even pouring walls for a concrete structure. It also includes installing the roof. This step is often considered complete when the weather barrier and windows give the building a complete (but not finished) exterior.

Utility Installation

Utilities have to be installed before the interior walls are closed off. Water, electricity, natural gas, and HVAC components often run through walls, and they will need to be inspected and approved before they are hidden behind the drywall.

Drywall and Finishing

With the utilities in place, the drywall can go up and get finished. Other finishing touches in the interior can include installing cupboards, countertops, and appliances. Painting, installing trim, and putting in flooring will make the structure ready for occupancy. Outside, the final exterior coating will go up, such as siding, facades, or stucco.

Inspection and Approval

Now the building will have to pass a final inspection before it is approved for occupancy. As we mentioned above, many other components are inspected throughout the process, and, ideally, this final inspection is something of a formality.

Move-In

When the building is approved for occupancy, you can move in your possessions. Your restoration company may have your restored possessions in storage and can deliver them at this time, and you can get your newly purchased possessions delivered to your property at this time.

Choose Dayspring in Missoula and Bozeman

If your home has suffered significant water damage, you will want to talk to a restoration company. Only a restoration expert will be able to look at your damaged home or commercial property and tell you whether it makes sense to restore the property or if it’s better to rebuild. They will also be able to look at the contents of your property to determine what makes sense to preserve and what is best replaced.

If you are looking for a restoration company in Montana around Missoula or Bozeman, choose Dayspring Restoration. Dayspring has been the leading restoration provider in the area since 1989. We can handle every aspect of your restoration or reconstruction after water damage. In addition, with our 24/7 emergency response services, we can be on your property at any time, day or night, and get the process started immediately.

To learn whether it makes sense to rebuild or reconstruct your property in Missoula, Bozeman and the surrounding areas, please contact Dayspring Restoration today.