After a flood or a fire the immediate response is well rehearsed. What follows – getting the building properly back – is where things go slowly and where owners most often end up out of their depth.
The reinstatement is a construction project
That’s the thing people don’t expect. A significant flood or fire claim isn’t a repair, it’s a project: a scope has to be established, works specified, contractors procured, the work supervised and the money controlled.
Insurers appoint loss adjusters who act for the insurer. Owners can appoint their own surveyor to establish the scope properly and manage the works, which is a different role and a different interest.
Flood: why it takes so long
Water goes into the structure, and the structure has to come out dry before anything is rebuilt. That’s the step that gets rushed and the reason so many flood reinstatements have to be partly redone.
Strip out. Saturated plaster, insulation, floor coverings, fitted joinery and often the lower section of partitions come out. More comes out than owners expect, and that’s usually correct.
Drying. Masonry holds water for a long time. Drying is monitored with moisture readings rather than judged by how the wall looks, and it can take months rather than weeks in a solid-walled building.
Replastering and reinstatement, only once the readings say it’s dry.
Putting plaster onto a wall that is not yet dry produces a wall that fails again. The pressure to get people back in is what causes it.
There are also decisions worth taking at this point about how the property is rebuilt – flood resilient materials and details, raised services, and so on – which is easier to do now than later. See our guide to property flood risk.
Fire: more than the burnt part
Fire damage extends well beyond what burnt.
Structural assessment first. Heat affects timber, steel and masonry differently, and some of it is not apparent on inspection without testing. What can be retained and what must be replaced is the first question.
Smoke and soot travel through the whole building and into cavities and voids. Smoke residues are corrosive and they smell, and inadequate cleaning is the most common cause of complaint months afterwards.
Water damage from firefighting, which frequently affects more of the building than the fire did, and brings the drying problem with it.
On older and listed buildings
This is where the specification matters most. A solid-walled historic building that is dried and reinstated using modern impermeable materials will not perform as it did, and can be left worse than before the flood.
Lime plasters and breathable finishes aren’t a preference on these buildings, they’re what the construction requires. Getting that into the scope at the outset avoids an argument later, and on a listed building there are consent implications too. See listed building consent and conservation area surveys.
What we do
Acting on insurance remedial works, our involvement covers:
- Assessing the damage and establishing the true scope, including what isn’t visible
- Specifying the works, including the materials appropriate to the building
- Monitoring the drying and confirming when reinstatement can start
- Procuring and administering the contract with the contractor
- Inspecting as the work proceeds and certifying payment against what’s actually been done
- Dealing with the loss adjuster on the technical scope
Talk to us
We manage insurance remedial works following flood and fire across the Cotswolds, Gloucestershire and Bath, as part of our construction project management work. See our problem solving page or get in touch.
Frequently asked questions
The loss adjuster acts for the insurer. An owner can appoint their own surveyor to establish the scope and manage the works.
Longer than most people expect, and in a solid-walled building it can be months. It’s confirmed by moisture readings rather than by appearance, and reinstating early is what causes the work to fail.
No. What can be retained depends on how heat has affected the structure, and assessing that properly is the first step rather than assuming the worst.
