Major Maryland Home Repair After Water Damage

[David1]

Fellow Mustachians,

My family and I just returned to Maryland from a long work/family trip to Colorado, only to find that a pipe had burst and our house has water damage throughout the floors, walls, and ceilings--some of which collapsed.  Many of the exposed posts and beams are moldy.  The house was built in 1942, so there's also a good chance of lead in the paint chips that are everywhere.

Fortunately, we have insurance, so our long-term plan for financial independence will not be too badly derailed.  Also, thanks to years of reading MMM, we didn't have much stuff to lose, and wouldn't have had room for it anyway in our 1,400 sq ft home. :-)

I'd love to get some opinions from fellow mustachians on how we can make the best of this opportunity to improve our home's energy efficiency, and how to reduce both costs and material wastefulness.

And if you're a mustachian who has some good ideas and wants to bid on the job, feel free to e-mail me for more details.

Thanks!
David

[Milspecstache]

Any exposed copper plumbing should be replaced by PEX to prevent a future occurrence in those areas.

There is a chemical sold by Lowe's that is a biological agent against mold.  I used it during construction and it was effective for over a year before I closed up some joists:
http://www.lowes.com/pd_268014-64395-025-001_0__?productId=3620698&Ntt=mold&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNtt%3Dmold&facetInfo=
Just put it in a pump sprayer and spray away.

[Thegoblinchief]

Ouch. Hopefully your insurance company has a good claims rep. We had a break in and our claims rep was super helpful, but I've heard horror stories from customers at my work about unhelpful insurance companies. I don't particularly like any of the restoration contractors in my area, so hopefully yours is better.

So much is going to be limited by what your insurance company approves.

[Blindsquirrel]

 Wow, that had to suck, my advice is call the highest end construction co/mold remediation outfit in your area for the insrance quote and then contact the nearest real estate investors assoc and find  some successful investors and buy them lunch/ dinner, find out who does their work and have them do it.  or find a RE investor on here near where you live. You can probably do it yourself. Mold is easy as dilute Clorox bleach will kill it all. Need to have water to have mold and recommend a couple CL dehumidifiers.